AN EMBARRASING MOMENT

 By Caroline Clemmons

For me, today is when Fall begins. No doubt about it, this is a holdover from my school days. I loved school, especially English and history. Over my thirteen years (counting kindergarten), I had many amazing teachers and a few incidents I remember with pleasure.

 

One of my most embarrassing moments came when I was a junior in high school. My best friend, Iris, did everything she tried well. In spite of the fact she didn't cook or sew, she worked in the home economics office for one credit. Iris assured me this was a great way to get an easy A because there was little to do and I could get some of my homework done. 

This was a highly sought-after spot. With Iris’ recommendation to Mrs. Carter, lead teacher, I was approved. But Mrs. Carter eyed me with concern. She had taught me the year before in her cooking class, in which I did well. Probably, she wondered why a brainy girl like Iris would be friends with a dork like me. 

I signed up for the next semester, and was given the period just before lunch. You cannot imagine my horror when I learned that the slot I’d landed was feeding time for the lab rat.  Remember the scene in the book 1984 when Big Brother’s agents threatened the man with hungry rats on his face? That’s the image seared in my brain. And I was afraid of the small rodents even before I read the book. 

Okay, so it was only one rat, and he was in a cage. But to me he looked as if he were sizing me up for dinner’s main course. I managed to feed the beast through the first week without disaster. I had never had pets and had no rapport with animals—not because I disliked them, but because I didn’t identify with them as I do now. 

Feeling a bit more confident, I breezed into the tiny home ec office the second week. The rat was primed and waiting. The moment I unlatched his cage to add food, he leaped out and ran into an empty classroom. I was lucky he hadn’t chosen the opposite direction leading into  the high school hallway, but I didn't realize it at the time. All I knew was I was in big trouble. I chased him around the room and finally cornered the poor rat so I could grab him. 

Ohh, good gracious, I was holding a rat!

I’m not sure which of us was most frightened. I managed to get him back to the cage only to find Mrs. Carter waiting for me in the office, having witnessed the last part of my debacle. Actually, she was nice about the whole thing in a slightly severe way. We agree that I would feed the rat when she was in the office in the future until I “became more comfortable with that duty.”  

I feared my blunder would reflect badly on my friend Iris, but it didn't seem to do so. I suppose Mrs. Carter’s opinion of me as a dork or a scatterbrain or whatever explained everything. Needless to say, I did not seek to work in the home ec office the following semester.  Iris and I have remained good friends all these years.