The Unexpected Student
A Personal Narrative By Mrs. Rader
It was November and everyone one had settled into a comfortable routine. First period was well underway. I believe the lesson was about the ancient Greek empire. I was sharing a story about how Sparta and Athens would engage in battles for dominance over the region. It was a fascinating story complete with illustrations. If you have ever had the pleasure of witnessing one of my famous illustrations, you would know that those students were witnessing a masterpiece in the making. Anyway, it was a thrilling story and everyone was on the edge of their seats just waiting to find out what would happen next.
Suddenly, from the back of the room a hand shot up like a firework ready to explode. It was waving and begging for attention. Now, I knew this kid to be somewhat of a jokester, always trying to get the class off task or make make everyone errupt with laughter. I began to ignore the insistent hand, but he would not stop waving it so frantically. I knew something must be wrong. I called out for the boy to speak. He blurted out in quick bursts, " There is a tarantula right above your head!" At first I did not believe him, as I said he had a tendency to try and pull tricks for attention. Then looking around at the other faces in the room it became apparent to me that I needed to look behind me. What I saw staring at me will haunt me for the rest of my life. There it was it seemed to have hundreds of legs and at least a thousand eyes and it was staring at me with a look of pure evil. I knew it had it out for me. I knew that if I turned my back this menacing creature would attack and that I would never recover from its wrath.
The next thing I remember is standing at the back of the room pointing, speechless at this huge, black, hairy beast.
Here was my hero, walking towards the door, tarantula in hand,
But the story doesn't end there, he came back...