To Be or Not To Be?

It was long block English. We are reading Hamlet, and my English teacher has us read it out loud in class. Today I was supposed to read the part of Hamlet himself. We began reading Act III, when I noticed that my copy of Hamlet was missing a page. Worse, the next page had Hamlet talking on it and so far Hamlet wasn't on stage, so I knew that Hamlet would come in on the missing page. I raised my hand. My teacher, who was busy talking about what the king had just said, ignored me for awhile and then said, "I'll get to you later." She then kept talking and forgot about me. When she finished, she motioned toward me and said, "And now..."

"My book is missing a page," I replied. "That's what I was trying to tell you."

"Oh, no," she said, "this is a key page. Why don't you borrow hers?"

I traded books with a girl sitting behind me and looked at the page. "To be, or not to be: that is the question..." Of all the pages to be missing! I could hardly contain my laughter.

-Philip