The loudest and clearest voices were from the back row, the best singers. Suzy sat in the back row and sang with the voice of an angel.

Horse sat beside her. He used to sit beside Maximilian in The Front Row when he had a hoarse voice from chronic post-nasal drip.

Maximilian could hear Horse singing in harmony with Suzy’s voice. He now had a serious voice for singing, like Suzy.

Horse no longer had an interesting voice after he stopped eating nuts. Everyone in The Front Row had interesting voices. Miss Wish just thought they could not carry a tune.

Maximilian moved his lips to the words. Miss Wish said The Front Row should sing very softly, or better yet, just move their lips, so they might benefit from hearing the voices of the best singers.

And Miss Wish did not want to hear them singing her favourite song in so many different keys at once.

She had been very surprised, like everyone else, to see the changes in Horse. She thought he was a new student.

“I hope that boy with the terribly hoarse voice has moved far away,” she said. “I would rather hear fingernails scratching a chalkboard than him singing.”

“What is your name, Boy?” she asked gruffly.

“Danny,” he almost said, hiding a smirk, and then thought better of it.

“I am that boy,” Horse said. “I am allergic to nuts. I have stopped eating them. I no longer have a hoarse voice.”

“And I have contact lenses with a new, stronger prescription,” he added, thinking that Miss Wish might be interested in knowing. “I am no longer very near-sighted. I now have nice eyes.”

“I see,” she said, looking down her nose at him. “Stand up and sing the scales.”

“The rest of you sitting in the front row should stop eating nuts,” she said, after Horse finished singing.

“Maybe there would be hope for you,” she added, as she sent Horse to the back row.

Maximilian had a sudden image of Bob Dylan, who had an interesting voice, sitting in The Front Row looking suddenly hopeful at the thought of no longer eating nuts.

Magic is not forever; Maximilian thought with a sigh, remembering when he had made things better for The Front Row with his magical thinking. Miss Wish was back to being just the way she always was, maybe even more so, like she was making up for lost time.

He could use his magical thinking again, he thought, but sometimes people had to learn for themselves. And maybe there is really no hope for Miss Wish.

Maximilian was relieved that Willow sat in the back row. She was very sensitive and would feel hurt by the mean comments Miss Wish often made to The Front Row.

She did not have the voice of an angel.

“You only have an average voice,” Miss Wish said. “But you are tall. You will be able to project your voice to the front row, better than anyone else.”

“They can benefit from even hearing your average voice,” she added. “They need all the help they can get.”

“I am taller than 99% of the girls my age, but I am only average at singing,” Willow often said to Suzy.

“Suzy has the voice of an angel,” Miss Wish liked to say to say to the others in the class. It was a reminder to them not to feel too good about themselves.

“And the new boy sings in perfect harmony with her,” she added, no longer remembering that Horse, the boy with a terribly hoarse voice who had stopped eating nuts, had ever existed.

Horse glowed at being mentioned in the same breath as Suzy by Miss Wish.

Maybe I will tell Miss Wish that my name is Danny, he thought. It is a name she is sure to remember.

Suzy blushed and giggled nervously.

Horse had told everyone that they really liked each other, but Suzy was still getting used to really liking this new boy who used to be the old Horse.

“You can call me Danny,” Horse whispered to Suzy.

He liked the idea of hearing Suzy sing, “Oh Danny Boy, I love you so,” as she sat close to him.

Maximilian was not listening to Suzy and Horse singing in harmony. He was trying to hear Willow’s voice among the voices filling the air around him. She would be trying very hard to project her voice directly at him.

“You are singing much too loudly, Willow,” shouted Miss Wish over the voices filling the air. “I cannot hear Suzy singing in harmony with the new boy.”

Willow sank down in her desk and just moved her lips.

Maximilian was angry. He knew that Willow would feel hurt.

He wanted to be really mean to Miss Wish. He had a brief thought about writing her telephone number in the boy’s washroom where it would be easily seen.

No, people act the way you treat them, he thought. That is what Willow would say to him.

When the class finished singing Oh Danny Boy, Maximilian raised his hand.

“Miss Wish,” he said. “Would you please sing that song solo? You have a voice that sounds like a famous singer.”

Maximilian did not say that Miss Wish sounded like Bob Dylan.

Miss Wish looked at Maximilian in stunned silence. She had never had a student ask her to sing Oh Danny Boy solo, or compliment her on her voice.

“Well, well, I, I, well I, I,” she stammered, “would absolutely love to sing Oh Danny Boy solo for you.”

Maximilian smiled. Miss Wish needs all the help she can get, he thought.

He had helped her finish her sentence when she was lost for words, by thinking of words for her to say, like he helped Suzy when she told Horace that she was getting serious about him.

Miss Wish sat down at the piano and played and sang.

“She really needs a guitar and harmonica,” Horse would say later.

When she had finished, Maximilian stood and said, “Three cheers for Miss Wish.”

The whole class looked at him in surprise, except for Willow. People act like you treat them, she thought, and smiled proudly at Maximilian.

“Hoot, hoot, hoot,” went Willow, standing tall.

When a very popular girl goes “hoot, hoot, hoot,” the whole class does it. Especially Suzy, if it is the popular thing to do.

Miss Wish’s face looks very different, and younger, Maximilian thought. And then he realized that she was smiling.

“Thank you,” she said.

She looks so much better, he thought. Maybe she has learned something.