Manday

Robert taught fifth grade at a small elementary school located in a rural section of the county. Most of his students seldom traveled very far from home. Many had never been to Nashville even though it was only thirty miles away. For that reason he had planned a field trip to that city for them to see the Parthenon, the State Capitol, and several other interesting and educational things.

The trip was scheduled for Friday, so he began to remind them on Monday to bring a dollar to cover the cost of the bus. Most brought their money early in the week. Only a few waited until Friday. Robert was collecting the last few on that morning when Freddie Plunk handed him a note from his mother. It read:

Dear Teecher
please let freddie go on the trip. i don't have no doller to send rat now. I will send one on manday.
cassie plunk

Robert thought she'd just misspelled "Monday," so he put in a dollar for Freddie figuring he would bring it after the weekend.

He suspected that dollars were not easy to come by in the Plunk family. He knew Cassie Plunk was a single mother who did not work. He did not know how she supported herself and her son. Freddie's clothes were always clean and neat even if they were well worn. Robert had met her only a couple of times. He guessed her to be in her mid-twenties and still pretty in a country sort of way. He also guessed Freddie to be the product of a teenage indiscretion.
Anyway, about mid-morning on Monday Robert remembered the dollar. He called Freddie up to his desk. "Freddie, did you remember to bring your dollar today?"

Freddie looked a little puzzled. "No sir."

"Well, I thought the note from your mother said that you'd bring it today."

Freddie still looked puzzled, but then his face brightened, as he understood what the problem was. "Oh, no sir. She didn't say ‘Monday.' She said ‘manday.' And the man don't come ‘til Wednesday." 

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