The Whispers.

The Whispers. Zou Tian Jing Class 1 Grade 8

“Boys, what did I tell you?” The school teacher spoke angrily. He was in trouble because his students did not want to study. Whenever his back was turned they were sure to begin whispering to each other.

“Girls, stop your whispering, Do you hear me!” But despite what he said they still kept whispering. He could not get them to stop. The afternoon was half over and the trouble was still growing. Then the teacher thought of a plan. “Children” he said. “We are going to play a new game. The next one that whispers must come out to the front and stand on the floor in the center here in the front of the class. Whoever gets caught must stand here until they see someone else whispering. Then they must tell me the whisper’s name and that person must come and take their place out here in the front of the class. The new whisperer that has then been caught must then watch and report when they have spotted another student whispering. So we will keep this going like this until school is over for the day.

The boy or girl who is standing at the end of the day will be punished for all of you. “What will the punishment be Mr. Johnson?” asked a bad boy. “A good thrashing” answered the teacher. He was very angry and also tired so he didn’t realize what he had said.

The children thought that the game was very funny. First off Tom whispered to Bill and was at once called out to stand at the front of the class. Less than two minutes later Bill saw Mary whispering so she had to take Bill’s place. Mary looked around and saw Mike asking his neighbor for a pencil so Mike had to take her place. And so the game went on until the clock showed that there was only ten minutes left until the lesson was over and the students would be dismissed from school.

The students realized that if they were standing at the end of the lesson that they would be thrashed good and proper by the teacher. So when they realized this they all behaved very well. They were ever so careful not to whisper to anyone about anything. No one wished to be standing at the end of the class at dismissal time. The clock could be heard ticking loudly as they was no noise at all in the class. Tom who was standing up for the forth time felt very nervous. He stood on one leg and then the other. He was watching all of us students very carefully but no one was whispering! But suddenly to Tom’s great joy he saw little Lucy lean over her desk and whisper to the girl in front of her. Lucy was the pet of the school. She was a very pretty girl, she had long hair, big blue eyes and everyone loved her. This was the first time that she had whispered for the whole day.

Tom didn’t care that that Lucy would get smashed up by the teacher. He just wished to escape the punishment. So without heart he called out in a loud voice. “Lucy Martin” he then walked off back to his seat. The entire class of students glared at him with hatred in their eyes.

Little Lucy had not meant to whisper. There was something which she wished very much to know before going home and so without thinking she had leaned over and whispered just three little words to the girl sitting in front of her. With tears welling up in her eyes she went out to the front of the class and stood in the whispers place.

Lucy was very much ashamed and hurt, for it was the first time that she had disgraced herself at school. The other girls felt sorry that she should suffer for so small a fault. The boys looked at poor little Lucy and wondered if the teacher would keep to his word and thrash Lucy.

The clock kept on ticking away. There was only one minute left till the bell would strike the time for dismissal at school. What a terrible shame that dear gentle little Lucy should be punished for all the unruly boys and girls in the class!

Then suddenly one of the most handsome boys in school that was in our class that was sitting in front of the teacher’s desk turned around squarely and whispered back to Tom three desks away. All of us girls realized that he was doing it purposely so that he would get caught and have to replace Lucy.

Everyone saw him do it. Little Lucy also saw him do it through her tears but said nothing. All the boys were astonished for that boy was the best scholar in the class and had never been known to break a rule before.

With only half a minute left to go the boy turned again and whispered so loudly that the teacher could hear him easily. It was impossible for the teacher not to hear him you could say. “Tom” he said loudly, “You deserve a good thrashing for what you did!” said Alan.

“Alan take Lucy’s place on the floor” said the teacher sternly. The brave boy stepped out quickly and smiled as little Lucy returned back to her seat still sobering. At that very moment the bell rang out the finish of the day. Yes, school was over for the day!

After all the students from our class had left the teacher took down his long birch rod and said. “Alan I suppose I must be true to my word. But tell me why you so deliberately broke the rule?” “I did it to save little Lucy.” said the handsome boy standing up straight and bravely. “I could not bear to know that Lucy would be punished so severely for her little lapse in attention. Tom was heartless and cowardly in his actions. He had been up four times for whispering.” “Alan you may go home” said the teacher. The teacher was very touched by Alan’s brave action.

For the rest of the school year Tom found that no one would speak or associate with him after he showed the type of person he was.
This story is as Lucy recollected it and retold it to me. Nowadays Lucy is happily married to her sweetheart Alan.