The next day Charmian told me that she couldn’t go. Because of my rather abrupt way at getting acquainted with her, we never really became friends. I did give her a box of chocolates for Christmas that year. I wrapped the box and wrote in very big letters her name. She was very sensitive about her name. Most people read it quickly and pronounced it Char-Maine. But a careful reading of it would produce the correct pronunciation, Char-Me-N. I had actually memorized how to spell her name, but I had memorized it wrong. My Mom tried to get me to fix it but I insisted I was right. I gave it to her with the name of CHAIR-Me-N on the box. It wasn’t really until much later in high school that we were cordial friends. But due to the painful lessons I learned from trying to get her to like me, I was able to establish better relationships with other girls.
When I was substituting junior high I would read this to classes when there wasn't enough material. I always enjoyed reading this and the class seemed to enjoy it too.
ReplyDelete