Just A Random Memory

You know how we sometimes remember the most mundane events, even years after they occurred? Well, here's an event that I think of several times every week and happened when I was in primary school:

Keefauver Elementary was divided in a way that had kindergarten through third grade on one side of the building and fourth grade through sixth grade on the other. I'm not sure how old I was at the time of this story, but I was definitely in one of the classrooms that housed older children.

At that point in time, my music teacher Mr. Serfass had a cart or something that he used to visit regular classrooms. I'm thinking this is the case, anyway... because in early elementary-school memories, Mr. Serfass definitely had his own room. I mean, I can remember sitting in that room and singing "Sarasponda" in a round.

Side note: Once when Pip was still alive, we drove up to New York City with my friend Heather to see Bella's Bartok and on the ride home, he and I sang "Sarasponda" and "Low Bridge" and all sorts of other tunes -- like that "B A Bay" song -- on the ride home. It was almost five o'clock in the morning by the time we got back to Gettysburg; we were delirious.

Other side note: In sixth grade, we sang "Low Bridge" for Fine Arts Night and I was so excited because I was going to get to wear jeans and a plaid shirt -- NOT a dress! -- and then I got the stomach flu and couldn't participate.

Back to my story, though...

Mr. Serfass brought his cart and his lesson to a secondary elementary classroom and I had a retractable gel pen with a clicky end. I was bouncing it on my desk. Like, pushing in the end and then pushing it in again, letting it bounce up. One bounce was especially higher (much higher than I was expecting) and it startled me. I jumped.

Mr. Serfass saw me jump because he was passing out supplies and was standing right behind me. With a big smile on his face, he said in a quiet voice, "That one scared you, didn't it?"

I still think about that incident quite a bit.