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Who can tell me where Birmingham is located, when the City was founded and something about the lifestyle of people living there? asked the teacher.

This was the first day of school for the pale little girl sitting in the front row nearest the door and she stared at her desk, hoping desperately that the teacher would not call her name.

Unfortunately, fate chose not to be kind to the girl today. "Emily" called the teacher quietly, "Can you please tell us where Birmingham is located?".

With a face that was quite pink now instead of it's usual milky pale, she whispered "It's up North Miss".

The class roared with laughter. This caused Emily's spine to stiffen and anyone watching her would have noticed the slight tightening of her lips which indicated a stubbornness that few would expect to find behind such a sweet little face and form.

"Birmingham is not up north, it's down South in Alabama" yelled Noah, a little boy with red hair and twinkling green eyes. "Don't you know anything?" he chuckled. Mrs. Truman, the teacher raised her hand and yelled "Quiet".

"Emily" she said kindly, "Can you please tell us why you think Birmingham is located up north instead of in the south?"

And Emily, who was not really a shy sort of person said quite firmly in fast, precise English "Birmingham is actually in the middle of the Country. Bristol is well to the South of it and Manchester is to the far north".

"Brrrr - is-tol?" interrupted Noah. "Where the heck is Bristol?" then he paused and asked "And why do you talk so funny?"

"Yeah" chimed in Sarah, "What Country are you from?" The entire class waited expectantly.

Only the teacher knew that little Emily was from Liverpool, which is in the northern part of England and even some British people sometimes have trouble understanding the accent.

The teacher smiled and thought 'Now this is a geography mystery that might help the whole class'.

Sarah Perkman, a smart girl with cafe latte skin and large brown eyes said "I've never heard of Manchester, what State is it in?"

Emily just stared at her for a moment in open-mouth, horror. Before she could reply another student interrupted: "Teacher, why did she just call you MISS?" asked in Alexander.

Mrs. Truman smiled and asked Emily to answer the first question. So, Emily said calmly "Bristol is north of Plymouth, but it's still south of Birmingham".

"Noooooooooooooooo oo!" yelled the entire class and there was much noise and confusion for a few moments until Mrs. Truman again yelled for order and quiet.

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