Geometry

In sixth grade math class, one of our big projects near the end of the year was to put together a Geometry Dictionary--a compilation of the definitions of the terms and shapes and rules we'd learned in the subject. I did my usual painstaking work, and was surprised when it was handed back with a B+.

I spoke with the teacher: Why the lower grade? I don't see anything I missed or got wrong.

She said, "You didn't include a table of contents."

"A table of contents? Why? Dictionaries don't have tables of contents. They're alphabetical."

"Yes," she said, "but this one was supposed to have one."

"But why?" I repeated. "It's alphabetical. Dictionaries don't have a contents page."

She refused to discuss it further, and the B+ remained.

There are days, and today is one of them, when the whole world seems populated by my sixth grade math teacher.