On OR Off

Tuesdays have been my repost days. The whole point was to import the old posts from a previous blog. But last summer I managed to go through and import all the posts that I cared to save. (Some are better off being lost in the aether.)

So, I've decided to delve into the past a different way. I've been subbing longer than I've been blogging. And certain pre-blog incidents just have to be written.

Like the time I was covering this 7th grade Spanish class.

Normally, I avoid Spanish classes. I took the wrong language in high school, and I figure the subject it best left to experts. But occasionally I end up in one of these classes.

Luckily, this day the teacher left them a video.

It was an icky day. It was rainy outside. I had a battle with the air conditioner. It was too warm for heat, too cold for air, but with 35 warm bodies in a room, I needed some air circulating. So, I attempted to turn on the bit that lets the outside air blow in, keeping things from getting too stifling.

(It would just be easier to open windows, but the windows aren't accessible, and there was only one door.)

But it smelled like something had crawled up and died inside the air conditioning unit, making having the thing on awful. 7th graders don't react well to things like bad smells. Or stifling temperatures.

Somehow things were going pretty well. I got the video started. The kids were quiet and somewhat attentive. And I stood at the podium updating my note.

I turned my head to the right to scan the room, and that's when I spotted him. The boy wasn't doing anything but watching the video quietly.

Except his pants were around his ankles.

He wasn't indecent. Like many boys at the time (when sagging pants were all the rage), he wore his gym shorts under his jeans. So, he was dressed.

Sort of.

I went over to question him about the state of his wardrobe. Why were his pants around his ankles?

He explained that he was warm.

Okay, I get that. If he wanted the pants off, he could take the pants fully off. But why leave the pants on just puddling around his ankles (taking sagging to a new low)?

I don't remember what he ultimately did. I think he just pulled the pants up. And the whole conversation was quiet enough that we managed not to alert the rest of the class to the situation. (That would have been a whole other level of chaos.) The rest of them continued to watch the video.

I walked back over to the podium, and that's when the laughter started.

I don't know how I didn't laugh in front of the boy. But as soon as I walked away, I couldn't stop.

And to this day, I can't think of this incident without cracking up.