You Little Devils

When my son was in 8th grade, it was a class of 15 boys and 2 girls. They were are very close group of boys, but were a bit of a handful. They had one particular teacher who taught Social Studies. He had been teaching since the 1960’s and let’s just say was a bit of an easy target. Those boys made that poor man’s life a living hell. It was always innocent fun, but still and all, drove that man to an early retirement. He was unmarried, loved his cats and was a stamp collector. A very kind man, but a bit quirky overall. However, he was also one of the best teachers my kids had.

It was tradition in 8th grade to take a trip to our state capitol and of course this teacher was a chaperone. After a day of touring, several of the boys ended up in a gift shop where they found a section of funny toys, one of which was a pen that when you clicked the end to push the writing portion of the pen out, it gave you a small electrical shock. Of course they all had to buy this. One boy shortly thereafter went up to the teacher and showed him his new pen. He said, “try it, it writes in a really cool ink color.” The teacher sweetly clicked the end of the pen with the intention of writing on the piece of paper the student handed him and quickly got that small electrical jolt. The boys were in tears laughing and the teacher responded “you little devils.”

Fast forward maybe a year, this pen had now found a home in our junk drawer. Keep in mind this pen looked very much like an ordinary ink pen and honestly I was not aware it was in our drawer. My husband and I had just started a new business, so getting new clients was a big deal to us. I was a stay-at-home Mom and ran our business from our home. So, multi-tasking was my middle name. I could simultaneously fold laundry or do some other task while cold calling potential clients. Looking back on this I find it hilarious. Thank God Zoom or Facetime was not a thing back then, because our potential clients would most certainly have chosen another company if they saw what I looked like while talking to them. I was the epitome of the stay-at-home mom complete with sweats, no make-up and my hair up in a ponytail. Sort of funny because as I write this that is exactly how I look today!! Being at home most days due to this pandemic has left me with no need for work clothes or make-up!! I love it.

Anyway, one particular day the business phone rang while I was doing dishes. It was a huge prospective client that we had been trying to land for weeks. He began giving me important information, so quickly I reached into my junk drawer to grab a pen. You got it, I grabbed the first one I touched, with wet hands nonetheless, and clicked the end in order to jot down the information and got this ZING that I certainly did not expect. I had to keep my composure and certainly couldn’t bust out with an expletive like I wanted to!! Yes, the shocking pen took me as a victim. The wet hands took it to a whole new level.

I finished up the call with the client and immediately called my husband to get some sympathy!! Instead as he listened to my story, no sympathy was to be found. He just burst into uncontrollable laughter. As I look back I do find the story hilarious, but back then had my son been home, I, too, would have exclaimed, “you little devil!” The pen found a new home in the garbage can. May it rest in peace.