So this one is a not-so-Favorite Memory. I’m trying to stick with the assignments from Mommy’s Piggy Tales, though, and this is the week of fifth grade.
Fifth grade was the year I was accused of cheating in Social Studies and never wore those plaid gaucho pants and that crisp cotton white blouse ever again.
My friend Kristy was sitting behind me in class and couldn’t see the board.
A test had just begun and she asked me what something said on the chalkboard.
I tried to answer her and then Mrs. Schlottman (I think that is how you spell it) materialized in front of me and accused me of cheating on the test. I remember the tingling of my skin and my heart beating out of my chest. It was still the beginning of the year and obviously she hadn’t heard yet that I was about as goody-goody as it gets. I was terrified.
And, like I said, I never wore those same clothes again for the horrible memory of that day.
About 10 years later I was waiting tables at an Outback Steakhouse near my childhood neighborhood when I saw Mrs. Schlottman eating dinner. I started sweating. My heart jumped into my throat, I couldn’t think straight and I was terrified again. (Mind you, I never cheated, but the accusation made me feel terrible enough!!)
I didn’t know what to do. I could just feel her there and I was back in fifth grade wearing those awful red plaid gauchos, with Kristy behind me.
I walked over to her table.
“Hi, I’m Amy and I was in your fifth grade Social Studies class a few years back,” I said.
I’m sure she said something polite at this point.
“I just want you to know that I didn’t cheat in your class, although you thought that I did,” I said.
I have no idea what she said next. I just remember feeling like I had to confront my past and really come clean. Even though I had done nothing wrong, I still had to clear my name. Yes, I still felt this way 10 years later.
At least now, as I type, I no longer feel that tingling on my neck and my heart no longer races. I have confronted the accuser. And I think I won. Well, maybe. I haven’t re-visited the scene of the supposed crime, yet.
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