Pandora's Box

Around the 7th grade I had an English teacher who was also a Baptist pastor, my best friend's dad, his name was Bro. Ward. Our small private school had never seen anything like him. He used super long important words and was Cuban. He even wore Havana shirts.

The reason for thinking of him this morning started like this:

I was in the shower and thinking of swearing, "I swear I didn't spend $2169.32 for a new handbag" which made me think of another teacher, Ms. Emmons who if you were to swear in her class she would make you write lines - I will not swear in the classroom.

Just so happened Bro. Ward was also fond of writing lines for any type of injustice served in his classroom. On his desk he had a green box appropriately named Pandora's Box. The box contained pieces of paper numbered 0-1000 in an incremental fashion. If you were caught chewing gum by Bro. Ward you would be instructed to pull a number from the box and that was the amount of lines you would have to write. Not typical sentences either such as I will not chew gum but something more like I was found chewing gum in a classroom setting. Not only is chewing gum against the rules but it also advocates tooth decay and causes my mouth to contort in an ill fitting manner. Because I want to be a superior student and abide with school rules I will no longer masticate gum in the classroom.

All I can say is it took one time for me and I never chewed anything in front of Bro. Ward again.