Chapter 8 – Honesty or Love
Lizboa studied hard for the oral arithmetic. She answered numerous questions without doing rough work in class, and secretly asked Bianca to help her do a mock test for oral arithmetic.
Bianca asked curiously, “Why?”
Lizboa shrugged, and said, “Just want to improve myself and get ready for the next arithmetic test.”
That night, at dinner, Lizboa heard Miss Kellie ask Miss Granger, “Henrietta, you’ve already put the papers for the scholarship test tomorrow on my desk?”
“Yes,” said Miss Granger. Little did she know that this one word led to Lizboa’s loathsome act.
While everyone was in bed, snugly sleeping under the covers, Lizboa crept out and groped her way to Miss Kellie’s study. She slowly opened the door, and turned on her flashlight. To her joy she saw a stack of test papers, titled: Math Scholarship Test, 16th May.
She started reading the questions. Just as she was reading the last question…
The cupboard door in the study flung open, and a black ball of fur attached itself to Lizboa’s leg. Startled, Lizboa realized that it was Miss Kellie’s cat. Lizboa was terrified of cats and here was one, its paws scratching her white-as-snow legs!
She screamed, upsetting a pile of exercise books on the desk. They slammed onto the wooden floor, which unfortunately was also the ceiling of Miss Caty’s bedroom.
Miss Caty awoke, wondering if it was one of Miss Kellie’s late nights, on which she stayed up very late marking books. But no – hadn’t Miss Caty seen a groggy Miss Kellie in pajamas going into the bedroom which Miss Granger and Miss Kellie shared?
Miss Caty felt a little nervous and anxious. Was it burglars? She put on her gown and slippers, and walked up to the next floor. She saw a light shining out of Miss Kellie’s study. She opened the door, and saw Lizboa there…
“What have you been doing here, my dear?” asked Miss Caty gently.
Lizboa had the shock of her life. She went white, and dropped her flashlight, making another clatter. “I…I can’t possibly tell you,” she stammered, finally finding her tongue.
Miss Caty picked up the flashlight, and shone it over the paper. “Have you been reading these questions, Lizboa?”
Lizboa covered her face, and rushed down the stairs to her own dormitory, crying. Oh, her Granny was going to lose her eyesight! How could she have been so foolish? She might have known that she would be punished some way or the other for cheating. She wouldn’t have a chance to compete for the scholarship. She wouldn’t have a chance to get the 50 000 dollars and mail it to her Granny. She wouldn’t have a chance to save her Granny’s sight.
Sobbing, she fell asleep.
The next morning in the announcements and notices session before the lessons started, Miss Caty asked Lizboa to see her in first period, which was Art. Lizboa secretly prayed for Miss Caty to go on with the notices forever, so that she would never have to stand up and face the headmistress.
But of course the announcements didn’t go on forever, and the time came when Lizboa had to see Miss Caty. Her legs shaking, Lizboa went to the head’s room.
When Lizboa was seated in an arm chair, not daring to look at Miss Caty, who was sitting at her desk, Miss Caty asked gravely, “I don’t even need to hope that my acknowledgement of the happenings last night was wrong, for I know it was right. But Lizboa, why did you have to cheat?”
Lizboa cried softly; she couldn’t bear to talk. Miss Caty said gently, “There’s no need to be scared, Lizboa.”
Lizboa finally found her tongue. She sobbed, “My grandma has cataracts and she can have a surgery that will cure her, but it costs so much. So I have to win that scholarship so that there will be money for the surgery. But I’m no good at Math! I can do brilliantly well at mental arithmetic, but for written I’m awful. So I thought for someone so important, someone who cares for me so much, cheating to save her sight wouldn’t be wrong. But I see now – it is wrong after all, and my stupidity will actually have the contrary effect – my Granny will be blind!”
Miss Caty took this in, and she nodded gravely after Lizboa had said every sentence. She thought for a moment, and said, “What talent do you have?”
Lizboa wiped her tears with her sleeve, and said, “Well, I’m quite good at tennis and swimming. And I like nature, though I’m never that good at it.”
Miss Caty said, “Well, Lizboa, there is a way for you to get money for your Granny. I’ve heard that your games are really excellent, and that you have improved greatly since earlier this term under the supervision of our games mistresses. Esther, our games captain, said that at the beginning of the term she could only put you on the second team, but now she confesses that you are a ways better than any of the fifth graders.” She paused for a moment, and a pleasured smile grew over Lizboa’s beautiful face.
“There is a sports scholarship for the second form in the senior section of this school. It offers the same sum of money, but not the six free years of education. I believe that your games side will be strong enough to go in for that scholarship. Of course, there will still be a lot of fierce competition, but I think your talent will be able to help you win the scholarship so you will have the money to save your grandmother’s eyesight,” suggested Miss Caty.
“Oh – thank you!” exclaimed Lizboa. Tears ran down her white cheeks once again, except these were tears of joy, of gratitude. “Thank you for making this exception, especially for me. I was dishonest and I was disgusting, but you didn’t even scold me for it, but helped me to find another suitable scholarship!”
“It’s all right,” said Miss Caty. “You knew you were wrong and I believe you won’t ever do it again. That’s what’s important. The scholarship competition was scheduled to be held next Thursday, but considering your grandmother’s condition, I myself will speak to the games head of the school and request that the scholarship exam be held earlier. You will have to display various tennis techniques, such as the backhand, and you will be tested on how many serves you can hit in a minute. There will be timed swimming tests for the backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. Good luck! Practice hard!”
On the day of the scholarship competition, Lizboa’s hand shook as she served the first serve for tennis. She was so nervous. She served the tennis balls one after another, and after a while, she was back to her normal standards, and was able to serve nearly 50 balls in a minute. Then the technique test was easy.
For the swimming, she was the quickest for backstroke only, but was beaten by a great hefty girl from the second form in both breaststroke and freestyle! She dried herself off silently, worriedly, as she waited for the results to come out.
The games mistress for the second form said loudly, “We have two winners of this sports scholarship – Anson Whorl from the second form, who set a new record for second form freestyle. And Lizboa Gordon from the 5th Grade!” Lizboa hardly believed her ears. She jumped and picked up her tennis racket, and sent a ball high up in the air.
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