Drawn To The Teacher

(My biology teacher is notorious for his tough style, his strongly worded opinions, and for being ‘scary’.)

Teacher: “…and when I say something, you learn. If you have a question, you ask. But I won’t abide students trying to pull the chair from under me!”

(I draw a cartoon of him with the chair being pulled out from under him, and make sure to throw it away before leaving the class. Over the course of the year, I do many such cartoons. On the last day of the year, we start to leave, and he pulls me aside.)

Teacher: “[My name], I want you to know I enjoyed your questions, even though we usually disagreed. You are smart; I like smart. Also…”

(He pulls open a cabinet door and reveals every one of my drawings which he’d picked out of the trash and pinned up.)

Teacher: “…I enjoyed these.”