Chapter 21

21

The weekend went by quickly for Abraham Lincoln Panim, and the glow of his first real workweek was still as bright as could be.

Once the school reopened, he and Mrs. Panim went to school together, as they had the previous week, and the mother and son both went to the office together as they had the previous week.

As they entered, Mr. Panim went directly to the front desk, as her son strode in behind her.

“Oh, it looks like you have the same assignment as last week, as the regular teacher is still out,” she told her son. “He might be out just today, but whatever the case, it’s your class again.”

Abraham Lincoln Panim smiled under his scarf, because he knew if he could handle the assignment one week, he certainly could do it again, for however long it took.

And this time, he went up to the room himself.

He opened the door, and as has been the norm from his first day, the students were milling about the room. As “Mr. Abraham” walked into the room, Melissa, who had a crowd around her, opened her eyes even wider than they normally were.

“Good morning, Mr. Abraham,” she said. “I guess you are going to be our sub again?”

“That’s right, I am going to be your teacher again,” Abraham Lincoln Panim said to her as he confidently strode to the desk, and started to read the roll call of students in the class, one after the other.

“Melissa—“

“Oh yes, Mr. Abraham, I am here. I wouldn’t miss today’s class for anything with you here,” she said in a snickering tone, as the rest of the class giggled along with her.

“Mr. Abraham” simply passed by her remark and continued to read off the roll. When he was finished, he began to write some lessons on the blackboard, turning his back to the class.

As he turned his back to the class, Melissa quietly turned to the rest of the class, shook her head, and nearly all of them shook their own heads too.

The morning went quickly for “Mr. Abraham” and his class. He did all the lessons that needed to be done, collected some homework he had given them, and it quickly reached the lunch hour.

“OK, class, we will pick up on this after lunch,” Abraham Lincoln Panim said as the bell rang for the lunch break. When the bell rang, all the students got up from their seats and left the class pretty much in unison.

“See you after lunch,” Melissa said, laughing with some of her classmates as they left the classroom.

When no one was in the class except for him, Abraham Lincoln Panim took out his lunch and began to eat, and think a bit.

“Maybe I can make a real go at this,” he said. “Maybe I have found something that I can do for a long time.”