World Series: Red Sox 1, Fourth Grade 0

Dear Miss Alterman,

We ran into one of your students, John Bentley, here at the World Series. He really enjoys your fourth-grade class.

He also enjoys baseball. He is 10. The Boston Red Sox are his favorite team -- or, at least, both of his grandfathers told him the Red Sox would be his favorite team.

This would be different if John lived in Boston. He could see the Red Sox all summer long.

But you live in Atlanta, and so does he. His dad got tickets for the World Series, so they flew up to St. Louis for Game 4 and Game 5. John is sorry he had to miss a couple of days of school, but who knows if he might ever get another chance to see the Red Sox in person, in the World Series?

John truly respects you. He tried really hard to get the Red Sox manager to sign an excuse slip for you. Check out the picture. No luck, but he did his best, and isn’t that what you ask all your students to do? He’ll see you back in class on Wednesday.

[For the Record, Oct. 29: An earlier version of this post included an incorrect last name for John Bentley.]

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