Tuesday

I should assign the Canterbury Tales more often. I had one girl completely misunderstand “The Miller’s Tale,” and if you have ever read it - it’s quite bawdy to say the least - it is not one to misunderstand. Her friend had a great time explaining what really happened to her. Another girl was absolutely gleeful over another story. I couldn’t believe it. Yet another student said she had to text someone about the story as she read it. What kind of weird world have I slipped into this year?

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Kristie is an absolute marvel. On Friday KoKo had two friends, Abbey and Rachel, accompany us to Casey’s football game and then spend the night. After the game, we located the girls - not an easy task after all of the flirting with boys and gossiping and social maneuvering going on - and headed back home.

After the game I switched on the local news to see the other high school football scores while Kristie sat down with the girls to visit. Immediately, the began telling her about all of their social problems. Apparently one girl in particular, a kind of “Queen Bee,” likes to have a small following wherever she goes. So she often pits one friend against another for her own gain. Then she also likes to have all the boys’ attention.

This upset and frustrated the girls. Now all of this drama wears on me. But to Kristie’s credit, she listened and offered great motherly advice - “Be the better person” was her mantra. Abbey smiled at that advice and said, “That’s what my mom says all the time too.”

It was quite something to watch her plop down with the girls as they huddled with blankets next to the heating vent trying to warm up after the game. She relates so well to them and takes their little concerns so seriously.

I would have been more apt to say, “Oh, get over it. You won’t even remember any of this crap in another year.” But that would not have helped, obviously. So I turned up the volume and tuned into the scores while Kristie listened to all their concerns and doled out advice.

I’m glad as a boy I didn’t have to deal with any of that drama. Not that we didn’t have our issues. But you tended to just smack someone in the mouth and get over it. No drama and no grudges.

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One of my College Comp students had a great line. He said he was going to sue me for malpractice. Then another student informed him that I had to be a doctor in order for that to happen. He fired right back with - I will sue him for mal-teaching. Ha.

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Our 9th grade team now sits at 0-4. Roseau beat us 26-16. We roared out to an 8-0 lead on what might be the longest quarterback sneak in history. We faced a fourth and one on - well - our fourth play from about our 45. I sent in a quarterback sneak and the next thing I knew he was barreling his way into the end zone. Of course, Roseau promptly tied it at 8-8 on their first drive. We scored again but it was called back on our only holding penalty of the day.

After our offense went back to its old ways - three and out - Roseau got some momentum and went into the half leading 14-8. The third quarter, however, was all ours as our defense manhandled Roseau. Our offense too got rolling and we scored on a 45 yard pass and powered in the two point conversion to go up 16-14, our first lead of the entire season.

Roseau though answered in the fourth quarter. But our defense held firm on the two point conversion try to leave it at 20-14. At that point, I knew we’d score on offense and win the game. I was wrong. We fumbled - unbelievably - on three straight plays! First we had a second down from our own 30 and our tailback fumbled. But our defense held. Then on our very next play our other tailback fumbled. But again our defense held. But again we fumbled; this time it was our quarterback. Roseau scored a cheap touchdown and put the game away.

But we played better. That third quarter - with the defense flying around and the guys on the sidelines all fired up and screaming - was the first genuine football we’ve played all year. If we could have played like that for a full half - or even a game - we’d have wiped the field with Roseau. But we didn’t. We’ll see if the team has taken a step forward or not.