Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Here and Present Danger (Dr. Fault, part II)


In my last post we met Dr. Fault, the ill-tempered principal who terrorized kids and teachers alike. I started student teaching there.
This was the last person you'd want mad at you. I managed anyway:
I'd been taking roll for a few days (new class). It turned out that one kid wasn't saying "here" when called her name, so I'd marked her absent.
I think it was story time when Dr. Fault interrupted.
"I want to talk to you!" she barked, glaring.
I nodded, wondering what I'd done.
"We called Candy's home because you marked her absent for two days, and they said 'my child was in school!' " A red-faced, wide eyed, what do you have to say for yourself!? look followed.
"WELL?"
I tried to explain. She'd have none of it.
"If you want to do it something, do it right!" she snapped, leaving as abruptly as she came.

8 comments:

Sally said...

Even more than the story, I loved the WETNESS of the illo. I've wanted to get Painter to work as a pencil bg watercolor and haven't gotten success yet, but when I looked at this I opened Painter and started playing with it. This illo is so loose and so strong-- I love the direction your work is moving in, and I bet it has nothing to do with the work you're doing.

Namowal (Jennifer Bourne) said...

Thanks, Sally,
I actually picked a runny watercolor brush by mistake, but liked the effect and kept it. Thanks again!

Anonymous said...

Why do some people think fear is a good motivator?

Namowal (Jennifer Bourne) said...

Good question, stray g.
Why did she have to be so nasty? Did she really think everyone else was a fool who deserved being slapped into shape? Was she afraid she'd lose power if she was more diplomatic? Or was she one of those people who got off on bullying others?

booda baby said...

You know, that's just one of those eternally bullshit things to say, the first resort of people dedicated to being right more than actually being in the moment.

So what if they had to call home? That's what a cross-checking-system's all about, isn't it?

Namowal (Jennifer Bourne) said...

Yep, Boodababy,
It's a weird thing to fly up in the snuff about. Unless bawling out others over small goofs is their idea of a good time.

Linda Davick said...

Namo, this is such an interesting collection of posts. It makes me want to join in. I wonder if some of us could (for a month? two weeks?) post on the same topics ... kind of like L. Barry's workshop might be.

Stray G: I think that people who think fear is a good motivator are motivated by fear themselves.

Namowal (Jennifer Bourne) said...

Hi Linda,
I'm flattered that you'd want to join in. Feel free!