The Message on the Board

Ms. Arce always locked her classroom at four in the afternoon and opened it again at half past seven the next morning. So on a Monday in February, she stopped at the door in surprise. On the board, in big white letters, someone had written one word: HAPY.

Her students laughed. "Somebody can't spell!" said a boy in the front row. Ms. Arce smiled and turned it into a lesson. Next to the word, she wrote HAPPY. "Two Ps," she said. At four o'clock, she didn't erase the board. She was curious.

On Tuesday morning, there was a new message: HAPPY BERTHDAY. The first word was right now. Ms. Arce wrote BIRTHDAY under the second one, and again she left it there. On Wednesday, the board said HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROSITA, and every letter was correct.

All day Wednesday, Ms. Arce was thinking hard. Somebody was learning to write, and they were learning from her corrections. But who? Only two people had a key to the room: Ms. Arce and Mr. Benito, the janitor. He cleaned the school every night from seven to ten.

That night, she stayed late. At eight, she was sitting in the library across the hall when she heard her classroom door open. She walked over quietly. Mr. Benito was standing at the board with a piece of chalk. He was writing very slowly, and he was saying each letter to himself: "F... R... O... M." He turned, saw her, and the chalk fell on the floor.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I never went to school. My granddaughter turns seven on Saturday, and I want to write her birthday card myself. I didn't erase the words because you were fixing them for me."

Ms. Arce didn't say anything. She picked up the chalk and wrote GRANDPA under his word, in big, clear letters. Then she put the chalk back in his hand and went home.