Dear Beatrisa,

It’s day three of winter break, and I’m grading midterms. As I’m working, all I can hear over and over in my head is your refrain during the test:

“Koala, koala, koala.”

I could not, for the life of me, figure out why you were repeatedly chanting about a marsupial under your breath during the Language Arts test. Exasperated, I threatened to take up your exam if you continued to be a distraction to your class.

Without missing a beat, you looked up at me and said, “but Miss, all these questions are about a koala, and there isn’t a koala story in our whole packet.”

Mortified, I flipped through your test and discovered that you were right. The test had miscopied. Your diligent reading and insistent chanting saved the day. I was able to recopy the test and avoid a major disaster on the midterm.

Even though we had to sacrifice my sanity to get there, thank you for saving the exam. I owe you one!

All my love,

-Ms. Jackson