A Complete and Utter Meltdown

I know I was in middle school but can’t recall what grade. I could walk into the school and into the room where it happened. I can’t recall the teacher’s name but she was in her thirties. For the sake of the story, I’ll call her Mrs. Clooney. My memory is clear on some aspects of the event and foggy on others,  but this is how I remember the incident...

We were in Mrs. Clooney’s room. She taught English. The desks were arranged in groups of four. 

If you think of the room as a large rectangle with windows along the top side and two doors on the ends of the lower side, you’ll have a pretty good idea of how the room was set up.  The chalkboard covered the length of the right hand wall in the front of the class. My group was in the back of the room in the lower left corner near one of the doors and Mrs. Clooney’s desk was in the opposite corner near the windows and chalkboard. 

Someone in my group, a boy whose name I also cannot recall, brought his workbook up to Mrs. Clooney and after a few seconds, her tone and volume changed in a noticeable and alarming way. She was upset and getting more so by the sentence.  Everyone in the room stopped, looked at, then stared at Mrs. Clooney in disbelief.

She was getting more and more wound up. Mrs. Clooney was standing now, yelling and pointing fingers at the students when my friend retreated to our group of desks in the back.

“What happened? What did you say to her?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Nothing. She just started yelling,” he stammered.

By this time, every other class on the hall could hear her. She was standing in front of her desk, red-faced, yelling and waving her arms frantically.

She was having a complete and utter meltdown. A total loss of control. All rational thought replaced by shear hysteria.

We saw other teachers peeking in the doors, seemingly confused and afraid to enter. Finally, the principal came in and took gently took Mrs. Clooney by the arm and lead her away.

We never saw her again.

Disclaimer: My friends from middle school tell me I’m not remembering the end of this story completely accurately - that she did come back and she was fine. That’s not how I remember it, and, frankly, it makes a better story the way I tell it.