Toma rolled his pencil up and down his exercise book. He was careful not to let the pencil touch the desk and make a noise.

The teacher was printing the letter T on the blackboard. A small line straight across. A long line down. She made T's across the board, straight, tall T's. Soon it would be Toma's turn to print T's on his page.

He looked at the blackboard, and then at the eraser he had placed on the corner of his desk -- not too close to the edge. The eraser was new and white. An art eraser. His mother had bought two, one for her and one for him. He had used his mother's pen to draw a blue T on both smooth sides.

The teacher clapped her hands and Toma opened his exercise book. He leaned over the page, squinted at the lines and moved his pencil straight across, just like the teacher. He moved his pencil down, just like the teacher. One after another he printed T's. T for Toma.

"One finger space between letters." A long fingernail tapped his exercise page. He turned his head towards the dress leaning into his desk. The teacher waited.

Toma picked up his eraser; he began to rub out the second T. The paper scrunched up where he rubbed out the straight bar and the line that went down.

His teacher's finger moved to his fourth T. "This one, too."

Toma touched her red fingernail with his eraser. He rubbed. The teacher's finger disappeared. Her hand. Her arm. The white eraser rubbed away the teacher's words and her red mouth.

Toma stood up on his chair and moved his eraser across and down the teacher. He could see the window through the giant T. The letter grew bigger; soon there was nobody beside his desk.

He sat down, picked up his pencil and reprinted his second T in exactly the same place. At the end of the row, he printed another row of T's, and then another. T for Toma.

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Louisa Howerow's stories and poems have been published in small print magazines, journals and online. Her latest work appeared or is forthcoming in Sojourn (University of Texas), 3711Atlantic and Write Side Up.
E-mail: louihowe at gmail dot com
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kaleidowhirl  |  spring 2007