Apocryphal legend of Christine

I stayed in touch with my kindergarten teacher because she lived down the street from my grandmother. We’d see each other often, coming and going from the cozy little street, and we’d chat and catch up. One visit, my kindergarten teacher, Ms. Fosterbank, surprised me with a story from when I had been her student.

“We went to the planetarium for a field trip,” she said.

I told her, “Oh yeah, I actually remember that. It was a really cool experience.”

“And your class made thank you cards the next day. I gave you sheets of paper and showed you all how to fold them into a card.”

“I think I remember that too,” I said.

“I told the class to draw a picture about the planetarium on the front of the card, then I wrote something on the board that they should copy to the inside.

“Everyone took their pencils and made dots on the front of the card to look like the spots of stars they saw in the planetarium show. You stood up and said, ‘You’re all giving me a headache. That’s not how you make a star.’ And you walked up to the chalkboard and drew a five-point star,” she drew a star in the air with her finger. “You even walked around the classroom and showed the kids how to do it.”

“Oh my god, I did that?” I covered my mouth with my hand as a sign of embarrassment.

“Yep. I’ve never forgotten that, ‘You’re giving me a headache.’ It was so funny!”

“Well, it sure sounds like me.”