Skipping class

The names will be changed to protect the guilty.

I don’t know if Fred and Barney have a future in crime or not. On the one hand, their unshakable contention that they were in class is admirable and this steadiness will stand them well someday in the court system. They never waver. The Assistant Principal asks them. I ask. Other teachers ask. We always get the same answer.

On the other hand, the teacher’s class they skipped is a small group that works on the computers and records events on the computers. She’s a very alert women and they weren’t there for more than a week. They certainly weren’t in my class. It’s too small to hide in that crowd. I know they weren’t in the other bilingual teacher’s class. He’s a detail-oriented man. So where were they? Their story never changes. Fred’s mom just keeps smiling grimly through conferences, as if to say, “That’s him all right!”

The other kid’s aunt looked considerably more worried. She should be. Fred and Barney are excellent liars. If not for the missing digital footprint, that reading teacher might begin to doubt her own recollections.