I chewed on the sides of my tongue. Had to choose my next words like each one was a footstep in a minefield. The trap hadn’t snapped yet but I hadn’t gotten the cheese, either. “I’ve never worn diapers during my time here at Oakshire Elementary.” Such a stupid way to phrase it, but anything more absolute would be nitpicked and used to try and justify shoving me in a bug zapper.
“Why would he write that?”
Beouf held her hand out to shut me up before I responded. “That’s not important,” she said.
Janet spoke up. “We did a special lesson today, Mr Gibson,” she said. “It was about the difference between fiction and lying” She was talking to me, but looking directly at Mrs Brollish. “About how fiction doesn’t hurt people because it admits that the story isn’t true up front.”
“Yes ma’am…” Jeremy muttered, even though he wasn’t being addressed. He looked at me and his face hardened. Who knew such hate could come off an eight year old.
“I had my class do a special writing prompt to see if they absorbed the lesson. The prompt was to talk about a time when you or someone else you knew lied and what happened because of it.” Janet looked towards me. “May I read some of them to you, Mr Gibson?”
I dared to hope. “Yes…?”
Janet reached over Jeremy’s head and took a handful of papers from Mrs Brollish. Brollish looked absolutely disgusted with herself as she released the evidence.
“Lies are when you say things that aren’t true to either hurt people or to help only yourself,” Janet read. “My friend Jeremy was telling me at lunch last week about how he made up a story that Mr Gibson wore diapers and acted like a Little baby at school. That is a lie though and it could hurt Mr Gibson and if another adult heard it and believed it Mr Gibson could get in trouble and end up in the baby Little class with the Little babies and that is not where Mr Gibson should be. Mr Gibson is a good teacher and should be teaching the pre-k kids.”