"She didn't have a leg to stand on"

St. Mary's School was a Family Affair....my father met my mother there when they were in the 2nd or 3rd grade. Yes, that is how long they knew each other. The weirdest thing is, I had some of the same teachers my parents did and even stranger is the fact the teachers remembered them, for different reasons. When I entered the 2nd half of the 7th grade (let me explain that...in those days the grade was divided into two terms..example 7A and 7B....and each class was in a different room with a different teacher.) When I entered 7B Miss Kelly was our teacher. She was the scariest teacher in the school...very strict, no personality, and MEAN looking. she always wore blouses and skirts and always wearing a broach on the blouse. She was thin, with grey hair and wore glasses and I do not remember her ever smiling. My first day in her class was very uncomfortable, everyone was scared SXXtless and now I realize that is how she wanted it. The first day she called me up to her desk. I nearly wet myself...she looked at me and asked is your mother the Prudente girl ?....I nodded and she said, you had better take after your mother and NOT your father..I said okay and was dismissed and told to return to my seat. That night when I told my mother, she told me the story of Miss Kelly and my father. It was rumored that Miss Kelly had a wooden leg and when my father was in her class, he once took his ruler and tapped on her leg to see if it was true....well, he found out it was not true when she turned and slapped him...and he was not one of her favorite pupils that term....I have to say that looking back, she was a very good teacher and everything she did was for our benefit. Actually she taught us to think and question, and at that time, due to our upbringing, were things we were not encouraged to do...I earned very high marks in her class and at the end of the term she whispered in my ear, "Happy you took after your mother", I think there was a smile on her lips, but I was never sure.....guess she still had it in for my father .....Thanks Miss Kelly..