• Vol. 04
  • Chapter 10

Grade Two

When I was in the second grade, we called it class 2 back then –Class 2A to be more precise –(and there was another section 2B), there was this huge boy who sat at the back of the classroom (he smelled peculiar), making funny sounds. All the children would giggle and annoy the teacher.

I don't know why, one day, he threw a stone and shattered a large windowpane.
Maybe he didn't like the class teacher.
She had a grim face and a voice that was not mean, but it was not kind either. Someone taped black chart paper over the shattered glass to keep out the cold, and later during recess, someone else poked holes in the paper with a pencil.

Thin shafts of light streamed in through the holes, falling at my feet. I kicked
them around as they bumped off my black buckle shoes. The teacher called out my name sternly, her voice was not mean, but it was not kind either.

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