Totaling Mistake

This incident happened when I was in the sixth standard. Ms. Sahani was our English teacher. Sahani was a tall and slim lady who always used to drape herself in a plain saree, usually of a lighter shade. She spoke good English but never took interest in teaching. Somehow, I did not like her. The only time I remember she smiled at me, was during my oral exams in seventh. I was asked to recite some long poem and was asked whether I know it by heart. "But ofcourse", I had said then. Sahani replied, "But ofcourse! Wah!". Coming back to this incident, Sahani was assigned the task of correcting our unit test English papers. She was late as usual with the corrections. When the papers were finally distributed, I got 26 out of maximum possible 30 marks - one short of the class topper in that subject. Imagine my happiness when I found that Sahani had totaled my score improperly. I was getting one extra mark. With a big grin on my face I marched towards Sahani, who was surrounded on all sides by people fighting for more marks. When my turn came, Sahani recalculated the score. It was indeed coming to 27. Then she looked at me and said, "You deserve one less mark for this answer", and swiftly deducted one mark for some answer. My total remained 26. This was the only time I remember that I had a chance to become the top scorer in the class in English.