Our teacher, who I can barely remember at all, divided us into groups of three and, just my luck, I was in a trio with Barry, the spaz. I talked with the other boy in the group and Barry seemed preoccupied by his own leg so we were able to get our assignment done without interference. Of course we got bored and turned out attention to our the odd classmate in our midst even if wasn't kind enough to demand it.
"What are you doing?" I asked Barry, wondering why he was staring at his vibrating right leg.
"I've got a motor!" He practically shouted without looking up.
"What are you talking about?" the other boy asked him.
Barry explained to us that when he raised his right heel off the ground with the balls of his foot planted firmly he could find a kind of sweet spot that would start his leg vibrating involuntarily. Well, we gave it a try and we were both amazed. Barry had find something.
The teacher noticed the three of us vibrating our legs instead of doing the assignment. "What exactly is going on here?" she asked, and two of us topped immediately. Embarrassed we pretended to be engrossed in our books.
Barry, totally unashamed turned to her smiling and announced, "I have a motor!" expecting the teacher to be as impressed as his fellow students had been with his vibrating leg.
The teacher instead reached down and place her hand firmly on his knee stopped the vibrating. Barry looked horrified, tears formed in his face, he looked at his knee, at the teacher, at his knee and then, screaming "YOU BROKE MY MOTOR!" he smacked her across her face, hard, and ran from the room.
We were all in shock, so much so that I don't recall what happened immediately following Barry's departure. I do recall that the next day the word expelled was tossed about and speculated upon. Had anyone ever actually been expelled? Barry was gone for a couple of days, then came the weekend and then, on Monday, he was back. Perhaps because the teacher had indeed touched him first or maybe they'd upped his dosage, but whatever the reason, Barry was back and life went on.
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