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A "D Minus"

I remember my Landon Junior High School seventh grade math teacher's
name very well. It was "Mr Young" and he stood out because the kids use
to make fun of him because he was missing one of his fingers and always
pointed at students with his middle finger.

I was not very good in school anyway, and English and Math were my worst
two subjects. There was just something wrong with me, inside my head and
no matter how hard I tried I just could not figure out why I could not
understand what all the other kids found so easy to learn. I don't think
that there was ever a day that I went to school that I was not afraid
and scared.

One day I was told by Mrs. Winters, the head matron of the Children's
Home Society Orphanage that if I got one more "E" on my report card, I
would be taken to the Juvenile Court in downtown Jacksonville, Florida,
and that she would tell the judge to send me away to the big prison for
kids.

I tried real hard for weeks and weeks to learn how to multiply and do
fractions and compound things. But I just couldn't understand how to
make different parts of numbers into whole things. I really tried too,
but my brain just couldn't do it no matter how hard I tried.

The day before report cards were to come out I knew that Mr. Young would
give me an "E" grade just like he always did, because no matter how hard
I tried I just could not understand anything that he talked about in
math class.

After class ended I went up to Mr. Young and I told him that the
orphanage was going to send me to the big prison if I got another "E"
grade on my report card. He told me that there was nothing that he could
do because that would be unfair to all the other kids if he gave me a
better grade than I had actually earned.

I smiled at him, turned and walked towards the door and then I stopped.
I turned around, looked at Mr. Young and I said "Mr. Young you know how
all the kids make fun of you because you're missing your finger?" He
just looked at me, moved his mouth to one side like he was biting the
inside of his gum and he did not say a word. "They shouldn't do that to
you because you can't help not having a finger, Mr. Young. Just like I
can't help not being able to learn numbers and stuff like that." I said.

He said not a word as he looked down at his desk and began grading
papers.

The next day when I got my report card I tucked it into my school book
and on the school bus I opened the report card envelope and I looked at
my grades which read: Geography "B+", Mechanical Drawing "C-", English
"D-", History "C-", Gym "B+", Art "C", Math "D-".

That "D-" math grade was the most favorite grade that I ever received in
my whole entire life, not because I didn't get sent to the big prison
for kids. It was because I knew that someone in the world finally
understood what it was like for me to be missing a finger inside my
head.

Stories from The Life and Times of Roger Dean Kiser:

Click on Roger's name to visit his Website. Roger Dean Kiser

To write to Roger please click on his name. Roger Dean Kiser

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