There are many memories I have that flood my brain from time to time, but none as poignant as the one I experienced in my Grade 3 class in 1961. That day forever defined how I viewed and respected other people’s property.
That day began as any other elementary school day with Mrs. Beet, our teacher conducting our class. When the bell rang for lunch, our books were put away in our desks and the students retrieved our lunches from the cloakroom. After eating lunch, most of the pupils left the classroom to go outside to play. Our teacher had left to join the other teachers in the staff room for lunch. As there were only a few kids left in our classroom, this opened up an opportunity that I could not pass up.
Earlier that morning, Wilfred, one of the students had been playing with a toy derringer pistol and wasn’t paying attention to Mrs. Beet. In response, she asked him to hand her the pistol and she placed it in the center drawer of her desk, indicating that she would return it to him later.
