The pen flew across the page,
guided by the ceaseless thoughts and words rushing through my mind
I scribbled furiously.

Afraid to pause,
to stop for even a moment as I understood how delicate those thoughts are,
how easy it is to lose the train of thought.

Pleased with the most satisfied piece of work yet,
I cleared my throat.

"Jerald, can u stop what ur doing for a moment?"

The cute boy pushed his specs up his nose,
obediently closed his book
and scooted closer to me.

I went through his essay.

He wrote a rather satisfactory story on a group of friends who went ski-ing in the mountains
and had the misfortune of running into an avalanche.

Careful of the boy's pride,
I was very diplomatic.

I praised him endlessly and was extremely encouraging.

Well, he certainly deserves it,

from writting compos that made my eyes pop out,
puke blood
and froth at the mouth,
he has progressed to writting essays that....

shall we say.... kept me feeling resonably healthy.

Now,
the only problem that I'm having with his work
is his last paragragh.

Clinical.
Sterile.

So after going through his compo,
I asked him to re-read his ending,
and compare it to mine.

I racked my brains,
I mean, who would have thought that teaching compos could be so hard?
I was trying to out it across to him how important a good ending is
as it can make all the difference leaving a wonderful impression
and most importantly,

it can make the marker forget whatever horror he had read earlier on.

"So?" I asked him, "what's the difference between urs and mine?Besides me being more long-winded?"
(okok, I tried to joke with him)

He was silent, with an intense frown creasing his forehead.

I waited.

"How about comparing ur thoughts, feelings after reading urs, and mine?" I prompted.

Silence.
Plus he was frowning so hard, I was beginning to worry.

"Ok, how do you feel, or wat goes thru ur head after u read urs?"

"Nothing."

"uh-huh.Nothing right?"

He nodded.

"Great, now compare, wat about after u read mine?"

I held my breath.
I was ready to jump in and put my point across about how emotionally packed my ending was,
how intense,
and compare the feelings evoked.

Ok...I'm a narcissist, so sue me!

He was silent for a long time again.

"Anything?Even if u felt that it was boring, or u were irritated at wat an emotional wreck my character is, just say it, don't worry, I"m thick-skinned enough for anything u are about to say" I encouraged.

I was very proud of my work,
and was very sure that whatever came out would be good.

My smile became brighter.

He squirmed.

"Nothing."

!!!!!

My smile freezed
and I had an Ally McBeal moment
where a sudden image of my smile literally freezing and shattering crossed my mind.

So much for being proud of my literary prowess.
So much for sparing a thought for his feelings.
So mush for "one good turn deserves another"

Hello?

Dear boy, here's ur first lesson on the opposite sex.

never EVER take wat a girl says at face value.

NEVER.