Teacher's Pet Comments

Many decades ago, Tim had spent eight years staring at the back of Edmund's head. He had no choice because their surnames began with the same letter and they had been seated alphabetically by the nuns who taught them in grammar school. It was the Fifties, and their neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago was home to immigrant families from all over Europe.

Many of the children had parents who struggled to speak English. Not so with Tim. His parents had come to America from Ireland speaking fluent English delivered in a musical brogue. Edmund's parents, however, had come to the United States from what was then known as Bohemia and is today Czechoslovakia. They spoke what was called "broken" English but had no trouble adjusting to life in America. They worked hard, as did most of the immigrants in that neighborhood, to realize their American dream.
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