7. I had a dream

This morning I woke up suddenly. And I woke up with a strange feeling, a feeling that I had been dreaming but I couldn't tell if it had been a beautiful dream or a horrible nightmare.  A really strange feeling too about not only being a bad mum (as previous posts showed) but also a very bad teacher. 

In the dream I was in a small classroom, small but not cramped. The room was pleasant with plenty of bright sunlight falling through the windows (the windows matching a real life classroom). It was peaceful, only some hushed noises and soft whispers. A dream class room indeed with only a small group of older teenagers who were sitting in a group, studious heads bent over books. They seemed to be hard at work (these teenagers strangely matching a group I do not really appreciate in real life). 

Suddenly I noticed one girl was eating. Not just chewing gum but getting out the bread and the jam and the butter ... (In real life teaching I hate when they eat in class and I am always telling them that they mess up the room and then leave happily, glad someone else they don't know, don't pay, don't thank is going to clean up after them.) As she was reluctant to put the picnic away I raised my voice and gave a strict order. I remember that in the dream there was someone at the back of the classroom sitting a a desk. It was the assistant head (a real life person)who ignored the situation completely (a robot version maybe). So I repeated my order more forcefully and the girl obeyed and put her food away. But just as she was doing that an other student got out a tea towel, spread it on her lap and laid some food on it. Was I dreaming? 

No! This was for real! Surely not! So I swung my arm right back and slapped the girl's face real hard. She turned towards me in retaliation and I saw her angry face looking at me. So I did it again. The second even louder slap echoed loudly (definitely a robot at the back there) in that quiet little room, smashing the silence as I recognised the sound that woke me up.

The dream part must have been the nice atmosphere and the nightmare part the slapping of a student ...