Monday, February 22, 2010

Whoops! blogfest

Thanks to Laurel for sponsoring the Whoops! blogfest. Go to her blog to read the others!

Please keep a couple of things in mind.
1) This is a real WIP, very new.
2) It part of the opening scene, so it may change or go away altogether.
3) This happened to me all the time in school...although never with Rosemary's Baby.


Of course Guy doesn’t believe Rosemary when she tells him there’s a coven of witches next door. He’s one of them! Rosemary’s such an idiot.
This reflection is interrupted by an awareness of a kind of silence around me. A waiting silence. Rosemary’s Baby is ripped from my hand, without Mrs. Tate even breaking stride. Then her desk drawer is open and the black cover of the book is disappearing inside.
“Mrs. Tate!”
The class is laughing hysterically.
“Mrs. Tate!”
“If you want it back, Joanie, you can ask at the end of the semester.”
“But it’s a library book!”
“That is your problem. My problem is to instruct you peons in the multiplication of decimals. If I accomplish nothing else in my brief time on this planet…”
And so on. Mrs. Tate really should have been a drama teacher.
In front of me Dan Smiley has fallen halfway out his seat with the effort of laughing at me. He sits up and, pushing his fingers up under his glasses, wipes his eyes.
“Man, that was priceless,” he says. “Priceless.”

15 comments:

Laurel Garver said...

I especially like the description of the classmate at the end. Priceless indeed.

Thanks for participating in the fest and making it fun!

Nicole Settle said...

Awesome! I can totally relate to this! I have had my share of Mrs. Tate type teachers.

Amalia Dillin said...

The description of Dan Smiley is really well done. And Poor Joanie! the late fees are going to be awful.

Mary Aalgaard said...

I think she should sneak back in after hours and retrieve her book, read it, then check it out in the teacher's name, slip it back in the desk and let HER pay the fees! Fun!

Guinevere said...

Ouch! What kind of heartless teacher would confiscate a library book? And... how embarrassing... in a way I think all of us book lovers can relate to!

Tara said...

Ugh. Emabarrassing moments in school. The worst kind.

VR Barkowski said...

Loved this! Poor Joanie! Hate to tell you how many times I got caught reading in class in HS, once during a physics exam. The instructor accused me of cheating. Like there was some hidden formula in Stephen King or something.

Tiffany Neal said...

Ah, yes. Been there. Now that I'm the teacher, I tell my kids to at least do a better job of pretending to pay attention... :)

Tricia J. O'Brien said...

Mean Mrs. Tate! I can't believe she did that. I'm ready to march in and demand the book back.

Just Another Sarah said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Just Another Sarah said...

I love the comments of the classmate, and the description of the teacher is great! Very nice scene. :)

dolorah said...

Oh, and awesome post. So highschool. Hmm, do I remember when . .

I got a little lost in reading some of your older posts left a comment there too. Fascinating Blog you have here.


...........dhole

Laura Canon said...

In real life (the book was James Michener's Hawaii, by the way) my mother called Mrs. Vogt and demanded the book back. My mother was always very helpful like that.
Tiffany -- when I was teaching it was Ipods, etc. (The very first Ipod I ever saw was in one of my student's hands.)
Mary and Laurel, thanks for following. Yesterday was kind of a hellish day so I didn't get to read as many posts as I would have liked but it's a great idea for a blogfest!

Unknown said...

Aw! That makes me sad. A whole semester? Harsh! Nice whoops! scene. :)

Katie said...

Super cute. A bad teacher is the worst. What time period is your WIP set in? (You write historicals, right???)