Taco Day

In the early years of my career, classrooms were not air conditioned. We had to open the windows to get a breeze and always kept a fly swatter handy. Why am I sharing this tidbit? Keep reading!

One particularly hot afternoon after a lunch of school tacos, we came back to the classroom to watch a movie. This was back when film projectors had two reels. Like I said, I am OLD! I started the film and my assistant was grading papers at her desk. After about fifteen minutes, she came over and asked if I smelled anything. Being that it was September and I suffer from year round allergies, I told her I did not. Ten minutes later, she was back at my side. She complained that something smelled really bad. I turned on the light and by that time children were complaining about the smell as well. I asked in my sweetest teacher voice if anyone would like to visit the restroom but nobody budged. The smell got worse. By this time my assistant was suffering from dry heaves. Even I could smell it. More children complained. I started taking small groups over to the bathroom and asked if anyone needed to go. Each group replied that they did not.

When I got to the last group, I knew that I had narrowed down the smell. I asked each child if he needed to go to the bathroom. Each child was told that there would be no repercussions and those accidents just happen sometimes.

When I got to J...., it was obvious that I did not need to look any further. I had found the culprit. I asked if he needed any assistance or needed to go to the bathroom. He replied that he did not. I took him into the bathroom and slightly shifted the back of his pants. (I would NEVER do that these days) Pointing to the contents, I asked him what that was. He turned around, looked,  and replied firmly "I don't know where that came from!" His mother came to school to change him.