The teacher, Fr. Cugliero, would do that when he arrived. Dominic took his seat and finished getting ready for the school day.
Suddenly, one of his classmates made a strange suggestion.
“Let’s fix the stove,” he said. Dominic raised his head from his books. The boy who spoke had the well-earned reputation of being a troublemaker.
One of the other students protested by saying that Savio had already gotten the stove ready. Apparently this was not the kind of “fixing” the boy had in mind, for without further explanation, he got up from his desk and left the classroom.
Everyone watched him return, with several big round stones. Then to everyone’s surprise, he opened the stove, and replaced the bigger pieces of wood with the pile of stones he’d brought. That done, he shut the lid and laid the sticks aside with the stove’s wood pile. He hurried back to his seat, just in time before the door opened and the teacher entered. His immediate arrival prevented Dominic from correcting the prank without exposing the culprit.
The room was filled with the regular loud “Good Morning!” as the boys greeted the priest who, returning it, made his way to his desk.
Following the morning procedures, Fr. Cugliero opened up the stove and, acting more from habit, lit the dry paper and kindling without giving it a moment’s thought or a second look. Then, shutting the lid, he turned his attention to the day’s lessons.
It wasn’t long before he realized that his class was not giving him there full attention. Upon surveying his class, though, every boy seemed to be minding his studies. Maybe he wasn’t paying attention. Was something wrong? Something didn’t seem right. Or perhaps it didn’t feel right.
Suddenly, it came to him.
The teacher rose from his chair and in a few steps was over at the stove. Cautiously tapping the outer edge, testing the temperature, he discovered it wasn’t very hot. He touched the stove a little more firmly, then laid his whole hand on it. It was cold!
The priest quickly opened the stove and reached inside. Grasping blindly in the ashes, he grabbed a foreign object. Out came one of the stones!
