I'm sitting in the classroom watching my American Lit students take their final exam while I try to grade papers, but I'm not making terrific progress. First I'm distracted by a possible plagiarism case...annoying but I'll have to work on it later. Then out of the corner of my eye I notice some movement on the floor--a cockroach on its back struggles to get back on its feet. I think about squashing it but it looks pretty maimed already. It's only a matter of time before it expires.
Then a student comes up to ask me a question and I don't think about the cockroach for a few minutes and when I look back, it's gone. Where did it go? Whenever vermin is in the room, I generally prefer to know where it is, because if it's not somewhere specific, it could be anywhere. Let's not think about all the places "anywhere" could be.
So now I'm trying to grade papers and proctor an exam while in the back of my mind a cockroach is wiggling. Of all the places a cockroach could be, the back of my mind is my least favorite.
2 comments:
Oh goodness. Well, at least it's not a rat. It could always be a maimed rat, and that would just stink.
I had nightmares after reading Kafka in hs. To this day, I have a hard time looking at one of those wretched creatures w/out thinking about that story. Guess I'm living in the wrong part of the country if I want to avoid it though. Ewww! Well, hope you find his carcass soon. Betsy
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