Indeed

Indeed

Ellen Glendale walked into her classroom at the end of recess. She liked to be there before the kids came in to keep the recess chaos under control. However instead of her usual empty classroom of busy day clutter, and then the kids suddenly exploding through the door like a cannon ball, the kids were already there. They were all standing in front of the window, silent. A shiver went through her, suddenly panicking over this unusual situation.

Taking a breath, she pulled out her everyday calm voice, saying “Did recess end early or am I late?”

There were a couple squelched giggles, but no one answered. They all just stood there as if waiting for something. Not knowing what else to do, she turned to John, her most serious student.

“Do you know anything about this?”

“Yes,” he said, but then nothing more.

“Did I forget something?”

“No,” he said, also in his normal serious voice.

“Why did you all come in early?”

“Well,” John said, with a completely straight face, then, “One, two, three!”

And the whole class yelled, “Happy Birthday!”

Ellen stood there in shock, finally saying, “But it isn’t my birthday…”

“We know that!” John said, animated for the first time since he walked into her class in September. But the office wouldn’t tell us when it was, so we just picked a day!”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because you’re the best teacher ever,” he said, then turned a bit red. But the rest of the class burst into agreement.

“So, you made it my birthday?” she asked, very happily, but trying not to laugh.

“You always say you love birthdays.”

“That I do,” she said, and she actually twirled around, shocking her entire class!

All in all, it was a very happy birthday, indeed.