The Best Is Yet to Come (69)

The high school halls were filled with milling students and chatter as they made their way to the last class. Hope had waited for this day for a long time. She had special guests visiting this afternoon. Cade, Silas, Ricardo, Dean, and Shelley were in the school, ready to speak to her class.

The bell rang and her students automatically took to their seats. Hope waited until the room quieted down before she stepped in front of her students.

“Instead of the lesson today…”

“Ah, come on Ms. Goodwin, you’re not giving us a pop quiz, are you?”

A groan echoed through the room. This was a Friday before a holiday weekend, and everyone was more eager than usual to get out and get going.

Hope waved her hand dismissively. “No pop quiz, I promise.”

Sighs of appreciation followed.

“Can anyone tell me what we’re celebrating on Monday?” Hope asked.

“No school day.”

“Very funny,” she said, shaking her head at their lack of knowledge and appreciation for the meaning of this holiday.

“Veterans Day,” Spencer supplied. If anyone knew, it would be him.

“That’s right. Can anyone tell me why the holiday is celebrated on November eleventh?”

No one seemed to know. “That’s the day the armistice was signed ending the First World War,” she explained. “Which was also called the War to End All Wars, but did it?” She left the question open-ended.

“My dad’s older brother, my uncle Bill, was in the first Gulf War,” Brooke mentioned.

“Anyone else know someone who served in the military during wartime?”

Several hands shot up, and a few students shared their own friends and family members who served.

As the conversations slowed, Hope suggested, “If you have the chance, thank each one for their service.”

Walking toward the door, Hope turned back to her class. “As it happens, I have had the opportunity to meet a few veterans recently. I’ve invited them to speak to our class. Before I introduce them, I want to encourage you to carefully listen to their stories. These are valiant individuals who have sacrificed a great deal for the freedoms we enjoy. I would ask that you give them the respect and gratitude they deserve.” She had the full attention of her class.

She paused and then added, “I can’t say this strongly enough. Be worthy of the sacrifices they have made.”

Hope opened the door, and Cade walked in first, followed behind by Silas, Ricardo, Shelley, and Dean.

“I’d like to introduce my friend Cade Lincoln first. Cade served in Afghanistan and was honorably discharged after being injured in an IED explosion.”

“I saw you with Ms. Goodwin earlier,” Carter said.

“Yes, your teacher has been a good friend to me,” Cade said, as he moved to the front of the class. “You may have noticed that I walk with a slight limp. It was a lot worse when I first came home, but it’s better now.” He hesitated before he continued. “You see, not all injuries in war are visible or physical. Compared to my friends here, my physical injuries are minor. You wouldn’t have been able to see all the damage that was going on in my head, or the way I looked at the world. Two of my best friends were killed, and for a long time I regretted that I hadn’t died with them.”

For the next forty minutes each man spoke in turn, telling of their experiences. Shelley spoke last. Hope was proud of her class, proud of the attention they paid and how intently they listened to each veteran’s story. Shelley got the most questions from the female students in the class. When the bell rang, calling for the end of class and the end of the school day, not a single student got up to leave.

“Do we have to go?” Angela pleaded. “I have another question.”

“Me, too,” several others called out.

For the following thirty minutes, those who didn’t need to catch a bus remained in their seats, their curiosity and wonder apparent. They would have stayed longer if Hope hadn’t put an end to the discussion. Groans of disappointment followed.

“I’ll invite them back another time,” Hope promised.

It was obvious by the reluctant way her class got up from their desks how much they wanted to continue. Even then, they lingered in the classroom, gathering around the men and Shelley with more questions. With respect and awe. With an understanding and appreciation of what it meant to be a veteran and to sacrifice for honor and freedom.

Before Cade’s friends left, Hope personally thanked each one. She didn’t need to tell them the impact their stories, their sacrifices, had made on her U.S. History class. Until that afternoon, the teenagers had viewed Veterans Day as a holiday. A day they didn’t need to attend classes. A morning to sleep in and not worry about homework or pop quizzes. Their understanding now went much deeper, thanks to the bravery of the stories they’d heard.

Cade silently stayed behind to accompany Hope to the teachers’ parking lot. Hope could tell something was on his mind. She wondered if it’d been talking about the loss of his two closest friends.

“Cade?”

He shuffled his feet back and forth and placed his hands inside his pockets before blurting out, “I reached out to my mother.”

So that was it. She had thought he would, especially after the regret he felt when she’d sought him out. Hope carefully weighed her reaction. She didn’t want to appear overly excited, although she was, for fear the conversation didn’t go well. Nor did she want to downplay the significance of what he was telling her.