Kwok Lee
Public School 105. Brooklyn, New York. Third grade. Class 3-1. This was the first day of class. We were all nervous and looked around at each other. I recognized a lot of the other kids from the previous school year. A few of them have really grown over the summer. There was also a couple of newer kids that I have never seen before, and they looked even more nervous than I was.
The teacher for the year introduced herself by writing her name across the entirety of the blackboard. She turned toward us, with a big smile and stated, "Mrs. Vogel". She raised a paper in front of her and started taking attendance. This was done promptly every morning, and this was the first time for the year and we all eagerly awaited the calling of our names. One by one she called out the names, and I grew more nervous by the second wondering if my name was next, and, if she was going to pronounce it correctly. No teacher has ever pronounced it correctly at the first try.
It seemed to be that Mrs. Vogel had a fetish with duplicate names. There were usually a couple of Johns and Marys. She would start calling each of them differently as though everyone needed a unique name. One would stay John and the other one would be called Johnny. This pattern worked well. Suddenly, she stumbled upon one peculiar name. It seemed to be that one of newer students had a duplicate name of an older student. What were the chances this was to happen? There were two students named 'Kwok'. We all knew at this point that one of their names had to be altered. We wondered two things, which one was it going to be and what would the new name be? 'Kwokie'? We all waited anxiously.
Mrs. Vogel looked around and the answer came to her. She chose to alter the name of the Kwok we all knew. We gasped. Havoc was to be had today. Turmoil swept over the classroom and the terror could be seen in all the eyes of all the kids as our beloved well-known Kwok was going to have his named altered. Mrs. Vogel said, "Kwok Lee. I shall refer to you as...Albert."
All our jaws dropped and we were all held speechless. Kwok...I mean, Albert Lee smiled. He liked it.
A couple of years after I graduated college, I saw Kwok Lee in the old neighborhood. He still goes by the name Albert.
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