Good News, Bad News

I began my fourth block class with this today -

"I have some good news and some bad news. What do you want first?"

"The good news," most cried.

"We have 14 days left," I replied.

"And what's the bad?" Nick asked from the front row.

"We have 14 days left," I said.

True word. True words.


*****

Even though my fourth block American Lit class drives me nuts, I do enjoy them. They're a cast of characters. I've gotten to know quite a few more than I expected. For example - David. He drives me nuts. Bright kid who just doesn't do the school thing. He's into auto mechanics and wants to own a shop one day. From the snippets I've caught in class, he more than likely drinks and smokes regularly. He already has tattoos littering his knuckles. He puts in about a 20% effort. Sometimes, on good days, he gets that up to about 70%. But those efforts are rare. He comes early and visits all the time though.

Last week he was chomping at the bit to get out. It was around 2:50 and he was eyeing the clock. He even got up to move around and inch toward the door. I noticed so I headed him off at the pass. Of course, by now he was leading a herd toward the door. I rounded them up and began chatting. I happened to look down and notice David's feet.

"Holy crap!" I said. "David, those are some giant shoes," I said.

His buddy chimed in, "Size fifteen."

"What?"

"Yep," David agreed sheepishly.

"David, walk over there," I said.

And he did.

"Did you hear that?" I asked. The class was quiet. Why couldn't I capture their attention like this with "The Lottery" or Mockingbird?

I let the hush linger. "Did you hear it?" I asked again.

"Hear what?" David's friend asked.

"Hikkkayi! Hikkayi! Hikkayi!" I yelled, doing my best impression of what Japanese might sound like. "Godzilla! Godzilla! Godzilla!" I yelled. "That's the sound of thousands of Japanese fleeing the footsteps of Godzilla!"

The class lost it. David had the most bemused look on his face. I guess he could have gotten mad. But I took a chance at poking a little fun and teasing a bit. He had the look on his face that a teacher had never joked with him like that before.

I loved it.