The Dangling Student
That day started out just like any other day. Weather-wise it was a beautiful, sunny day too. And the sun felt great shinning down on my face, as I walked through our courtyard to get to the other side. Two more months, I thought, and we will all be on summer vacation: Can’t wait. As I looked at my calendar that morning and saw that I only had one main thing scheduled, a formal observation, I was pleased. I was also pleased when I saw that I was scheduled to observe Ms. Sanders. She was one of our best teachers, and I always enjoyed going in her class. I even felt better that day when I realized that no parents were on the agenda, nor were there any in the general office waiting to see me. That was rare. On some days, you might have “wall to wall” parents waiting to see you. Or as some of my colleagues would facetiously say, waiting to complain and give you more grief. As I left for the observation, I told my secretary where I was going to be. I often gave my secretary a ‘heads-up’ as to my whereabouts when I left the office so that I could be reached easily in the event of an emergency. I entered Ms. Sanders’ room at 9:00 a.m. with a big smile on my face I left with even a bigger smile about 50 minutes later. Her lesson was excellent, and, as usual, I was impressed. If all my teachers were like Ms. Sanders, I thought, our children would make leaps and bounds in their reading. As I was about to make that turn back to my office, I saw my secretary outside the office with her eyes fixated on the courtyard. She looked terrified and one hand was covering her mouth. When she saw me coming, she pointed to the second floor window and hollered, “Look it’s Melvin!” I looked up in horror and cried out, “Oh my God!” Melvin was hanging from the outside window facing the courtyard. Ms. Reid, one of our support staff teachers who had been working with Melvin, and helping his teacher better deal with him, was right there, on the inside, trying to coax him in. I ran out into the courtyard, and position myself right under Melvin. My heart was pumping a mile a minute. “Hold on Melvin. Ms. Reid is going to pull you in!” Right under him with my hands and arms extended, I was thinking if Melvin loses his grip and falls, I will catch him and break his fall. But then another scary thought came to mind as quickly as the other: God, if he falls, and I attempt to break his fall, I will probably break my arms, maybe even my collar bone. He has to weigh at least 50 lbs. Fifty pounds coming down at you, might be hard, especially considering he was at least 25 feet up. But what choice do I have? I thought. I’d rather break my bones then to have him possibly kill himself. Damn that Melvin! As I prepared myself mentally for the worst possible scenario
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