The Traitor

My family and I had moved back to Canada at the end of December from Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. onto a quiet cul-de-sac in Oakville, Ontario. Having just turned five years old, I was to attend morning kindergarten at Lorne Skuce Elementary, which I have confirmed in recent years was quite a long walk from my new house. One of my father’s new co-workers lived with his family at the end of our street and my parents arranged for his daughter, Susan, who was in Grade 8 at Lorne Skuce to walk with me to school and back at lunch each day. It might have been March when this routine was interrupted by illness and Susan was unable to go with me. My mother insisted that I knew the route well enough to walk there by myself. Being the eldest with three younger siblings (two sisters and a three-month-old brother) and my mother’s being unable to drive, I can understand now why she might have been reluctant to make any other suggestion. However, I had other plans! As the day was overcast but mild, I hid beside my house. Being only six, not only did I not wear a watch, I also could not tell time. I waited for what I thought was an interminably long time until I felt a) I just had to go to the bathroom, and b) it surely must be lunch time! I cheerfully went back into the house as though I had returned from school. I do not remember feeling terribly overwhelmed that my mother had fallen for this deception, but I also do not remember her admonishing me severely. My plan had worked! The next day Susan was well enough to take me to school. My mother gave me a note to give to my teacher, which I naively and gladly did. A few minutes into the class, Mrs. Adams called out my name and waved my mother’s letter telling me that she was very disappointed in me. My mother, the “traitor”, had written to Mrs. Adams that I had not gone to school!! This incident was to have a profound effect on me and I was reminded of the feeling of guilt I had any time I felt the urge to miss a class – even in University!

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