"Say something." "What?" "Anything." "I pledge allegiance . . ."

Each month of the school year one fifth grader from each class at Governor Winslow Elementary School is picked as that class's Student of the Month. Because the school district's budget left a huge gap between the money had and the money needed, the four fifth grade classrooms were consolidated into three in the fall that I started my fifth grade year. In an attempt to let as many students as possible be a Student of the Month, the fourth Student position lost with the fourth teacher (who had married the school's principal that summer, so she would have had to find a job at a different school anyway because of a conflict of interest; the principal and this teacher lived through the woods to the side of my house, and I was deathly afraid of them both for some reason I can no longer remember but think it vaguely had to do with my cutting through their yard or losing a ball or their having yippy dogs or a scary display at Halloween) would rotate between the three classrooms so that one classroom each month would be represented by two students.

The exact procedure is a bit blurry all these years later--those memories replaced with others such as seeing Arnold Stang in Central Park or watching Katie/Jon and Erin/Rick take their vows or being asked by Bob Villa what the upstairs of the new restaurant where I was working looked like (imagine trying to describe a building's interior design (http://www.upstairsonthesquare.com/preview.php) to Bob Villa--my response, "Um, it's pink--sort of Klimt http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/klimt/kiss/ meets Barbie")--but I think it involved having nominations by the class followed by a final vote. The first month, September, Mr. Davenport's class (my class) got to have two representatives. I didn't vote for myself and lost to Nick H. by that one vote--but we both got to be it. I've never told anyone that I didn't vote for myself. (And who knows--perhaps Nick didn't vote for himself either.) One of the duties of the Students of the Month was to raise the flag and lower the flag each day. I think we also got a certificate, and I'm sure there was some sort of ceremony--but I really don't remember.

A few weeks into September, the principal hurried into my classroom and called both me and Nick out into the hall. It was the middle of the morning, but for us the lesson was just beginning. He gathered the two other students, Josh H. and Sarah S., and led us outside to look at our handywork. We were all quite proud because the flag was quite large compared to us and difficult to maneuver; I was the second-tallest person in the grade, about to pass the five-foot mark during that year. "What's wrong with this?" Mr. M. asked us. We looked but couldn't find anything wrong; the flag looked just like the ones we drew on Flag Day--fifty stars, thirteen stripes, the most important elements in place.

"Well, according to this, the school is under attack," he replied.

We had put up the flag upside-down.

Bonus points to anyone who can tell me from what movie I paraphrased the subject line.

Hint: The initials of the two characters having the exchange are V.S. and T.J.S.