The Warning No One Listened To

Synopsis

Before the holiday, I repeatedly and sternly warned the students not to secretly go to the river to play in the water. But Zaylee in my class treated my words like empty air and even led a group of classmates to go down to the river to catch fish together. On the way, he suffered a muscle cramp and nearly choked on the water. Yet he pointed at my nose and cursed. "Why do you have so many damn rules every day? Everything seems to be forbidden. If you hadn't come to the river to catch us, wouldn't he have been so scared that he got a leg cramp? You're fully responsible!" "You're just some lousy teacher. Do you really think you're so important? My son goes wherever he wants. Why do you get to control him?" I repeatedly tried to persuade them, saying that there had been a lot of rain that summer, and once flooding occurred, people near the river would have no time to escape. But Zaylee's mother didn't believe it at all: "Stop trying to scare people with bullshit! The water level in this ditch has been this low for years. What could possibly happen?" "Having a teacher like you at school is just bad luck! You don't teach properly. You just cause trouble all day! If you want to work, just work. If you don't, get lost!" As she wished, I resigned and left. Later, the provincial authorities issued a heavy rainstorm warning. The other students realized the water level was rising rapidly and didn't dare stay near the river. They quickly packed up and left. Only Zaylee remained unconcerned, loudly mocking others for being timid.