THE END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR

After Daylight Savings Time began, I was just fine with teaching high school in the Midwest. As the weeks passed and it turned to May, people would ask if I was ready for school to be out for the Summer. My reply, "Not really. This is the time I enjoy."

At 3:45 I could often be found on the first tee box at Green Hills Country Club. Rex Hodge would be taking practice swings as I hopped out of my car and grabbed a driver. I'm still one that takes no time in warming up and hitting the drive on the first hole. That's what years of experience will do. So Rex and I could get in 18 holes before dark and we could play fast. Once we played nine in one hour and five minutes. And we never rushed. There was no need when precious daylight was abundant for 18 holes. Rex and I never got in a hurry: we'd often stop to marvel at the beauty God created. It might have been a tree in Fall foliage or a bird in flight or a fish flopping in one of the ponds or lake. Sometimes we'd be joined by Mike or Sam, but most had completed their rounds by 3:45, so it was mainly us two.

So why the guillotine? Oh, that's a reminder that the school year was coming to a close. One of Courtney's classmates, Chris Mikow, made me a huge, wooden guillotine with workable blade. I always pulled out the guillotine when we reached the chapter in A Tale of Two Cities that described it in detail. Students would bring vegetable men and women to be slaughtered by the guillotine as I read from the novel. Over the years, we sliced enough cucumbers, pickles, carrots, potatoes, and tomato people to give Veggie Tales a run for their money. It was a fun activity that ended the school year memorably for those who were visual learners. It gave emphasis to Sidney Carton's great sacrifice for Lucy.

So I was never in a hurry for the school year to end. Not as long as Daylight Saving's Time was in effect. I wonder what happened to that old guillotine?