The "Noel Y." Story

It was an ordinary day. My 1st period photography class was just about over. Today I had Noel Y. in class. Years before I had coached Noel in Little League baseball. I always pitched batting practice to my 13-14 year old players. One day Noel hit a line drive at me and broke my finger. The next day at practice I told Noel, "One day I'll get even with you!", just joking with him. Well, here we are in 1st period class with a few minutes left before the bell. "Tell us a story, Mr. Woods" one said. The students always loved to hear my family stories, since I had all 3 of my children in class and all my students knew at least one of them. I told the story of how all three of my kids were ill at one time or another with mono. "My youngest son was in the hospital for a few days because he was so ill, my daughter missed over a week of class because of her illness, but my oldest son really had it bad. He was in the hospital for a few days and when he came home he developed a large lump the size of a softball on his neck from the mono. Back to the hospital where they drained the lump and put a tube in his neck so it could be re-drained when necessary. It was so gross that my wife had to....." Just then I heard a crash next to me. Noel Y. was on the floor. The room went quiet. I sent a student for the nurse and cleared the students from the area around Noel. I got down on the floor to examine him to see if he had hurt himself from the fall off his stool. No visible marks so I wiped his forehead with my handkerchief. He opened his eyes and looked at me and apoligized for passing out. It seems he had no breakfast that day and the story was too much for him. After realizing he was going to be fine I helped him to a sitting position so he could rest against the cabinets until the nurse arrived. I looked him in the eye and said, "Now we're even!" The students were astonished I would say something like that to him, but Noel got a big smile on his face and said "Yep." Just another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. LDub