Jude N. answered • 12/09/19
Highly Experienced English Teacher with Advanced Degrees
The boy sullenly entered the monolithic building that was evocative of a prison rather than a school. An older teacher who wore tweed jackets in order to cultivate academic pretension noticed the boy and decided to assert his propriety by sarcastically barking, "Why were you truant yesterday?" The boy was not so sophomoric to believe that the teacher held any real authority. With a glance, the boy took in the tweed coat and realized the accusation wasn't personal. The boy saw fickle eyes that had long ago forgotten how a few poignant words might help his troubled charges. He understood that this was not a learned man at the apogee of a distinguished career but rather a poor facsimile of a learned man. One who probably spent school furloughs in popular beach towns where he never managed to read any of the impressive novels he had carefully packed. The boy knew this because it was something he had done himself and with an ache he wondered if anything approaching originality even existed. The prospect that no matter how hard we try, we are all derivative of something else, was too much for the boy, and while his face betrayed nothing, for a moment something deep in him was ululating with fear. He suddenly had no desire to be fractious, so the boy listlessly looked at his shoes and quietly explained that he'd been absent because his jalopy had crashed into a culvert the day before. His eyes stayed glued to his shoes as he futilely awaited the teacher's response.
