I Did Tell My Teacher

It shocked Marna to hear Beckham tell her that he DID tell his teacher, he told her EVERYDAY; she just couldn't believe it. She was so frustrated. Was the teacher not believing him? Was the teacher not taking Beckham serious? Was she allowing this to happen? Marna wanted to know why. Why did it take her going into the office, after the doctors appointment for his ear, saying, "I am not sure what is going on, but I want 'Joe' moved away from my son immediately."? She told the administrators Beckham and "Joe" are not to be seated next to each other anymore. Why hadn't the teacher done this already? Marna thought, "no wonder Beckham asked to go to the bathroom twice an hour. That was the only way for him to get away from 'Joe'."

After getting over the shock of hearing that Beckham had been telling his teacher about "Joe" everyday, she asked him if anyone else had hurt him. Beckham said, "yes, a third grader and some other boys." Marna asked him about the third grader and Beckham said, "you know the cut on my finger from the slide last week?" Marna said, "yes" and Beckham proceeded to tell her that it was because of a third grader. When Beckham told her this, she remembered the incident; it was the same week that "Joe" had put paper and wood chips in his ear. She remembers Beckham had come home with a band-aid on a couple of his fingers. As soon as he and his sister came in the door, they put their book bags up and headed toward the backyard to play. As Beckham approached Marna, he held up his fingers and told her he had cut them on the slide. He said he had band-aids on them and it was fine. She said, "okay, have fun and be careful" as he continued out the door to the backyard. 

After Marna's flashback, Beckham told her how he had truly gotten the cuts. He was sitting at the top of the slide waiting his turn to go down. A third grader wanted him to go before the kid at the bottom had moved. Beckham knew it was against the playground rules to do that and told the third grader he couldn't. The third grader started pushing Beckham down the slide. Beckham held on tight, trying not to go down, because he didn't want to get in trouble for running into the kid at the bottom. He was holding on so tight, that the slide sliced his fingers.
When Marna brought this to the principal's attention, he asked if Beckham knew who the third grader was. He said he didn't know his name or who his teacher was. The Principal asked if he could point out the 3rd grader. Beckham said that he would be able to.

taken approximately 1 week after the slide incident

One of the three times that Marna was in the school office the day after the choking incidence, Beckham walked in and she noticed a pretty bad scab on his finger. She asked Beckham what had happened to it? He said, "Oh, that's the cut I told you about from the slide." Marna said, "that is from the slide? Beckham, that's not a cut, that's a slice." She then made sure it wasn't infected and told him he had to show her things like that. The secretary then piped in, "It was really bad, I had to use the fingernail clippers to cut some of the skin away. I told him as soon as he got home he needed to tell you and have you put neosporin on it." Marna asked the secretary if Beckham had said anything to her. She said the only thing he had said was that he had cut his fingers on the slide. Marna was baffled that she didn't even get a heads up call from the school saying Beckham had a pretty bad cut on his finger.