I walked up to the counter. Behind it was a lady with glasses on the tip of her nose and gray hair on her head. "Excuse me," I said. She looked up. "You're that Clements kid," she said. "I' m Miss Bee. Come closer and let me get a look at you." She pushed her glasses up her nose. "I can describe you to the police if something goes missing from the store." "I' m not a thief!" I was shocked. I was seven too young to be a thief! "From what I can see you're not much of anything. But I can tell you've got potential." She went back to reading her newspaper. "I need to get these." I said, holding up my list. "So? Go get them." Miss Bee pointed to a sign on the screen door. "I'm not your servant, so I suggest you get yourself a basket and start filling." I visited Miss Bee several times a week that summer. Sometimes she short-changed me. Other times she overcharged. "That can of beans is only twenty nine cents" I corrected her one afternoon. I had watched the numbers change on the cash register closely, and Miss Bee had added 35 cents. She didn't seem embarrassed. She just looked at me over her glasses and fixed the price. But she ever let me declare victory. All summer long she found ways to play tricks on me. No sooner had I learned how to pronounce bicarbonate of soda  and memorized its location on the shelf than Miss Bee rearranged the shelve and made me hunt for it all over again. One day before I left, she said, "I know what you think of me, but I don't care! Each of us is put on this earth for a reason. I believe my job is to teach every child I meet life lessons. When you get older you'll be glad our paths crossed!" Glad I met Miss Bee?Ha! The idea was absurd... Until one day my daughter asked me to finish her math problems. "If I do it for you how will you ever learn to do it yourself?" I said. Suddenly, I remembered the lady Miss Bee. The girl felt   _   when Miss Bee implied she could be a thief.
surprised shocked puzzled annoyed