 Pedro Alvarez and Juan Cortez are business partners of a produce business, Juan the business oriented partner, Pedro the customer oriented partner. When Pedro reveals he is illiterate (he can t read a letter from his girlfriend in Miami, Ethel Tarnower), Sister Bertrille suggests that he learn to read and write. He takes her suggestion and shows up unannounced in her kindergarten class. Although she doesn t think her class the best venue, Sister Bertrille is buoyed by Pedro s eagerness. Others are not as easily swayed. The Reverend Mother is echoing the concerns of traditional Bishop Pool that Pedro would be a disruptive influence to the convent, and Juan just wants Pedro back at work. But Sister Bertrille eventually convinces the Reverend Mother that Pedro should stay since his learning progress would convince Bishop Pool of the need for an adult English class. In class, Pedro has a roller coaster of emotions matching his learning curve, which is mainly flat. Just as Pedro s about to quit, Sister Bertrille convinces him to stay by telling him of the importance of books, as demonstrated by the sonnets of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and the fact that Ethel will soon be visiting when he can recite sonnets to her. At the bishop s first inspection, he is less than impressed by Pedro s demonstration, first by the fact that Pedro didn t read but memorized a sonnet that he recited, and second in a banner he made for the bishop where Pedro spelled the bishop s last name Fool. But there is another month until the end of the semester and Pedro will have to be better prepared for the bishop s next visit then. Pedro s progress is steep this time, and is all ready for the bishop when all of a sudden he stops his learning. Ethel has sent him a letter, a letter he reads himself. It is a Dear John letter. He feels his reason for learning is no more. On the bishop s next visit, Sister Bertrille finally convinces Pedro to show up. Pedro does, not to make a presentation, but rather to tell the bishop all the benefits that reading and writing has provided him. The most important of these benefits is that he can now read the business  books, and has learned that Juan has been robbing him blind for the past 15 years.