JoJo's 'fun day' on Friday, August 22, 1975 became a nightmare. This occurred when Mrs. Tense called JoJo's Dad at 4:02.
"Is this Mr. Smith?"
"Yes, it is."
"Hello, Mr. Smith, I am Mrs. Tense, JoJo's English teacher."
"Hello, Mrs. Tense. How are you today?"
"Well, my day was fine until 4th period."
Uh oh..Dan thought.
Mrs. Tense continued, "I'm sorry to tell you, but your son played dumb---at my expense."
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Tense! What did JoJo do?"
"He had a little plan. He would wait until class was almost dismissed. Next, he told me how much my class is helping him with his English."
"Uh oh. What happened next?"
"I asked him to demonstrate. So, he recited the following sentence. I can tell you because he actually wrote it down and practiced. At the end of class he turned the paper over to me. Here goes: Did you know I had not ran down the hall none this week Heck fire it ain't been no problem The best thang is settling down right shere being counted herely."
"JoJo said that out loud during class??"
"Yessir. Like I say, he waited until class was almost dismissed. I believe he thought I would not have time to deal with the situation. But, I've had practice with many different situations over 35 years as an educator."
My word---35 years...Dan thought. "Mrs. Tense, JoJo will be punished at home. And his mother and I certainly support any punishment at school."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Smith. The look on JoJo's face when I told him I would call you---is all I needed. Whatever you do to him will be enough."
"Well, thank you, Mrs. Smith. May I ask 1 favor?"
"Yessir."
"If JoJo so much as sneezes wrong the rest of the time he has the honor of being in your class, would you call me?"
Mrs. Tense had a smile so big it gave her a new wrinkle. "Mr. Smith, it will be my pleasure!"
"Thank you mam. Again, my apologies. I hope you have a good weekend."
"Not at all, sir."
Dan finished out the day at work. He thought about possible punishments for JoJo as he drove home. Hmmmm...he thought of a nice one. He would talk it over with Alice. They would decide together the fate of their precious son.
"Hello! I'm home!" yelled Dan as he walked in the house.
"Hi, hon."
Alice surprised him by coming out of the kitchen with her apron on. He never knew when she may need to get rest to feel better.
"How you feeling, Alice."
"Like a million dollars. Once you taste my spaghetti, I think you will, too."
"Yum! Yum! Where is our son?"
"In his room. He came in about an hour ago and went straight to his room."
"Alice, I know you are cooking supper, but could we talk?"
"Sure. Why don't you change clothes, and meet me in the kitchen." Then, Alice smiled. Dan still was knocked to his knees when Alice smiled.
"Sounds good, Honey."
Within 15 minutes, Dan had changed and supper was finished cooking.
"What did you want to talk about, Hon?"
"Let's wait until after supper. OK?"
"Sure, Dan."
Dan knew their conversation would take a few minutes, and he was hungry. Besides, JoJo could sweat a little bit at supper.
Alice couldn't get over how quiet JoJo was at supper.
Remi even said, "Brother, you have bad day?"
Dan couldn't help himself..."Yes, JoJo. Did you have a bad day?"
JoJo couldn't tell if Dan knew anything or not. Hmmmm "It was fine. I'm just tired."
After supper, Dan explained everything to Alice. The two decided the perfect punishment for JoJo.
Dan could hear the Doobie Brothers blaring from inside JoJo's room. So, he knocked loudly.
JoJo came to the door, "Hey, Dad...is everything ok?"
"You tell me, Big Guy---is everything ok?"
Busted JoJo knew when his dad called him a big guy it was for one of 2 reasons. One, to cheer him up if he was down. The other reason preceded a punishment. He decided to confess---maybe he would get a reduced sentence. "I got in trouble at school today."
"Uh huh. We better talk this over with your mother in the den."
"Yessir."
JoJo did not even dare to explain his way out of it---he knew Dan had the goods on him. Soon into the conversation, Dan said, "Mrs. Tense called me today?"
JoJo responded, "oh?"
Dan enjoyed himself. "I understood you ain't ran down the hall none this week Heck it ain't no problem for you to sit in yore seat herely!"
Even those were not the exact words, they were close enough. "I don't know what to say."
Alice joined the conversation. "JoJo Smith! How dare you get that woman's blood pressure up!"
"Did Mrs. Tense say I did that to her?"
"No! I was talking about me!!" Alice said.
"Sorry, Mom.." JoJo managed to screech out.
Alice continued, "JoJo, you represent this family. We are embarrassed."
Then Dan jumped in, "What in the world got into you, Son?"
"I HATE SCHOOL! I wanted to shove it down their throat!"
There was silence for 7 seconds. Then Alice said, "Your education is free to you, but it is not free! Tax payers spend hard-earned money for you to be there. You may hate it, but you WILL study, you WILL behave, and you WILL write an apology to Mrs. Tense!"
"yes mam..."
Dan stepped in. "Your mother and I have decided your punishment. No phone for one month."
JoJo ALMOST screamed WHAT!! But, he caught himself. "Yessir. Mom, Dad...I'm sorry."
Dan added, "If Mrs. Tense has any more problems with you, she is going to call me."
"yessir."
Oh no, I have to behave in her class---THE REST OF THE YEAR!!
Alice always ended with, "You know we love you, JoJo."
He did appreciate that. He knew some kids had rotten parents. But...NO PHONE AND NO FUN!
Oh well, at least no more Wake Up Calls this Semester.
No comments:
Post a Comment