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Mr. El and the Princess
“You
should try one of these sundaes,” said Mr. Smitty.
Miss Joan
nodded in agreement.
“I’ll
get around to it,” Mr. El replied as he looked across the
large
Dairy Center tent. The three teachers were at their school’s
Back
to School Fair. It had grown into a major annual event, sort of a mini
county fair.
“What
are you staring at, Mr. El?” asked Miss Joan.
“I think
I’ll stroll over there and talk to the County Dairy
Princess,” Mr. El replied.
“She is
beautiful,” Mr. Smitty remarked.
“I
hadn’t noticed,” said Mr. El, trying not to smile.
Miss Joan
rolled her eyes.
“Actually,
my interest in her is purely professional,” Mr. El stated.
“I might learn something about the dairy industry that I can
share with my fourth graders.”
Mr. Smitty broke
in, “Besides, he likes that new resource teacher, Miss
Cheryl.”
“Miss
Cheryl is kind of cute,” Mr. El admitted.
“I like the way her eyes cross when she’s
annoyed.”
“Why is
it that you know how everyone looks when they’re
annoyed?” Miss Joan asked.
Mr. El chose to
ignore the question. “I’ll be right
back,” he said as he walked toward the dairy princess.
Miss Joan and Mr.
Smitty relaxed on a bench as they enjoyed their sundaes and watched Mr.
El approach the princess.
Mr.
El and the young lady seemed to be having a pleasant conversation when
suddenly the princess walked away with a much less than pleasant
expression on her face.
When
Mr. El rejoined his friends, Miss Joan could not contain herself.
“I’d give a million dollars to know what you said
to
her!” she exclaimed.
“You
don’t have a million dollars,” Mr. El responded.
“I’ll
buy you one of these giant hot fudge sundaes for the story,”
Mr. Smitty proposed.
“Deal!”
said Mr. El. “I was asking her what qualities the judges look
for in choosing a dairy princess.”
“And?”
Miss Joan demanded.
“Well it
just goes to prove that a sense of humor isn’t one of the
requirements,” Mr. El replied.
“What
did you say?” Miss Joan asked with that “What
terrible
thing have you done?” look that she did so well.
“Just
to add a little levity to the conversation,” Mr. El went on,
“I asked her if looking like a cow was one
consideration.”
“You did
what?!” Miss Joan practically screamed.
“I think
this is worth a double hot fudge sundae!” Mr. Smitty
announced.
“I
thought she’d know I was kidding,” Mr. El stated. “I
say stuff like that to my students all the time and they know
I’m kidding.”
“That’s
because they’ve learned not to take you seriously,”
Miss Joan said.
“Well
this girl, who’s at least twice the age of my fourth graders,
ought to know that she doesn’t look anything like a cow. You
can’t win a competition to be a princess of any kind without
knowing that you’re smart and good looking.”
“Maybe
she thinks that you think that she looks like a cow,” Mr.
Smitty offered.
“Why
would she care?” Mr. El countered.
“Good
question,”said Miss Joan. “But don’t you
see the damage you’ve done?” she added.
“Damage,
what damage?” asked Mr. El.
“Up
until today she was a self-confident young woman, destined for
greatness. She might have become a scientist whose inventions would
have saved millions of lives. She might have gone on to be a great
leader who would bring peace and prosperity to the whole
world!”
Miss Joan paused to catch her breath. “But now,”
she
continued, “she’ll spend the rest of her miserable
existence hiding her face. She’ll live her entire life
wearing a
character costume at some amusement park so that no one will ever gaze
upon her cowlike features! And needless to say, she’ll never
save
the world!”
“You
could just go over there and apologize,” Mr. Smitty suggested.
“That
might just make things worse,” said Mr. El. “In a
few
minutes she’ll forget I exist; she’ll forget what I
said,
and she can go on to save the world.”
“I’ll
have my sundae now,” Mr. El reminded Mr. Smitty.
“Didn’t I hear ‘double hot
fudge’?”
As
Mr. Smitty walked off to buy the sundae, Mr. Kay, the principal, came
by. “Mr. El,” he said, “I have a nice
surprise for
you. I’ve lined up your student teacher for this fall. Her
name
is Miss Lee. She’s already a very accomplished young lady. In
fact, you may have noticed her at the fair.”
“She’s
here? I’d like to meet her,” said Mr. El.
“That’s
her over there,” Mr. Kay said. “She’s
wearing that shiny little crown.”
“You
mean that Dairy Princess crown?” asked Mr. El.
“That’s
her,” said Mr. Kay.
Miss Joan, who
couldn’t help hearing the conversation, had a broad smile on
her face. Mr. El was not smiling.
“Excuse
me,” said Mr. El, “I have to rush to my room and
prepare a lesson plan!”
“A
lesson plan?” asked the principal.
“Yes,”
sighed Mr. El, “A lesson about thinking before
speaking.”
For Discussion:
1. What lesson did Mr. El learn from his experience?
2. Can you think of any examples of someone making a similar mistake?
3. Do you think that it’s always possible to know how someone will react to something you say?
Reading Comprehension, Vol. 8, No. 4, September 15, 2003http://rhlschool.comCopyright 2003 RHL
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