SCAN MAGAZINE FALL 2023
BAD FORTUNE
THE WORST DAY OF 2001 THROUGH THE LENS OF A FOURTH GRADER
I was in Mrs. Garrison’s fourth grade classroom.
“Pink.”
We were working on a morning math warm-up in groups—or at least we were supposed to be. Courtney and Ashley were making a fortune teller with notebook paper and Mr. Sketch scented markers. The smell of watermelon still makes my stomach hurt.
“P-I-N-K,” she spelled, moving the fortune teller like a puppet with her fingers. Inside, she’d written random numbers on the flaps of the paper. “Pick a number.” “Hmm… six.”
“Okay Court, pick a color,” Ashley said. “You can’t pick six,” Mikey said. He was always
