Today was especially magical. I bore witness to three miracles in a matter of three hours. And the miracles ascended in magnitude and beatific brightness.
Miracle #1
I asked her how she had stumbled upon this and she told a quick story about how her friend recommended it to her, while they were writing a song for Biology class.
"A song for Biology class?" I said. "Like about the Golgi apparatus or something?"
"Yes," she said.
"Yes, you were writing a song about the Golgi apparatus?"
"Yes, about the Golgi apparatus."
Weird. A minor miracle. I could have said flagella. But I was just getting started.
Miracle #2
One of my students said it looked like I had seen a ghost. In essence, I had. The ghost of a long-dead lock.
A red and silver lock that had inexplicably disappeared months ago. A lock that was so lost I had given up looking for it. A lock that eluded a search party of twenty philosophy students. A lock that denied the laws of existence and perception.
The lock was in front of my face the entire time! Like the purloined letter. Just sitting there, under my computer monitor, looking like something vaguely electronic. It was too obvious too notice.
I ranted and raved to my class about mental blind spots and schema and schotoma and how hard it is to find the mustard in the fridge, even though it's right in front of your face. And most of these were new students, who did not have me when I lost the lock (there were a few kids remaining from that semester class-- and they really understood the context of my insanity . . . the rest of the kids must have thought I was delirious).
Once I had fully processed the miraculous recovery of the lock-- and my cognition-- then I went forth and spread the good word throughout the school. I told teachers and I told students. The event was blessed.
But I spaketh to soon.
Miracle #3
"Did you see the lock!"
"Yes!" I said, but just as I was about to explain the miracle, Tyra confounded it.
"I found it down the hall by the stairs. I found it!"
"YOU put it on my computer?"
"Yup."
"Tyra! Why didn't you leave a note? I almost lost my mind. I thought I had gone crazy-- that the lock was sitting there in front of my face for two months. My class thinks I'm insane! I thought I was insane! When you find a lost lock, you leave a note!"
Tyra apologized for neglecting to leave a note (she didn't have time) and once I recovered my wits, I thanked her profusely for finding the lock.
This is where she found it:
At the bottom of the stairs, a good fifteen yards from my classroom door. What kind of crazy miraculous adventures did that lock have for the past two months? More importantly: why have I been chosen to witness and testify to so many myriad miracles?
This event has also provided tomorrow's Creative Writing lesson: describe the epic journey of this lock. Alexander Pope would dig the pun. As would the deepwater monster of Scotland.
"I'm sure that we can all agree that I am blessed, sacred, and luminous" might be the most Dave thing Dave wrote in a long time.
ReplyDelete"When you find a lost lock, you leave a note!" will be Tyra's yearbook quote.
"My class thinks I'm insane!" is true for many reasons beyond this lock.
"Alexander Pope would dig the pun" makes me wonder what you do with the lock.
write a mock-epic!
ReplyDeletethanks for the close-read. i had a really fun day. people got really sick of hearing the story (as it evolved)
i would pay a lot of american dollars to read 'sentence of tyra', which chronicles her daily interaction with mr. p.
ReplyDeleteapropos of nothing, dave, can you send me tyra's contact information?
i don't think that's legal . . . but i hear she was happy to help the team . . .
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/eNZsWIzEhP4
ReplyDeletenice whit. i will reenact that scenario for the student, so she leaves a note next time.
ReplyDelete