Deaf School Memories

Mary Anne

A Short Story:      Surrounded by Animals…Sort Of 

At our request, Mary Anne continues to stroll down memory lane………. 

I attended the Indiana School for the Deaf for five years – 8^th grade through high school.  I had hearing and deaf teachers and all of my deaf teachers had graduated from Gallaudet University inWashington,D.C.  Little did we know back then that I would not only graduate from Gallaudet myself, but I would serve as the university’s Director of Alumni Relations.  I was fortunate to remain in touch with many of my deaf teachers and see them often at Gallaudet reunions and other events until they all, each and every one of them, passed away.

I’ve a story to share but with respect for the teacher in question I will refrain from using his name.  My fellow ISD schoolmates may figure him out and that’s fine.  I think my story will spark fond memories they may have of him as well.

He was my science teacher.  He taught Biology and Chemistry.  He wasn’t a classy dresser and he always had a disheveled look about him.  He also had poor balance and he would sway and stumble during class lectures.  We liked him and he could make us laugh a lot.  One day in class he told us a joke.  The joke, quite honestly, probably wasn’t appropriate for us teenagers, but at any rate I did learn that a sow is an adult female pig.

This old farmer picked up his sow and put her in a wheelbarrow.  He carted her over to the next farm and left her with a big ole male pig for a few hours.  The next morning, seeing that there were no piglets, the farmer put the sow back in the wheelbarrow and went back over to the other farm.  The next morning, and the next, and the next, as there were still no piglets, he carted the sow back to the other farm.  Come one morning, the farmer saw there weren’t any piglets and the sow was missing.  He looked all over for her and found her waiting for him – in the wheelbarrow.

When not attending classes in the main building, I spent most of my time in the dorm.  We had housemothers and nearly all of them were hearing.  Of the hearing housemothers in the high school wing, Mrs. Gates was my favorite.  She was short, stocky, and matronly and the only sign she knew was “bad,” which she used often when she thought you were being a bad girl.  The other hearing housemother was Miss Crump.  She was, compared to Mrs. Gates, a bit sterner and not as warm.  They both had private rooms at the end of the wing and if the door was open, we girls would often peek into the room and check out their personal furniture and photographs.

One day I was talking with some of the other girls in the hall and didn’t notice that Miss Crump was approaching.  She was heading down the hall and at the precise moment that she was directly behind me, I inadvertently took a step back.  She stumbled and nearly fell to the floor.  Catching herself she glared at me – never mind that my eyes and mouth were wide open in shock and surprise – and said “Son of a _____!”  I had seen that term several times before but didn’t know what “_____” meant.  So I looked it up in my dictionary and learned that a bitch is a female dog.  Not long after that incident, seeing that Miss Crump’s door was open, and knowing that she was in her room, I walked by and barked.  Miss Crump came rushing right out of her room, confronted me and asked if I had just barked at her.

I lied of course.