Papermate Mechanical Pencil in Black

LET'S just say that I wasn't very fond of her. Mrs N was a woman with an apple-shaped figure, always dressed in matching tailored maxi skirts and blouses. Her well oiled black hair was combed back and tied in a low ponytail which sat snuggly at the back of her rather short neck. She had a face round as the moon and her forehead was always dotted with a huge, red third eye (pottu). She spoke with an old-school authority and at that time, most teachers did so and that didn't bother us one bit. 

Mrs N taught my class Bahasa Melayu (the Malay language). It's a compulsory subject for a few reasons. First, it's the national language and second, all subjects are taught in the Malay language under the Malaysian education system. Science, Math, Geography are all taught in Malay and the text books also come in Malay (although I never saw a logic to it). So it's important for a student to grasp the language very well. Unfortunately, Malay wasn't my first language, making my standard one and two years a bit of a challenge. 

However, I read well. Reading anything in Malay wasn't a problem. My reading was fluent. My problem was in understanding what I'd just read. Therefore answering comprehension questions was an issue.  

One day Mrs N made the class read out a passage from the textbook. We did and after that, she asked us to answer the questions that came with it. 

"Answer the questions and those who have problems can come and see me," she said as she sat down at her desk by the window at the front corner of the classroom. 

Coming from the class teacher, it was a simple, reassuring statement for me. I'd read everything but understood nothing to answer the questions below the text. So I went to Mrs N with the textbook and a new favourite stationery which was the Papermate Mechanical Pencil in Black. I'd just gotten it a few days earlier and while most kids treasured their Barbies then, I loved my stationery. They were my toys. 

"Excuse me, Mrs N. I have problem answering the questions," I said to her. 

Mrs N instructed me to read the text to her and I did effortlessly. 

"Now read the first question," she asked and I did. 

"Now what's the answer for that?" she demanded in her deep authoritative tone. 

I told Mrs N that I didn't know because I couldn't understand what I had just read but she kept pressing me for it. It's like she couldn't believe what I was saying. Maybe she'd thought that I was playing a prank on her because I just read that well. But I wasn't playing a stupid prank on her and by then she had started hurting me by pinching the side of my tummy. 

The biggest blow came when she grabbed my Papermate Mechanical Pencil in Black and actually threw it out of the window from the first floor classroom. I was tearing up by then and the school bell rang just on time to save me from further damage. So much went on in my head. I hated Mrs N. Heck, I despised her. It was my first encounter with hatred and disappointment. I went down to pick up my Papermate Mechanical Pencil in Black and with a head still heavy from all that shock and hands shaking, I walked to the parking lot to my source of comfort which was my dad. I wiped away the tears and never told dad the incident. What happens in school, stays in school I believed. 

Months after the incident, I was in standard three and by then I was reading all sorts of books and notices in Malay. School books, story books, public notices...and I understood the content. My Malay has never looked back ever since. Mrs N moved on to become my standard three class teacher and many, many years later, I'm still not fond of her. 
I just don't hate her anymore. 

PS. I can't find photos on this model of  Papermate Mechanical Pencil in Black online. I'd given away the pencil to someone in the later years. 

This post is inspired by Mama Kat's prompt - Your Second Grade Teacher.