is created when
what actually happens is very different, even the opposite of, what we expect to happen. Laurie
comes home, day after day, talking about all the terrible things that someone nameddoes at
school. The stories are fairly detailed and always include whatever punishment Charles received
from the teacher. At one point, Charles's behavior seems to improve, but he secretly begins to
persuade other children to utter obscenities or act out (he is not caught). Laurie's mother
would love to go to the school for a meeting one night, but the baby gets sick, and she has no
opportunity to seek out Charles's mother.
Finally, when she does get to go
and meet the teacher at a PTA meeting, the teacher tells her that there is no
Charles in the kindergarten class! The reader gathers, then, that Charles is really
Laurie himself, as the teacher mentions that Laurie had some "trouble" adjusting but
has been doing better recently. We expect, perhaps, to learn something about poor Charleswhy he
behaves the way he doesonly to learn that he is made up! Definitely an ironic
twist.
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