Well, I had one of those moments this morning. I was discussing with Josh and my dad about history, and it reminded me of my 5th grade history teacher. We'll just call her Mrs. X.
We frequently had to hear her stories about all of the awful, awful child abuse that she had to endure. If she didn't like you, she would encourage the other students to pick on you.
Needless to say, I dreaded her class and somehow I managed to stay under her radar for most of the school year (odd for me because I was a loud opinionated child)... That is, until the lemur.
She had given us an assignment to do a drawing of a US president that she would pick out for us. I was the last one to get my assignment. When she looked at me, she simply said, "Well, just draw a lemur for all I care."
I remember thinking, "What the heck is a lemur?" See- I couldn't make this up. I didn't even know if a lemur was a real thing!
Being the good student that I was, I dutifully went home and researched lemurs.
"It's basically a monkey! What does this have to do with the presidents?!"
I knew that this teacher was crazy, but I had an assignment to do. I drew a beautiful lemur sitting on a tree branch. It was some of my best work.
On Monday, I proudly walked up to Mrs. X and handed her my assignment. She didn't say anything and went on with her lesson. I remember thinking, "Well, at least I didn't get yelled at."
The next day when we walked into class, all of our pictures were on display. There were stick figure presidents that had gotten full credit, so I couldn't wait to see what my lemur had gotten.
I searched and searched and when I finally found it I almost started crying.
There was a big, red zero right next to a big red question mark.
I was fuming at this point. I did what this crazy teacher asked, and I had gotten absolutely no credit! I went up to her and said accusingly, "I did what you asked. Why did I get a zero?"
"Now, why would I ask you to draw whatever this is when we're talking about presidents?"
"I don't know! I asked myself the same question when you assigned it! I didn't even know what a lemur was! How could I even make this up?!"
"Go sit down, lemur girl. You get a zero, end of story."
Yes, for a week, the lemur girl name stuck.
I laid low for the rest of the school year, but I fumed about that stupid lemur.
Mrs. X should never have been a teacher. She obviously had mental issues, and I was so glad when that school year ended.
As cute and funny as lemurs are, I still hold a secret resentment towards them.
I have no idea what happened to Mrs. X, but I do know she isn't teaching anymore.
Thank God
No comments:
Post a Comment