A Daughter's Dream by Shelley Shepard Gray

though she’d done all her homework yesterday before she left.
    â€œAnson, bring me your work, please.”
    â€œOh, man,” Anson groaned under his breath as he shuffled forward. Anson was eight and seemed like he’d rather be hunting for frogs than concentrating on what he was supposed to be doing. Lilly hid a smile. She didn’t blame the freckle-faced, towheaded boy one bit. Frogs were far more interesting than spelling lists.
    â€œHey, Lilly,” Katie whispered from her right.
    â€œJah?”
    â€œWhat did your uncle want to talk to Mrs. Mast about?”
    â€œI’m not sure. It wasn’t his idea to come up here. She sent for him.”
    â€œShe did? Oh, no! What did you do?”
    After glancing to make sure that both adults in the room were otherwise occupied, she shrugged. “I don’t know.”
    â€œHuh.”
    â€œ Jah . I wish Mrs. Mast would just come out and tell me,” Lilly said as Anson walked back to his chair.
    After smirking at Anson, Katie leaned close again. “You just started at this school. Mrs. Mast always gives everybody second and third chances when they mess up. At least she does whenever I do something wrong. I bet it ain’t nothing bad.”
    â€œI hope not,” Lilly confided. But then again, she figured if Mrs. Mast had been happy with Lilly, she would have simplycome out and told her. In her experience, only bad news was kept secret.
    â€œLilly, bring me your homework,” Mrs. Mast called out.
    The lump in her throat just got bigger. “ Jah , Mrs. Mast.” After gathering her assignments together quickly, she strode forward. She really hoped the whole class couldn’t tell that her face was bright red.
    When she got to Mrs. Mast’s desk, Lilly carefully set her papers on the empty space in front of her teacher. “Here you go.”
    Mrs. Mast picked them up. When she said nothing more, Lilly turned to leave. “ Nee , stay here, please.”
    Feeling even more ill at ease, Lilly stood silently and watched Mrs. Mast scan one paper after another.
    All too soon, Mrs. Mast set the papers down with a sigh. Then she looked at Lilly in a direct way. “How long did these assignments take you last night?”
    â€œOh, well . . .” She allowed her voice to drift off. Because, of course, she hadn’t actually done any of those papers the night before. She didn’t want to lie, but she didn’t want an honest answer to get her into further trouble.
    Her teacher continued to stare intently. Then she cleared her throat. “That wasn’t a difficult question to answer, Lilly. How long did this homework take you?”
    There was no way she could lie to Mrs. Mast now. “I . . . Well, I didn’t actually do any of that work last night.”
    â€œOh? When did you do it?”
    â€œYesterday before the end of school.”
    â€œI see.”
    â€œI wasn’t sneaking around,” she added in a rush. “I just . . . Well, I had some time.”
    After searching her face again, Mrs. Mast said, “You finished your classwork early. Didn’t you?”
    Feeling miserable, Lilly nodded.
    â€œAnd this happens a lot, doesn’t it?”
    â€œ Jah . I’m sorry.”
    But instead of looking angry, Mrs. Mast looked kind of amused. “There’s nothing to apologize for, Lilly. I’ve noticed that you are a hard worker, but that you seem to have a difficult time working hard in this classroom.”
    â€œI wouldn’t say that. I’m doing okay.”
    â€œWell, let’s be honest. The fact is that my assignments are too easy for you. You are not getting enough work to challenge your mind. That’s not good.”
    To admit that she found the work too easy seemed like she was bragging. “It’s not just your class. It’s always been that way.”
    â€œI thought that might be the case. That’s why I gave your old teacher a call.