. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P A R O L E . C A L L

Carlos knocked on the back door of my school today. “Can I come in? You know I split and I’m not supposed to be here but I was wondering if you could look up my scores on the GED test I took two weeks ago?” Carlos looked different. He had cut off his dark curls, he looked…conservative. He told me he was living with his family and had a good job.  I looked up his scores. He passed all five sections of the GED, but he failed the exam because he was short 20 points.  Carlos scored 2230 and he needed a score of 2250 to pass. His average was 446 and you need a 450 overall to pass. Heartbreaking.

Still, he was optimistic. We both agreed he should retake the writing section. He blamed his low score in this area on a malfunctioning pen they gave him. “I gave you a brand new pen for the test,” I said as I handed him my card. “Call me when you get the results on the re-test.”

Carlos giggled. It’s odd to hear a grown man giggle but I got used to it and will even miss it a little.