In an era when
toys were scarce some of us
came up with the idea of making a tractor out of the works from an
alarm clock.
The mechanism for a wind up alarm clock was rectangular in shape and
had
several flat round gears inside. The big power spring moved very slowly
and
each meshing gear increased in speed. The last action on the chain was
the
balance wheel. It went back and forth, powered by one of the gears and
an
escape wheel actuating a small vibrating spring. Each time it moved
back and
forth it clicked and another second was measured.
Embedded in
this long chain of geared wheels was one that protruded slightly out of
the
open edges of the rectangular frame. When the balance wheel was removed
this
wheel rotated at a relatively slow speed. Some of the other wheels were
slower
or faster. The mechanism could be placed on its side and that wheel
would
provide traction, causing it to crawl along a little faster than a
snail’s
pace. It was a lot of fun to see them move along.
I’m telling
you all this so you will understand what happened when one of the boys
brought
one to school one day. I believe we were in the fifth grade that year.
We had a
nice middle-aged lady for a teacher that year. Her name was Leona
Marshall.
A girl by
the name of Mary June sat in the seat in front of me. She had long,
blonde
curly hair and it usually appeared to be well groomed. Some days it
even had a
colorful ribbon delicately displayed. I
was guilty of dipping a strand or two in the ink well occasionally, but
generally had been pretty well behaved.
A boy by
the name of Mike Barron sat behind me. He was not so well behaved. Many
times
he punched me with a pencil, tickled my neck with a feather or
something that
tended to bother me. But that was part of a day’s operation and I
tolerated his
aggravating annoyances. Another boy whose name was Billy sat in front
of Mary
June. He was a little on the mischievous side, but seldom did anything
serious.
On this day
Mike had one of those alarm clock tractors. He wound it up tight and
pushed it
in front of my face. The wheels were turning and making a little noise.
He held the
clock monster with his left hand and was punching Billy with his right.
It
appeared to me that he was going to hand Billy the package. I moved sideways while the thing was moving
forward. The teacher was busy writing something of the blackboard and
hadn’t
seen the activity in our area.
Mary June
was sitting low in the seat and the monster brushed against her curly.
blonde
hair. Some of the strands apparently made their way through the thin
frame to
the whirling gears inside. Before I realized what was happening
something
inside was pulling the hair inside and the unit was climbing through
her hair
to her scalp. I’m sure it was pretty painful as it wound up the hair
and kept
digging in!
The victim
came to life suddenly and jumped out of her seat, screaming like a
scalded cat.
She was jumping up and down in the aisle, both hands pulling on the
contraption
that was well entrenched in her hair and pressing against her scalp.
“Get it
off! Get it off!” she kept yelling. She had everyone’s attention,
including the
teacher’s. The teacher ran back to see what was wrong and was having a
hard
time getting her still enough to determine what the problem was.
Finally
Mary June calmed down enough for Miss Marshall and another girl or two to diagnose the
trouble. They agreed on what the problem was
but they
didn’t have any luck pulling it out of the hair. Mary June was still
wailing
like a sick calf.
“I think we
will have to cut some hair,” Miss Marshall said, and asked one of the
girls to
find some scissors.
Someone had
a pair of blunt nose scissors and handed them to the hair surgeon. It
was a
relatively simple matter to cut the hair beneath the machine. When it
was pulled
free it had stalled and was full of blonde hair. Miss Marshall held it
up and
looked it over. Several students started laughing. Mary June was crying
softly
and was feeling of the small bald spot on her head.
Miss Marshall looked at me and asked, “Norris,
did you do this?” I was prompt in
replying, “No!” Mary June stopped
feeling and crying long enough to point to me and say, “He did it. He
did it!”
“It just
passed by me,” I said. “It was an accident that
her hair got caught in it.”
“Norris,”
she said sternly, “Don’t you lie to me. I want you to stay after school
is
dismissed.” I didn’t like the sound of her voice and I had a deep
feeling that
I was in serious trouble. Mike just sat there in his seat looking
innocent.
Everything
calmed down and the afternoon passed in the usual manner. When it came
time to
go home and I stayed for the mandatory appointment, Miss Marshall
walked back
to my seat stood glaring at me.
Before she
said anything, she reached and caught me by my hair and pulled my head
back,
staring angrily into my face. My attempt to tell her that it was an
accident
and I was innocent was a dismal failure. She gave me a strong lecture
and kept
pulling my hair to emphasize every word. Eventually she turned me loose
and
told me I would get a “D” in deportment on my next report card.
I still
worry about my unjust accusation, reprimand and bad grade for something
I was
not guilty of. But every time I think
about the blond hair being wound into the clock monster I have to
laugh. It was
pretty funny.
The moral
of this story is: “If you see a strange contraption headed for a girl’s
hair,
put some distance between you and the victim!”
|