7th Grade Geography

My 7th grade geography teacher, Mr. Beagle, use to tell us that he was so mean so that people would remember him after he died. In the school district where I grew up we had a junior high that contained the 7th and 8th grade students. We were only a few weeks into my 7th grade year when this story takes place.

As I'm walking to school one morning a friend of mine offers me a jaw breaker which I cannot turn down. Now, it's against the rules to eat candy or chew gum in school. But, this was okay because I wasn't at school yet. As you know, jaw breakers cannot be eaten too quickly and I was just finishing mine as I was entering the building. Mr. Beagle stops me and asks me to spit out my gum. I inform him (politely I might add) that I was eating candy and I swallowed it. He told me that I could sit in his room until I was ready to tell the truth and spit out my gum.

So there I sat...alone...in his room...panicking. I was panicking not because I was afraid of being late to homeroom, I was afraid of the attention that being late would bring upon me. So I gave in...I took a tissue from my purse, balled it up, and told him that the piece of gum was in there and threw it away. Every time I saw him after that he called me 'the liar'. Ah, there she is, the liar. Oh, look, the liar is in my study hall. This devastated me. Obviously, my reputation as a goody-two-shoes did not in fact follow me to the junior high school.

All 7th grade students were required to take one quarter of geography and there was only one 7th grade geography teacher....Mr. Beagle. I had my mind set on changing his opinion of me and showing him what a great student I was. One day Mr. Beagle sprang a pop quiz on us about States and Capitals. I started to freak. But, what's this? He left the map of the united states up in the front of the room. This is not a test about the states and capitals, it's a test to see which students are observant enough to look up! This is it! This is my chance to show him that I'm smart and have common sense, and to show him that he was dead wrong about me. I start to copy down the answer and I see him walking toward me with a big smile on his face. Yes, he is smiling because he is proud and I am the only student smart enough to look up. When he reaches my desk he takes my paper and throws it away. What the hell just happened? He then says to me, "Not only are you a liar but you are a cheater as well." And he quickly takes the map away before anyone else has a chance to see it.

I'm almost happy to report that Mr. Beagle is dead and I still remember him.