November 13, 2008

Rat Attack

I arrived at my campus classroom at exactly 8 a.m. this morning. As usual, my students were all seated quietly and the room was completely dark. They groaned as I turned on the lights, shielding their eyes like vampires, some complaining to their neighbor how this teacher never misses a class.

I am a creature of habit, so I walked to the computer desk and went to sit my bag down beside the desk where I always put it. And that's when I saw it.

A huge rat, teeth sharp and forboding, a matted furry body, and a grotesque tail to match. I jumped back in horror and screamed, "What the. . . " as my heart started to race and I leaped onto the nearest table.

Half of my students burst out laughing. The other half were innocently wondering what had just happened.

As my heart raced and my hands shook, I asked who had done it. I felt like I had just run a mile on the treadmill. No one volunteered, but there were two girls who were laughing a bit too much. Finally, one of them raised her hand.

Reason #1 of why you should never tell your students you are deathly afraid of rodents. There will be no additional reasons. This one should suffice.

Once I had calmed myself down, we started class. I made my culprit put the offending stuffed rodent back into her school bag because I was not about to touch that thing, real or not.

Later in the class, my students asked me when the final will be for the class. I told them that with the exception of the rat-bearing girl, we weren't having a final.

I have to hand it to her though. She got me. She got me good.