The noise was deafening, but I could hear our student giggles over it all. Boys were yelling “The blue one! The blue one! Miss Custer, get up here to the front!” I hoisted the inner tube above my head, swallowed my pride, and shoved my swimsuit-clad self down the center of the four lines. Since it was a holiday, everyone in Karlsruhe had apparently had the idea to come to the swimming pool.
The entire 8th grade class stood at the wide entrance of the biggest slide, several with inner tubes in hand. One of them took charge. “Miss Custer and her tube up front, three of you grab her hand and make a chain. Then quick, Miss Kubanek, you’re next; then three more kids.” Germans stared as we did our best to make a train chain with our entire group, completely thrilled at the awesomeness of our idea. A sudden lurch, and the crush of 15 people behind me tipped my inner tube over the edge; with a squeal of anticipation, we were off.
I swirled and spun, four 8th grade hands all gripping my tube or hand or foot as I clung to one of theirs. We passed through a dark section that took us on a sharp left turn, and I lost Sam’s grip as he floated away ahead of the rest of us. “Nooooooo,” a student shouted dramatically and attempted to push off the wall, hurling us into a free spin just as we passed under the strobe lights. Everything looked eerily like a disco dance party, the music our laughter. We caught Sam again, and he clutched at the tube. Glancing over my shoulder, I could see the chain had come apart in several sections, but still I could make out the whole group, and my heart swelled.
After two years of cancellations, this was the first 8th grade trip we had been able to have, and even so it had to change from its original destination to be much closer to home. Several colleagues had given up part of their Easter break to scout some sites and options and figure out the right balance of learning and fun. Then there was the anxiety of heading out with this particular class, not exactly a united group of friends - not that any class is ever perfect, but this one seemed to have more clashes than I was used to seeing. And yet the week had gone so much better than I could’ve anticipated: respectful listening to tour guides, a giant game of 4-on-the-couch, even a somber bonfire sing-along. This frozen moment, 12 students and 4 teachers suspended in a giant water slide, all reaching for one another with wide grins on their faces, it was a scene I wanted to imprint.
The darkness gave way to light and we were all unceremoniously spit out into the reception pool at the bottom, a crowd of locals vying for our inner tubes. We relinquished them and turned to each other, spluttering and laughing. “That was fantastic!” “I lost Luke!” “Did you make faces under the strobe lights like me?” Some headed off to repeat the blue slide while others split up to try the green and yellow ones. The shared moment dissipated, but the point was never that it lasted forever, rather that it happened at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment