literature

Behind the Name

Deviation Actions

Published: Apr 5, 2012

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Literature Text

The little girl sat on the too tall chair, contently swinging her legs as she doodled. The group of teachers near her murmured and glanced down at her every so often. The girl looked up and watched as a couple of boys run around the class room. She smiled, but didn't get up to join them, nor did she go over to the other girls who were giggling and gossiping. Flipping to a new page in her notebook, the girl began rapidly drawing another silly doodle. After a couple of minutes, a bell sounded and the extra teachers left the classroom. The day went by, filled with funny moments and enjoyable coloring activities. As the last assignment of the day, the 4th graders were given a blank sheet of paper and told to draw something they wanted. Slowly the teacher made her way around the room.

"What did you draw?" She asked each student.

"A cat!"

"A car!"

"Ice cream!"

"A teddy bear!"

The answers all mimicked each others simpleness. The teacher smiled and nodded in approval. Then she got the the girl's desk.

"What are you doing?!?" She screeched. The little girl jumped, dropping her creation. She had torn the paper into shapes, out of which she had made a cat. It's arms and legs and tail and head were all attached by being woven into a rip she had made in the body. The teacher looked down in horror. The girl looked up in fear. "That paper was for drawing! You tore it up!" She yelled. By now, the whole class was watching. The embarrassed and confused girl felt warm tears pushing from behind her eyes. Her noes tingled and she sniffed, wiping her cheeks on her jacket sleeve.

"I made a cat..." She said, meekly holding it up for the teacher to see. The enraged teacher snatched it up and crushed it in her hands.

"Follow the rules! I said to draw something, not to be destructive." She tossed the paper cat into the trash bin and sat down at her own desk with a huff. The girl sat in her desk, crying silently, mourning the loss of her creation.

When the end of the day bell rang, she got her back pack from her cubby and dragged it behind her. She peered into the trashcan, her eyes searching for the cat, but there was already too much trash that had covered it. With burning eyes threatening to spill fresh tears, the girl shuffled out of the room. As she passed one of the other rooms, she over heard her teacher complaining to her colleagues.

"I hate the ADHD ones! So hyper and they never sit still. All I say goes in one ear and out the other! I swear, it'd be more productive to try and catch smoke in my hands!"

Thank you all so much for the feed back!

And because it keeps getting asked, yes, this is a true story. (Though it's been put into story form and different dialog and of course, no naming names.)