A missionary came to visit St. Albert’s and brought a slide show with her about where she had been working for the past few years. Missionaries spoke to the school once or twice a year at St. Albert’s so it was common and the Class of ’75 always enjoyed the break it gave from real school. The little friends would often ask the missionary questions to try to extend this break to the next recess. However on this day, the little friend’s horseplay went a little too far.
The missionary had a slide show to present and had type written notes to aid her in the presentation. Slide one would have a couple comments written in her notes, slide two would have a couple comments written in her notes, and so on. While she was setting up, the Principal came to the room and gave the missionary a great big hug and the missionary, the teacher, and the Principal stepped just outside the door to talk a little in private. The door was cracked so any sound the class would make would be heard and there would probably be trouble, but on this day the teacher and principal’s attention was not really on the class, it was in welcoming the missionary to St. Albert school.
As the three exchanged pleasantries just outside the classroom door, Bob K, who was sitting closest to the projector, quietly rearranged the missionary’s slides so that they were hopelessly out of order. As the missionary, the teacher, and the Principal came in from the hall, the missionary began her presentation by telling us all about where she came from. She was very pleasant and when the little friends began raising their hands she replied “oh, I bet you have questions and I bet you would love to keep asking them till recess” she said in a joking manner. The little friends and the class responded with a big fun “YES” and the Principal (who decided to stay and watch the missionary’s presentation) was simply glowing with pride as her missionary pal had the class in the palm of her hands.
The missionary then told the class “sorry, no more questions, I am going to show you a brief slide show now and then turn you back over to your teacher who will continue your studies till recess”. The class responded with the traditional “Awwwwww” as the missionary approached the projector. “Sister, would you shut off the lights please” the missionary asked the Principal (who was still standing by the door right next to the light switch), “students, keep your eyes on the screen” and with that the Principal turned off the lights. All the students in the class faced the screen that was now in front of the chalkboard except Pat U, who was turned completely around at his desk watching the projector with a big grin on his face. Pat was the only little friend not allowed to pick his own seat. He had been relegated to the front corner desk since the beginning of the year. The logic behind this was obvious; the nuns and teachers wanted to keep Pat at the front to limit his mischief. A bonus benefit for the nuns having Pat up front was that whenever Pat had to get up for whatever punishment they had lined up for him, none of the other students were disrupted since he was in the front corner closest to the door.
The Principal, by turning off the lights, had now moved directly behind Pat but looking toward the screen. The hum of the slide projector fan was the only sound being heard in the classroom as the little friends were completely straight faced, silent, and staring at the blank projector screen that they knew – in a few seconds – would be providing them ample entertainment.
The missionary walked away from the projector carrying a wired remote which she clicked and the first slide was displayed. The missionary began talking about the lack of food and farms as a picture of a lake was displayed. The missionary caught this immediately, said nothing, and clicked the next picture which was a photograph of a small school house with kids.
The missionary went back to the projector and pulled out the third slide and tried holding it up to see what it was, but because the lights were off in the room she had trouble making it out. With this bit of awkwardness the first rounds of giggles began emanating from the class.
“Oh my” she exclaimed, “it appears the slides are out of order” and with that the lights went on, and there was the Principal with a look of “very unhappy” on her face. She was still standing behind Pat but this time she was no longer facing the screen up front but looking at the classroom, right at the center of the class where the projector was on and humming. The contrast between the look on the Principal’s face and the grin on Pat’s were frightening and for a moment the little friends feared for Pat who was oblivious to the Principal being behind him with a very upset look on her face.
“Who did this?” the Principal spoke in a stern voice. Pat’s grin immediately disappeared as he turned toward the unhappy Principal who was more upset than ever at what had just transpired. She could not comprehend that this class was so callous as to do this to a missionary.
“It’s my fault Sister” the missionary replied, realizing that she was the little friends only line of defense against the Principal at this time. The teacher certainly wasn’t going to protect them. In fact the teacher was looking at the Principal with an “I told you so” look that confirmed that.
The Principal again asked out in an even more stern voice “I want to know who did this and I want to know right now”. And with that Bob K stood up and accepted blame.
“I want you to march down to the office right now young man” and Bob obliged and walked quickly out of the room, probably happy to be out of the Principal’s range at least for the moment. The Principal then looked around and pointed at another student who had a smile on his face and told him to stand and go to the office. The student stood up shocked with his mouth open, looking around for support but only finding the little friends with their faces buried in their school books in the way an ostrich would bury its head in sand to avoid danger.
“But I didn’t do anything wrong sister” the student pleaded, but his guilt was already established in the Principal’s mind.
“You’ve been involved in everything that has gone wrong at this school” the Principal said as she pointed toward the door and the student walked frustratingly to the door and out to the office. And with that the class of the visiting missionary came to an unceremonious close that day as the students went back to their studies with their student count minus two due to the missionary incident.
