every other sun, on every other horizon

I remember Parents' Night from fourth grade. Miss Howe, soon to be Mrs. Warbler, decided to have our class recite the Declaration of Independence before the assembled parents. Each student had a sentence. Mine was the third, the one that begins, "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted amongst men..."

On Parents' Night when I was in fourth grade, the auditorium began to fill. It was my mother, perhaps my father, maybe both, or maybe that is what I'd like to remember about who dropped me off by the stage. Either a kiss or a hug, maybe both, sent me on my way. Backstage the muffled mishmash of chaotic conversation grew louder. Then silence. The first graders sang a song about springtime, "In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb." The second graders made a multiplication table of themselves. Little Jordan McAllister gaffed, "Thwee times nine is twenty-five." A sympathetic "Aww" came from the parents. The third graders proudly announced the capitols of all fifty states.

They ushered off to one side of the stage as Miss Howe marshaled us to our stations, arranged in the order of each sentence. Mikey Lamb, began, "When in the course of human events..." I remember Miss Howe had made a point some time before of changing "Nature's God" to "Nature," explaining to us that a lot of people did not believe in God, or maybe they believed in a bunch of Gods and God might make them uncomfortable. Mikey said "Nature," ended with "separation," and took his seat. Jennifer Sumner rose to my left. Like a squeaking, miniature Miss Howe she stated, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people (Miss Howe, again), are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

She sat down and I rose. I cannot recall now how it happened next. I knew that I was supposed to continue, "That to secure these rights," but I didn't. I started with "the pursuit of Happiness." I tried to move on, but returned to "the pursuit of Happiness." The parents were silent. A glance at Miss Howe, her face looked like Mr. Pawley's, the gym teacher, when we threw a ball at a girl's head. My mind was frozen, a scratched CD, stuck on "the pursuit of Happiness..."

-Padraig Kerr