HOW’S YOUR BIRD?
By Doreen Ennis-Greene

Like most children half the time I was in trouble I had no idea of the trouble I was in.

One spring day when the newly turned earth in the cabbage garden was damp and pungent and crawling with plump worms, my friend Millie Pomeroy and I caught a beautiful Robin in a crib that we had set. Not wanting to lose our bird, we decided to bar it up in Mr. Willie Patrick's sheep house for the night. We intended to go there next evening after school and feed it on some grass and worms we would collect.

During class next morning, I passed a note to Millie. It read - ’How's Your Bird?‘ Unfortunately, it was intercepted by the teacher.

Red faced with anger, she directed me to kneel in the corner at the front of the class and she told me in no uncertain terms that she would deal with me during recess period. Recess time came, Miss berated me for my shocking behaviour. She told me that she thought I was of better moral character than that and that she would be speaking to my mother about me when school was dismissed that evening.

I knew that I had broken a school rule by passing a note in class, but I couldn't for the life of me understand why she was so upset in such a manner about my moral character and all. Now to have my mother involved would surely end up in a punishment worse than death. I didn't dare question her judgment or try to offer a defence.

It was years later that I realized that the teacher had misinterpreted my note. It was really her moral character that was in question not mine.