Lesson Plan

by Douglas Soesbe

About the Author: Douglas Soesbe recently wrote the feature film BOULEVARD, the final starring role for Robin Williams. He has also published two paperback novels, CHILDREN IN A BURNING HOUSE, 1987, Knights Press, and SCREAM PLAY, 1990. Charter-Diamond, Berkley.

Excerpt

The teacher might have guessed he had a penchant for murder, simply by the aggressive manner with which he used his pen. Miles Becker, sitting at his tidy classroom desk, wielded the pen with its blood red ink like the weapon it had become. It brought him joy to declare a sloppy student essay as worthy of an “F.”

There, young man, young lady, I have assigned your work a value. Life is not easy, life is not fair. Only hard work and determination will out.

Mr. Becker had taught English at Wolverton High School for twenty-five years. Often, as he drove up to the school, precisely at seven, for another round of fiercely regimented English classes, he imagined they might one day place a statue of him at the entrance. He pictured such a bronze devotion to his skill, not unlike the Lady Liberty who welcomed the poor and wretched. His statue would describe an impeccably dressed man holding a thick volume, preferably Shakespeare, his specialty. His expression would be serious, intimidating, suggesting he was indeed the roadblock a lazy student might encounter on the road to graduation.

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