Jahnna N. Malcolm Quote

Would you care to share with the rest of the class what is so funny?Madison gulped. Ms. Healy was staring hard at Madison’s PalmPilot, which was absolutely forbidden in class, along with cell phones, CD players, and any other distracting electrical equipment.Madison instantly started vamping. Well, Ms. Healy, I was just musing on how ridiculous a scarlet would be today, and who would have to wear one--senators, actors, teachers, even a few of our presidents. In fact, there would probably be more people wearing the scarlet letter than not wearing it.Ms. Healy’s cold blue eyes looked huge through her extra-magnified glasses. This is funny?Madison swallowed hard. I guess it’s really more ironic, wouldn’t you say?Ms. Healy, who knew Madison as a straight-A, straight-shooter kind of student, softened a little. ‘Ironic’ is indeed the perfect word for it, she said with a brisk nod. Now put the personal digital assistance away and pay attention, Ms. McKay.As Ms. Healy walked back to the front of the room, Henry Cooney, Madison’s partner in chem lab, mouthed the words, Nice save.Madison wiped some imaginary sweat off her forehead with her hand and tried to focus once again on the lecture. She forced herself to keep her eyes glued to Ms. Healy and soon found herself wondering what had turned the teacher into such an old grump. She was clearly smart and sometimes very funny, in a droll sort of way. Take away those awful glasses, let her hair out of that tight metal barrette at her neck, and Ms. Healy could almost be considered attractive. Maybe she’d had some brush with failed love that had made her go sour. Or worse yet--what if she had had any brush with love at all, and this dried-up old prune was what Ms. Healy had become?