No, It's Not Cool

By the time second grade rolled around
the school came up with some
new thing a 'multi-graded' classroom.
First, second, and third grade all in one room.
My teacher was Mrs. Wong
a middle-aged, Latina, married to a Chinese man
with four or five kids.
The class was all seated on the floor
while she told us a story
about how bad Communism had been
for her husband's family, in China.
"It got so bad, that my husband's brother tried to swim from China to Japan. On his way, he was attacked by sharks. They ate both of his legs right off, just tore them to ribbons. He would've died there, if a fishing boat hadn't picked him up."
"Cool!" I said, excitedly. I had been reading about sharks and shark attacks.
Mrs. Wong stopped and looked at me
with that face that she got.
The entire class turned and stared at me.
"No, Daniel...it's not cool. He barely survived and he has nightmares about it all the time."
I pictured a legless Chinese man, tossing and turning in his bed, screaming out into the night.
"...that was inappropriate. Now is there anything that you'd like to say?"
"I'm sorry, Mrs.Wong." I said, my head down.
I could feel the hard stares from my classmates.
"Thank you. Now, have any of you...."
Mrs. Wong was a good teacher
and a real nice lady
I was the insensitive asshole
that was
really, really, really, into sharks.