All for Mr. Redman

*This is my very first story. I have never posted anything before but decided it was about time I did. I apologize in advance for my errors in grammar and spelling. I have tried very hard to correct them, but this is not my first language. I hope you enjoy this story. It is based in on true events. Obviously, names have been changed to protect the guilty 🙂

I am a third generation Japanese Canadian. I come from a more or less typical family. I have an older brother and a younger sister. Being in the middle actually is actually not that big a problem for me. My parents are really good people and have been an inspiration to me in many things. I was raised Roman Catholic so of course went to Catholic schools all my life.

I once had a crazy dream of wanting to attend Notre Dame in the States but that didn’t happen. It was too far away for my family and to be honest I really didn’t want to leave Canada. I did get to see the Campus there though and would have enjoyed it I think. I have since graduated from College and work in medicine now.

I am 5’3” tall, 105lbs and I have long black hair. I am slender measuring 32b-22-30. I have brown eyes. No tattoos or piercings, other than my ears. I have loved swimming all my life. I still swim everyday.

I studied violin all the way through elementary school and high school. I also was active in gymnastics. To my mothers dismay I didn’t really take to figure skating but instead wanted to play hockey. I was always the smallest girl on the team and eventually found myself playing goal. I am still good at that and have excellent reflexes and enjoy playing. I still play for fun to this day. My father enrolled me in martial arts when I was five. In school I always did my best and enjoyed high school for the most part.

One of my favourite teachers was Mr. Redman. He was my science teacher three times. He was my home room teacher the very first day. Like any Grade 9 student my first day was hell pretty much. I didn’t know anybody and everyone seemed to be in such a rush. The place seemed huge to me and kind of cold. I was excited to be there but was also nervous with all the typical self doubts.

As the school collectively began the walk to the church for opening Mass I looked around at all these people and felt daunted by it and was focused on my doubts when a shadow fell over me. I looked up and Mr. Redman was staring down at me. He smiled at me and said “First days always suck.” I just laughed. He said “Dont worry so much, its written all over your face. I have two secrets for you. First, all these kids are just as nervous as you and probably wondering about things just like you. Second, even teachers get nervous on the first day of school.” I smiled and said “You don’t look nervous.” He chuckled and said “I am, its my first day teaching.” he smiled and then moved off to go deal with some guys who were horsing around. I watched him go and that was when I decided I liked him.

During that semester in his class I spent a lot of time watching him. He was funny, very popular with all of us, and he was a really good teacher. I think being new made him really enthusiastic and we were all caught up in it. I did extremely well in his class. He was right about other things too. I made friends, had fun and got involved in all sorts of things such as sports and some club activities. Even at that age I noticed he was not married. Of course, all the girls had crushes on him. Smart, good looking, funny as hell and genuine.

I lucked out due to scheduling issues and class volumes, and in grade ten ended up having Mr Redman as my teacher again in second semester. He had not changed at all and I was so happy to have him as a teacher again. He was my favourite teacher that year and I admit I had a silly crush on him. I don’t know if he realized it or not, nothing he ever did indicated it. Of course he was friendly and did a great job as a teacher, but nothing beyond that.

In Grade 11 I didn’t have him as my science teacher, but of course always said hi when I saw him and he would stop and ask me how things were when he had time. I just liked him more and more. I choose to do summer school classes during each summer in order to ensure I had every opportunity to boost my marks and up my credit count. I was on the honour roll and I admit, total geek, loved school. I had friends in every clique in the school and basically seemed to know everyone.

During that summer I was lucky enough to have Mr. Redman as my teacher for Biology. During the summer we don’t wear uniforms and don’t even use our regular high school. Students attending from all over the board went to one highschool for it and they always used a centrally located one. I was the exception in many ways. Few people attended voluntarily, most were trying to make up for a course they got burned in. It was funny how many people from my own school would come to me for help and I enjoyed it. If I could help someone I did.

Mr. Redman noticed this and started a peer tutoring sort of program. He paired up stronger students with those who were struggling. About a week before summer school ended Mr. Redman asked me to see him after class. It was weird because he served tea and asked me all about my plans for after graduation. He was particularly interested in if I had decided to become a teacher perhaps. I told him that I hoped to get into the medical field and he was happy about that too. We talked for about a half an hour. At no time did he try anything, he was just really cool to chat with and never did anything that made me feel uncomfortable. He had left the door open and just seemed interested. He told me I was an excellent student and how proud he was of all my hard work. I left there on cloud nine. I still had the crush on him and he was proud of me. I was so happy and distracted that I did the ultra cool move of walking into a pillar. I’m so glad no one saw that.

In Grade 12 I took two advanced science class and was lucky enough to get him in second semester for Chemistry. It was my final semester of high school. I worked my butt off to be honest. I knew I had a good shot at three really good universities and didn’t want to screw it up. I got my letters of acceptance and that is when it hit me that high school for me was basically over. I remember looking at Mr Redman while he was teaching and thinking I would probably never see him again. It was actually upsetting to me and hurt. As we came closer to final exams I focused hard on that, but every time I would see Mr. Redman I felt loss.

As the last day of classes approached I had decided to say something to him, anything, to let him know how much he meant and how grateful I was for everything he had done for me. I knew he liked tea and often has a cup on the go in class. So, I went and bought him a tea set that I thought he would appreciate and carefully wrapped it. I figured if I chickened out I would just hand him the gift and make a break for the door. Basically I was really nervous.

That last day I walked into class and everyone was wired. It was the last day before exams. Some people were panicking looking for anything his final review might do to help them. I was panicking for my own reasons. I had never acted like this. I should point out I had been a dates but was by no means some sort of secretly skilled seductress. I didn’t even know what I wanted from him. I had some pretty wild ideas, like I would give this to him, he would confess his love sweep me off my feet and carry me off into the sunset to live happily ever after. Pretty ludicrous stuff.

When class ended I hung back a bit and waited. Mr Redman said his farewells to some and was wishing everyone luck. I just waited until the room emptied. Mr. Redman just smiled as I walked up to him. He told me he would miss having me in class and wished me luck in University. I could not even look him in the face. I just pulled the gift out of my bag and handed it to him. I was so nervous I even bowed slightly as I gave it to him. He said that the gift was not necessary and asked if he could open it. I mumbled something eloquent like “Um sure.” and he unwrapped it. I had to look up to see his face and did so as he saw what it was. He got a huge beaming smile and asked how the hell I knew he collected tea sets. I stammered out that he is always drinking tea and I thought a new set for him was a good idea. He smiled at me and said it was lovely and extremely kind of me. We stared at each other and I saw his eye brow move slightly. It was like he just realized how I was staring at him. I quickly spoke really fast saying how great a teacher he was and how much I admired him and loved having him as a teacher and how he was the kindest teacher ever and just rambled on like I was an auctioneer on crack. When i finally stooped speaking i looked back at the floor. I was screaming at myself inside about being a dork, a moron, an idiot, how stupid I look.

Then he put his hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him and he was smiling and said “Sachiko you deserve every good thing this world has to offer. You have been a joy to teach and I will miss you.” He gave me a hug and it was just a friendly hug, like a brotherly one. I know I took a really deep breath and exhaled.