The Peanut Butter Sandwich

 

Joanne was fidgeting at the back of the class. In fact the back of the class was not her usual place to sit because she loved being right at the front where she could see and hear everything her teacher was doing and saying. On top of that, she could smell the sweet aroma of the peanut butter sandwich that her mum had packed into her lunch bag that morning. Joanne really loved peanut butter sandwiches, especially when her mum put blueberry jelly between the slices. She really really wanted to eat the sandwich. Now Joanne wasn’t hungry at all as her mum had given her a very lovely breakfast that morning and she had also given her a mid-morning snack for her 15 minute break so really the sandwich was for her lunch. Joanne was finding it very hard to wait for lunch time to come. She kept looking at the clock at the front but time seemed to move so slowly.

 

The lesson for the morning was about verbs and tenses, but verbs and tenses were the last thing on Joanne’s mind, she kept opening her lunch bag to gaze lovingly at the sandwich, it seemed to be calling her. Finally she could not resist anymore, she slowly opened the foil the sandwich was wrapped in without making any noise whatsoever, because she didn’t want to be caught by the teacher. One of the class rules was that there was to be absolutely no eating in class and Miss Spence was very strict about that rule. Joanne pinched a tiny piece from the corner and quickly popped it into her month. Uhhhhhhmmmm. Yum, yum. She gave a little sigh, blissfully unaware that someone was watching her. Just as she reached in to get a second piece her friend Ewan whispered,

 

“I am going to tell on you if you don’t give me some of that sandwich”

 

Joanne was torn, she didn’t want to be caught out by the teacher but she really didn’t want to share her sandwich, she wasn’t a mean person, it’s just that when it came to peanut butter sandwiches, it was very very hard for her to share. After thinking about it for about three minutes she reluctantly broke a small bit off and handed it to Ewan. But that was not the end of it, because you see Ewan also loved peanut butter sandwiches and he wanted more and so he asked Joanne for another piece and again told her that he was going to tell. Joanne was getting very annoyed and upset by this but said to him,

 

“This is the last bit Ewan, I am not giving you anymore because I won’t have any left for my lunch”.

 

Ewan took the bit of sandwich and then said

 

“This is not enough. I want more or else ….”

 

This time Joanne didn’t care, under no circumstance was she going to give Ewan anymore. She whispered very sharply.

 

“ No Ewan, you have had enough, I am not giving you anymore”

 

To her surprise she saw Ewan raise his hand and then she heard

 

“Miss Spence”

 

“Yes Ewan, do you have a question”.

 

“No Miss Spence, it’s just that Joanne is at the back of class and she just broke one of your rules. She was eating her peanut butter sandwich.”

 

Miss Spence and the other children looked to the back of the class instantly. There was a lot of buzz and talk because Joanne was usually the best behaved little girl in class, in fact they called her miss goody too shoes, so you can imagine their surprise on hearing that she was eating and breaking a rule. Joanne sat very still, what was she going to do? This was so embarrassing, if only Ewan had kept quiet. She watched as Miss Spence slowly walked through the rows of desk and stopped right in front of her desk. Then she heard the question

 

“Joanne… were you eating in my class?”

 

What was she going to say? Joanne had been taught to always tell the truth.. in fact she could not remember ever lying but to be asked the question in front of everyone, how terrible, and do you know what Joanne said? Well she didn’t tell the truth at all, in fact Joanne said

 

“No Miss Spence,,, I wasn’t eating”

 

but Joanne wasn’t a very good liar because she couldn’t look Miss Spence in the eye at all so Miss Spence knew instantly that she was lying so she said

 

“Joanne I don’t really believe you, let me smell your breath to check”.

 

You would think that at that moment Joanne would tell the truth because it’s pretty hard to hide the smell of peanut butter especially after you have just eaten it but she still didn’t tell the truth, she opened her mouth and what do you know, the teacher could smell the peanut butter. Ewan was busy chatting away to the teacher and she suddenly turned and said

 

“Ewan, you also smell like you were eating peanut butter in fact both of you broke the rules”.

 

Miss Spence decided that Joanne and Ewan would spend their lunch break in her office as punishment not just because they broke the no eating rule but also because they lied. So the next time you are tempted to break the rules or tell a little lie, just remember Joanne and the peanut butter sandwich because breaking a rule led to her lying and getting into trouble.