Word of the Day Challenge: Cadaver

When I was in Elementary school we used to have ” free art day ” where we could either draw, paint a picture or make things with clay. We had ‘show and tell ‘ and on that day you could bring in a toy or souvenirs or a sibling and give a little talk about it.

And to this my second grade teacher decided to hold ‘career day’ where we would chat about what we wanted to be when we grew up. It wasn’t a bad idea at all. This was about  1971 and if a little girl said she wanted to be a Pilot or something non traditional at the time,  Mrs. Kerr actually encouraged you to take a book out about pilots or planes, maybe draw pictures or make a model  for your presentation.

Mrs. Kerr went from desk to desk with a chair and helped us decided what we thought we might want to be when we grew up.

I said, when I was asked by Mrs. Kerr, what did I want to be when I grew up, I said that I wanted to be a Ghost. Or a Monster. Preferably a Werewolf.

Be serious my teacher told me.

I am I insisted.

In order to be a ghost, or a monster or a werewolf Mrs. Kerr told me I would have to die. Did that make sense? Did I want to grow up and die?

Will I get to be a monster? I asked, or a ghost? Would I get to be a  ( I think I pronounced it ‘cravader’ )?

I was beside myself with excitement. The possibilities busted open right in front of my eyes. The pictures I would draw! The books I would take out from the library! Oh boy! My was my presentation going to be GREAT!

Mrs. Kerr pulled a little notebook out of hip pocket and I groaned and put my head down on my desk. Mrs. Kerr kept two little notebooks in her pocket. One notebook contained  colored paper and the other book  plain white paper.

She wrote happy notes home on the colored paper and the not happy notes on the plain white paper. In cursive. So we couldn’t read it. We had to have our parents read it to us and then they had to sign it.

I brought home a lot of white notes.

” Anita, you have to learn to answer serious questions seriously. “

Still face down on my desktop I agreed.

” Now. What do you want to be when you grow up.”

” I seriously want to be a ghost. “

The white note I took home that week was three pages long.

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