[00:00.098]Alvin
[00:00.532]The beginning.
[00:01.890]A story about alvin kelby.
[00:04.265]My mom passed away
[00:05.232]In the summer i turned six
[00:06.792]Write that down.
[00:07.564]Thomas
[00:07.797]Alvin, what's the point’
[00:08.663]Alvin
[00:08.962]Trust me.
[00:09.607](thomas writes in his notebook.)
[00:09.949]Thomas
[00:10.322]Alvin's mom passed away in the summer he turned six.
[00:14.037]Alvin
[00:14.484]Good.
[00:14.917]And left a single father and his son.
[00:17.448]But dad had the bookstore
[00:18.937]With a leaky roof to fix.
[00:20.359]So i was on my own
[00:22.116]Facing the unknown,
[00:24.454]The terrifying prospect of grade one.
[00:28.329]But at the time how was i to see
[00:33.677]A kind and gentle soul was waiting there for me’
[00:39.148]
[00:40.520]Mrs. Remington, our first grade teacher
[00:42.408]Made elementary school a better place.
[00:44.766]But her single most disturbing feature
[00:47.115]Was the coarse black hair on her face.
[00:49.528]Maybe she was menopausal.
[00:50.730]Lack of estrogen will cause
[00:51.976]A lot of odd conditions,
[00:53.390]Some acute!
[00:54.333]The irony would never faze her
[00:55.596]Namesake of a famous razor.
[00:56.921]And to be so facially hirsute.
[00:58.953]
[00:59.827]But mrs. Remington smiled
[01:02.161]And she would brighten my day.
[01:05.289]Back then a teacher hugged you
[01:08.089]To make you feel okay.
[01:09.287]
[01:09.765]Though my face sorta stung
[01:12.187]From mrs. Remington’s beard,
[01:15.404]When she held me, my problems disappeared.
[01:19.120]
[01:22.804]Mrs. Lynch was an ignoramus,
[01:24.873]Mr. Pollack was just plain mean.
[01:27.215]Mrs. Remington was nearly famous
[01:29.289]For her parties at halloween.
[01:31.838]Pumpkin heads of every shape
[01:32.935]Were cut out of construction paper.
[01:34.200]Each and every one would be displayed.
[01:36.543]The highlight for the children was
[01:37.743]To make a really special costume
[01:39.105]For the yearly halloween parade.
[01:41.544]
[01:41.977]Mrs. Remington smiled
[01:44.264]And she was clearly content
[01:47.239]As she lovingly presided
[01:49.521]Over this, the main event.
[01:51.409]So we’d nervously walk
[01:54.098]Past her critical eyes
[01:56.826]And we’d vie for mrs. Remington’s top prize.
[02:01.103]
[02:01.632]Thomas
[02:01.889]There was this one kid wearing cardboard wings,
[02:03.436]A coat hanger halo, carrying a bell and a homemade book that said tom sawyer.
[02:08.551]Nobody had a clue what he was supposed to be.
[02:10.870]Alvin except me.
[02:13.499](alvin becomes his younger self.)
[02:13.759]Oh, oh, oh, mrs. Remington!
[02:15.417]Pamela koshan thought he was the statue of liberty.
[02:19.823]Mrs. Remington, i know!
[02:21.128]Thomas
[02:21.356]Donnie carter thought he was a thanksgiving turkey.
[02:23.466]Alvin
[02:23.729]Mrs. Remington, i know. He’s clarence.
[02:28.848]The angel from it’s a wonderful life. He was my mother’s favorite.
[02:32.375]Thomas
[02:33.276]The class laughed.
[02:34.775]Alvin
[02:35.142]I cried. And mrs. Remington announced that i was next.
[02:40.992]
[02:41.696]But mrs. Remington smiled
[02:44.203]In that way that she had.
[02:47.219]A smile that made you realize
[02:49.776]That things were not so bad.
[02:51.537]And i knew from her face
[02:53.829]That this feeling would pass.
[02:56.885]So i went to take my turn before the class.
[03:00.983]
[03:01.448]Thomas
[03:01.662]Those poor kids were still trying to figure out who the heck clarence was...
[03:05.152]Alvin
[03:05.329]... When i shuffled onto the platform in fuzzy slippers and bathrobe,
[03:10.321]With pink sponge curlers in my hair.
[03:14.364]"alvin kelby," mrs. Remington said, "and what are you supposed to be’"
[03:20.661]I’m a ghost. The ghost of my mother.
[03:25.739]
[03:28.015]Lunch that day was awful lonely
[03:30.066]Sitting by myself and only
[03:31.836]Wearing fuzzy slippers and chenille.
[03:35.673]While all the kids were making fun
[03:37.526]In came mrs. Remington
[03:39.722]With clarence dragging slowly on her heel.
[03:44.773]
[03:45.209]"clarence," she said, "i’d like you to meet mrs. Kelby. She’s a big fan of yours."
[03:52.425]And mrs. Remington smiled
[03:54.943]‘Cause mrs. Remington knew
[03:57.809]That the battlefield of childhood
[04:00.006]Was easier with two.
[04:01.837]Mrs. Remington watched,
[04:04.210]As the angels do,
[04:07.351]And on halloween that year
[04:09.025]She saw two masks disappear
[04:11.395]When my mother met her angel
[04:15.385]And i met you.
[04:19.229]