It’s not just barely above me, something I could swat at with a good leap. It’s waaaaaay above me, this weather. This weather I am under.
I think it’s psychosomatic AND viral. Today a little girl in the stairwell turned her head and coughed right on me. It was one of those moist, mucus-laden coughs, too. I startled her when I immediately ordered her to cover her mouth.
Unfortunately, I didn’t scare the cough out of her. She hacked all the way up the stairs, and I was behind her, walking through the putrid germosphere.
Fortunately, I have to miss school the next two days in order to grade state ELA tests downtown. Sure, it will be a depressing lesson in how ill-prepared NYC public school children are for quite unchallenging standardized tests. I will undoubtedly make fun of the most bizarre and pathetic answers, and then feel guilty about it. But no one will cough on me, and I need a break from the kids.
Case in point: Today one of my Advisory students, Webster’s walking definition of “shit-eating grin,” squirted pepper spray into the air during math class. Everyone was coughing and tearing up; one student’s face broke out in a rash. Somehow the rest of the teachers didn’t hear about this until after school.
Damn. Had I known, I would have beaten the crap out of the kid…with my Teacher Scowl. Fear the ever-powerful wrath of my Teacher Scowl! I won’t get to unleash the fury tomorrow or Thursday or Friday, either. (Friday is a true vacation day, as homegirl has a hair appointment, mmmkay)? I have to wait until Monday to start oozing out the guilt.
Teaching has changed my life, but has affected the lives of my unborn potential children even more. Man, they won’t have it easy living in the naughty, disappointing shadows of my kids in Harlem.
They’re a lot like my immune system in that way.
sounds like you deserved it from all your negativity
Poor writing - what is “it”? Do try again.
By “it” he or she means the hair appointment. Enjoy!
Stacey