Palms sweaty, mouth dry, heart beating rapidly. I am not ready for this. These past few years have gone by so fast. I’m not ready to learn. Look at these kids, some are crying, and some are flat-out wailing, and none of them want to be here. Its like the worlds going to end or something.
“Mom, do I have to go,” I plead, “why can’t I go home and learn there?”
“You have to go,” replies Mom, “besides I bet you’ll enjoy kindergarten.”
“Yes Mom,” I say, disappointedly.
We’re walking through the school campus and have come to the kindergarten area. It’s rather simple, a playground complete with a slide and monkey bars, among other metallic contraptions, and a sandbox, small basketball court, and a dirt track encircling the entire area Oh yeah, and a fence. The classroom is on the east side. We’re walking into the classroom; it’s just rows of desks, counters lining the walls, and a whiteboard. An elderly lady is approaching us. Oh no, what do I do!? Should I run? Yes, I’ll run. I’m running now, they can’t catch me.
Now it’s a couple years later and I’m living off the land somewhere in the Congo, but best of all I’m not at Alta Mesa school learning. Or at least that’s what I would do if Mom wasn’t still clutching my hand. Uh oh, the elderly lady is here.
“Hello, my name is Mrs. Putnam, and I’ll be your teacher!” she says cheerfully. But I know better, I can see through her guise. I know that behind that innocent smile lies a face. But It’s not just any face, for it is the face of evil! The grown-ups seem fooled by her false charm, but no not me, they’ll never trick me! I know how teachers work, they mess with your mind until you’re at a point of submission, and then they leave you defenseless against their ‘learning’. I must mislead them to think I’ll be one of the easy ones, that way they don’t suspect me of knowing their secrets.
“Rriiinngg!!”
“What,” I say, “what’s that bell, why are the grown-ups leaving!”
“Bye Cody, see you after school!” Mom says.
Oh no, here I am all alone and defenseless behind enemy lines.
“Ok class, everyone take a seat.”
We all sit down.
“Now, we’ll take a quick little quiz to see what you all know. I’ll ask you a question and if you get it right you can come up and grab a piece of candy.”
“Hey, that doesn’t sound so bad!” I say to myself.
By the end of the school day I had six pieces of candy and a gold star sticker. It turns out Mom was right, go figure.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but I fell for their trap. They had me hook, line, and sinker with just a few pieces of candy, a sticker, and a few kind words.