Chapter 23: The Girl in Pink

Janine Carlyle swallowed hard. She swallowed hard because she was very nervous. She was very nervous because she was up next up for the morning’s Show and Tell session in her Sixth Grade school class. Normally she really looked forward to these Show and Tell sessions and normally she had something herself that she was looking forward to ‘showing and telling’. Today, however, things were different. Today this eleven year old girl definitely had something interesting to Show and Tell - very interesting indeed! The only problem was whether or not she really wanted to Show and Tell it.

It was the young girl’s own mother that had talked her into doing what she was about to do but the young girl was very uncertain right now as to whether it was such a good idea after all. Right now her heart was pounding hard and her mouth was all dry as she quietly listened to the young boy up there at present droning on about his pet hamster called Herman. Janine listened without hearing a single word about Herman the hamster until she suddenly heard the teacher call her own name!

“Well, thankyou, Barney. Thankyou for telling us all about Herman your pet hamster. You make sure you take good care of him now. That’s a good boy. You may sit down now as Janine comes up to give us her Show and Tell story this morning. Are you ready, Janine?”

Janine’s eyes went big and round with fear when her name was called. The teacher saw this and immediately said, “It’s OK, Janine. Your mother phoned me this morning and told me what you would be doing and it is OK. You don’t have to be frightened. Come on, honey. You will be just fine. Just take your time. There is no hurry and everyone in this room will support you totally. Won’t we class?”

Everyone in the room shook their heads in agreement even though not a single one of them had the faintest idea what Janine Carlyle was about to do. Only her teacher knew that but she was just sitting patiently at her desk waiting for the young girl to come forward to Show and Tell the class herself.

When the teacher realized more fully just how frightened this young female student had become she changed tact a little bit and said quietly, “It’s OK, Janine. We can wait for another time. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. I understand completely. Talk to you mom again tonight and we can organize another morning for you to do what she is suggesting. OK, honey?”

Janine quietly nodded her head at her teacher as her teacher observed Janine’s posture relax immediately. Janine’s hands also stopped gripping the edges of the desk in front of her so tightly as a relieved smile crept across her cute little face.

Janine Carlyle was a pretty little girl and usually very confident in handling exercises that involved some sort of a public activity like speaking, singing, acting or any other variation of those themes. At this moment, however, she was displaying traits of the opposite nature. At this precise moment something had visibly shaken her and her grade school teacher had responded in all kindness and released her from the responsibility of doing what she had earlier seemed more than happy to do.

To her grade school teacher it also looked like Janine Carlyle had even dressed up for the occasion. The young girl had come to school in a beautiful pink, pleated skirt with a matching pink blouse. She was also wearing lovely, shiny black shoes with socks that matched the pink of her skirt and also the pink head band in her immaculately combed long, blonde hair. Altogether she just looked really lovely and feminine and the girl’s grade school teacher had even told her as much.

Janine’s teacher looked across at Janine in her lovely pink outfit and just smiled kindly at her. She understood completely what this girl must be going through and was not going to pressure the girl in any way what-so-ever despite the whole thing being at the encouragement of the young girl’s own mother. She would phone the girl’s mother later in the morning in the sure knowledge that the mother would also understand completely too, which she would.

As Janine Carlyle sat at her desk getting more visibly relaxed by the second the class’s teacher ranged her eyes over the rest of the class until they came to rest on another young student across the other side of the room.

“What about you, Johnny? You had something interesting to show the class, didn’t you. Why don’t you come up here now in Janine’s place and tell us all about your great grandfather’s World War 2 medals.”