DAY DREAMER

His previous teacher told me Carl used to fall asleep in class because his parents kept him out at the bar all night. I didn’t want to believe it. He was coming to school every day. He was usually on time although he didn’t get much work done.

One day Carl and I sat together on the bus for a field trip. He asked me if I drank. I said that yes, on the weekends I might have a few beers. He smiled and shouted “my dad gets d-r-u-n-k!” I didn’t think much of it at the time. His grades were sinking fast and I was more focused on saving him than his father. I thought I would just try to control what went on in the classroom and ignore what happened at home. And I may have succeeded too - that is until Carl fell asleep in my class . . .

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