"Baby Went Out The Window"

I learned many things at Dixie County High School. There was a class called Life Management. One week we brought in a 5lb sacks of flour. For 2 weeks we were to carry this around as our baby. It needed to return intact to get a grade. But tape could be used for repairs. So the first night I wrapped my Piggy Wiggly-brand flour baby in 2 rolls of duct tape. Added a face. Glued on some orange faux fur hair. Five pounds became 8. They grow up so fast! Over the next week we tossed this tape baby against brick walls. No harm was done. Parenting came naturally it seemed. Until we decided to drop junior out a car window while heading down County Road 55A. It bounced off the road and out into a field. We searched... but never found that sack of flour. It might be out there still. The next morning I told my teacher what had happened. Baby went out the window. Was lost in a field. She just stared. Told me not to tell anyone else this story. I still got full credit though. No one expected much of parents back then. #writing #FlashMemoir #florida #90s

@ruralgloom Sometimes, there is nothing better than internet. This is one of those times.
@goodthinking There was also a mandatory hunting safety course. The retired football coach running the class spent most of the available time ranting about my "really weird" shirt. It had green stripes.

@ruralgloom

We had the same project when I was in school in the 1970s, also a flour sack.

One of the boys in one of my other classes (not the same one as the flour-baby class) was a bit of a bully. He tried to make a joke out of threatening to throw my baby in the trash, but instead he dropped it by mistake– making a big mess in the process.

For the first time that most of the kids in that school had ever seen (at least, for the first time in some years), I stood up to a bully. The teacher for this class walked in, right as I was standing in front of him, and furiously bitching him out for what he had done. I went full crazy-mad on him, enraged that he had probably just ruined my project and my grade.

But the teacher interpreted my response to be my maternal protective instincts kicking in, and soon after getting us all to sit down, she warned the class about not messing with an angry Mama.

Later that day... (1/2)

#Writing #FlashMemoir #Nostalgia #SchoolProject

@ruralgloom

Later that day, my teacher for the flour-baby project (without naming me) told our class that she had heard about… someone… who had reacted strongly to a damaged “baby.” She felt it necessary to remind everyone that these were not real babies, and we should not get too emotionally involved with them. 😂

Before I left class that day, this same teacher told me privately that I could just use a different bag of flour without any detriment to my grade.

In the end, I got an A on the project. My theory is that the teacher either thought I had taken it seriously enough to warrant the grade — or just that she didn’t want to make me angry. (2/2)

#Writing #FlashMemoir #SchoolProject #Nostalgia

@AnneTheWriter1 She walked in as you were yelling – "You burst my child!" and feared violence!