The box of candy that saved a life
Story 17 The box of candy that saved a life?
This is a story about Mike who became one of the most “got it together” people I know; and the turning point came with the dreaded Helen Grace Candy sale. Oh, it was a good and tasty candy, ok, but melted or got stale very quickly. However, the sale’s rep was good at her job and made a believer out of me and we’d struggle after the two week sale to get the delinquent funds collected or unsold candy returned. Bottom line, it raised over 75% of our operating needs.
Somewhere in the late seventies, I believe (I’ll leave it for Mike to give the date if he wishes to identify himself), I had just begun pressing on students who still had their candy out, Mike being first on my list.
Although there were always a few that claimed the box had been lost, stolen, dog ate it or whatever; I pre-warned them that such an excuse would never work. Of course there were a few, too, that would claim they had already turned it in. I learned quickly to be ahead of that by saving all envelops with the amount inside verified; this being done the evening it was received.
I have to say that Mike’s claim was quite unusual in that he knew he turned it in the very next day. Now, nobody but nobody had ever come close to doing that. That would have been a classic memory. Since this was in the years before my classroom human hearing aide, Mrs. Bundy graciously taking over this task, all the envelopes and funds were locked in a safe at my home; finding me needlessly going through several hundred envelopes to verify what I already knew to be true. It wasn’t there! I checked a second time. It still wasn’t there!
After confronting Mike that I had wasted an hour going through the envelopes looking for his; only confirming my suspicions that it would not be there, he put on his hurt puppy eyes and still insisted he had turned it in the very next day. On top of that, my volunteer aides were absolutely convinced he was telling the truth; that I had somehow misplaced the envelop. Usually, if an excuse was legitimate, I would order extra boxes to allow the student to sell two to make up for the one lost for whatever. Still, Mike insisted and nobody would listen to my assertion that it would be a historical event, including his parents and my wife. Poor, poor Mike. I was such a meanie. Finally in despair and defeat, I gave in and wrote those profits off as a loss; later finding some schools write them off as “breakage”. Clever! Yep, those innocent puppy eyes worked.
Now for the unreal moment: A few months later I ran into Mike’s mom and dad along with older brother who had been in the program a few years before, and we began chatting. Out of nowhere in the conversation the brother said: “I see it’s time for the candy sale.” With a weird look, I replied that the sale had long been over. To which the brother added: “Then why is Mike’s case still stuffed away in our closet?”
Mom eyes widened at mine; mine at dad’s; dad at mom’s; with instant bewilderment. I don’t remember what was said after that, but we quickly parted company. Thankfully, Mike’s parents were wise enough to seek professional help. I think it was mom who later mentioned to me that the doctor had given them his home phone number to contact any time 24/7. It was that serious.
Now, for my favorite part of this story: I didn’t see Mike for the rest of the year after that and had no idea what became of him. I was truly surprised, though, to run into him lunch time at Glendora High School to where our program had recently moved. I was even more surprised to see him wearing a football jersey. When I asked him what position he played, he said the name of a strange position I had never heard of, but went on to say he spent most of the time on the bench. However, when I mentioned that I knew the coach and that he owed me a favor, that I’d try and get him into more games, he threw up his hands and, with a fearful look on his face, pleaded: “Please don’t. I might get hurt. I just went out for Football to wear a jersey so I could impress the girls!” Wordless, I thought: There’s a kid who is going a long way in life as he already knows where he’s at.
Now, to top it all off, many years later, I was sitting in the back table of a faculty meeting when in walks Mike as a guest speaker. He was in charge of a program that worked with “at risk” youth. He even garnered applause when he referred to me as the teacher who stood his ground and confronted him; probably saving his life in the process. As honored as I was, I guess he didn’t know that I was often in trouble with the administration….. for, you got it, being confrontational. Sometimes, I guess, one just has to win by losing? Or would it be losing in order to win?
Wishing you well, LarryBme2@aol.com
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