To the Editor:
Ms. Crowder was our 5th grade teacher. All the kids loved her, as she always had projects that were entertaining.
One day, Joe Jones’ mom came to school along with Joe, and a bag of jellybeans. She stood in the room, alongside Ms. Crowder. We were going to get to play a game! All eyes were on Ms Jones’ beans. The chosen game was Pin Th’ Tail On Th’ Donkey. Ms. Crowder, being an exceptionally good artist, had drawn a large picture of a donkey on the blackboard. Each student, in turn, held the chalk, which represented a donkey’s tail, was blindfolded, and spun around three times, then stopped by our teacher, still blindfolded, but facing the blackboard and the donkey. Attached to the piece of chalk, via tape, was a long piece of cloth representing a donkey’s tail. Each student, after the spin, touched the blackboard with the tail, and a mark was made for each endeavor, followed by class vocal reaction.
I was the very last kid to play, not being very enthusiastic about this endeavor, as jelly beans stick to my teeth. I made visual judgement, though, of the four quadrants of measurement needed for a win, prior to being blindfolded. After my vision was temporarily diminished, and my body spun, I took the piece of chalk, that had been placed in my right hand, and moved said hand and chalk towards the blackboard until the two met, at which time a very loud vocal reaction resulted from twenty nine young vocal chords.
Receiving this reaction in my ears, I immediately pulled the chalk back, and the vocal reaction seemed twice as many decibels, so I blindly tried for the same spot again, followed by an ever greater db reading. I had won Mrs. Jones’ beans. At recess, I was the most popular kid of the day. Not wishing for this extraordinarily popularity to end, I finally gave in and opened the bag of beans. Each kid got one bean apiece, and unfortunately there was not even one bean left for our dear teacher, Ms. Crowder. I hope she will understand . . .
Hugo Buchanan
Lady Lake
