You smell . . .

If you only read this blog in email, you may have missed this comment on the blog from Ed Deutschendorf:

I really enjoyed reading Kathy's recollections of Mrs. Mae Blair. I was extremely afraid of her. Being in the 7th grade, new to junior high, I was pretty insecure anyway, and then to have Mrs. Blair as a teacher really got me going.

My sister, Kerry, loves to tell this story about Mrs. Blair, but I have to give a little background that she leaves out.

In 1970 I was in the 5th grade. I was firmly entrenched in the Temple school system having moved to Temple half way through my 3rd grade year. During that 5th grade year a new kid moved in; his name was Eric Claunch. I hope I am spelling his last name correctly. Eric was a very outgoing kid and a tremendous athlete. We played football together in the 6th and 7th grades. He reminded me a lot of Brett Gunn. He would have been a tremendous asset to our football team, but he moved away shortly after we entered junior high.

Eric would do or say anything. He even had the nerve to flirt with the older 6th grade girls, and he was the new kid. Wow! He always had that look that made you wonder what was coming next, and something was always coming. I am not sure if split classes (mixed grades in the same class) were unique to Temple, but I was in several. Mrs. Blair's class was one of them. Some of my 7th grade classmates shared her classroom with some of the 8th graders. Eric Claunch was in that class. We probably didn't get into any more trouble than any other class, but Eric seemed to push the envelope in any class.

I believe Mrs. Blair knew she had to stay ahead of Eric to keep him in line, and I think she did for the most part. You didn't get much past her. That is the background.On one particular day, we had a memorization assignment of some sort in Mrs. Blair's class.

The way I remember it, prior to class beginning on that day, it seemed we were all intent on the final prep for the assignment. In other words, there wasn't the normal chatter before class. Mrs. Blair was at her desk, completely in control as always, and Eric walked into class. Eric had his hands behind his back, and he gave the whole class this look that said, "Watch this!" The beauty of the whole thing was that we had no idea what he had planned.

Eric walked up to Mrs. Blair and the coversation went something like this:

Eric : "Mrs. Blair."

Mrs. Blair : "Yes, Eric."

Eric : "You smell....(long pause)"

When he said that, the entire class gasped audibly; we thought the world was going to end right then and there. You could physically sense the fear in that room. We all knew Eric was toast, but we feared that Mrs. Blair would find a way to implicate the whole class. After the pause, a long pause mind you, he said, "...like a rose.", and he gave her a rose that he had been hiding behind his back.

The class came unglued. I am not sure her class was ever the same after that. I would love to have known what she thought that day. She never mentioned it. Being the astute 7th grader that I was, I do believe she saw Eric in a different light after that. You would actually catch her smiling at something he said or did from time to time after that. Maybe she did appreciate a good joke.