Dear Editor,

Last night I stepped out and gave in to my weakest treat, the Dairy Queen Mister Misty Freeze. I can go forever without them and then bam, I think of one and have to have it. Usually I will have two in the same week and then I can go for months without them again.

While waiting for it to be made, I saw an elderly couple come walking in. They came up beside me and I looked at the man and saw something I recognized. I looked at her and thought she was someone I knew also.

I asked her if she was so and so and she said no. I told her she had a twin out there and we both laughed. She began to tell me that her husband was a teacher at one time at Lincoln School here in Warsaw.

Then I knew instantly who they were, especially him. Those eyes, those deep, blue eyes. He had been my fifth grade teacher and I had the biggest crush on those eyes. I was always thrilled to sit up front so I could sit and stare at him.

She told him I was one of his students and he asked my name. I told him, but it didn’t ring a bell. He asked some of the students names who had been in my class. This took a thinking cap, but I came up with a couple of names.

We both laughed when he made a crack about it only being 10 years ago. He asked, “Has my voice changed much?”

“Oh just a little,” I said. Then in a deep voice he said, “Terry, get back in your seat and quit talking.” We both roared in laughter as the old, familiar words came running back to me.

Yes, those was his famous words to me. I talked too much in his class and I talked too much in every class throughout elementary years. He gave me a pat on the shoulder and told me to be good the rest of my life and I promised I would try.

That just made my day. I went back to my seat with my treat and actually had to put that thinker cap back on to try to figure out about how old he is today. I must say that age has not ruined those good looks of his nor his deep, blue eyes. It was great to run into you Mr. Gene Butts, my fifth grade teacher.

Terry Shepherd
Warsaw