A memory

Some things still irritate long after they should have been forgotten. Even after twelve years.

We had to read Roll of Thunder Hear my Cry for GCSE English. Our teacher was a middle-aged woman who terrified me. In the very first lesson I stuttered so much when I talked to her that she thought I was trying to say that I was deaf. I was so embarrassed when I had to tell her after the lesson that I wasn't. I often misunderstood her instructions and I hated asking her to repeat them. She set us an essay about Roll of Thunder and as usual I got the wrong end of the stick. I thought that she wanted us to write a story based around the characters when really she asked for a literature essay. I don't know how I misunderstood so badly. Anyway, I wrote my story as a series of letters between the characters. One character was a sexist pig so I made him express those kinds of views. After my teacher chided me for getting it wrong she tackled what I had made the character say. I still remember her saying something like "I know those are your views on women. I know what you're like." I was annoyed that she didn't think a 14 year old could be capable of giving a character views that she didn't hold herself. All this time later it still annoys me. I know it shouldn't.