When I beat the bell into class I had remembered to bring the tickets
and program from the redemption play that I had actually attended
even if I could not remember it. I gave her the material and she told
me she would talk to me about the play after class. Whoops, that
might be the flaw in my plan, I could not answer any but the most
basic questions about the production. I knew it was at the community
college and that it had a sign in the hall in front of the theater
and there was a narrator. Beyond that I was a little more than fuzzy.
I tried to head out quickly like I had forgotten to stop and talk to
the Frau she caught me and had me come into her office to discuss my
extra credit. She asked me to thumbnail the play and the characters,
normally something I could have done with even a perfunctory viewing
but I had no idea. I started telling her about my traumatic brain
injury and my long night and my trip to the ER and she was unmoved.
She lectured me on integrity and the need for me to follow through on
my commitments. I explained to her again I was not lying I had gone
to the play but I had suffered a concussion. She said that she
couldn't give me credit for going if I couldn't remember it but that
she did reserve the right to change someone's grade if she thought
that they deserved a better because of extenuating circumstances. She
didn't explain her criteria for what she thought a deserving person
should have demonstrated but I must have. When I got my final grades
for the semester I had and A and my citizenship grade was back from a
extracurricular killing 'U' (for unsatisfactory) to an 'S'. I didn't
see much of her after I left her class but I heard she got very sick
and had to stop teaching. It is too bad because she was from the old
school where brutality was acceptable in critiques and forgiveness
was a rare treat.
