I was the last one to bless the coffin. As I stood there， one of the soldiers who had acted as a pall-bearer came up to me. “Were you Mark’s math teacher？” he asked. I nodded as I continued to stare at the coffin. “Mark talked about you a lot，” he said.
After the funeral， most of Mark’s former classmates headed to Chuck’s farmhouse for lunch. Mark’s mother and father were there， obviously waiting for me. “We want to show you something，” his father said， taking a wallet out of his pocket. “They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it.
Opening the billfold， he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped， folded and refolded many times. I knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which I had listed all the good things each of Mark’s classmates had said about him. “Thank you so much for doing that，” Mark’s mother said， “As you can see， Mark treasured it.”
Mark’s classmates started to gather around us. Chuck smiled rather sheepishly and said， “I still have my list. It’s in the top drawer of my desk at home.” John’s wife said， “John asked me to put his in our wedding album.” “I have mine， too，” Marilyn said， “It’s in my diary.” Then Vicki， another classmate， reached into her pocketbook， took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. “I carry this me at all times，” Vicki said without batting an eyelash， “I think we all saved our lists.”
That’s when I finally sat down cried. I cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again.
我曾在明尼苏达州莫里斯市的圣玛丽中学任教，我带一个三年级班，班上有34名学生，我都很喜欢，而马克·埃克隆是最特别的一个。他衣冠整洁，有点玩世不恭，偶尔的淘气行为很招人喜欢。
马克上课时经常说话。我一次次地提醒他，未经允许不能随便讲话。然而，我印象最深的是，每次我纠正他的不礼貌行为时，他总会真挚地回答，“修女，谢谢您的指教！”最初听到这话时，我简直不知所措，听得多了，久而久之也就习惯了。