Chapter 95
Photo credit: Library of Congress
- "O Mother!" cried the nine-year-old child. "I have great need of apparel which beareth the image of my school mascot!"
- "Therefore must thou complete the order form so I may bring it to school on this, the day of deadline."
- The mother half-pretended not to hear the boy's plea,
- For her ears were still ringing with his most recent morning tantrum.
- Then the mother replied to her son, "Thou seemest not to understand a fundamental principle of obtaining thy heart's desire;
- "Namely, that one must not enrage the person whom you beseech for a favor."
- And thus the mother closed her ears to the child's renewed howling.
- She delivered him unto the place of learning, as was her duty.
- But as she returned to their home to perform her ablutions before journeying to her place of employ, the mother reconsidered.
- For was this day not the eve of giving thanks?
- Should she not be grateful that her child had not enraged his teacher as well, and set the teacher's heart against him in the classroom?
- Indeed, should the mother not give praise to The One for the continued good health of her children and her husband?
- "I shall not acknowledge to my son that I have ordered his apparel," she grumbled to herself. "For that would send The Wrong Message regarding his behavior."
- Nevertheless the mother did swallow her pride, and wrote out the necessary cheque of payment to the school's PTA
