More Glimpses

Glimpses

(written by Harley Castleberry)

A "YARN" ABOUT YARN 

No class would be complete without some individual who could do unbelievable funny things - unintentionally.

The scene is the old three story high school building located at 10th and Jean in Clearview.  The classroom was located just to the left of the main entrance to the building, which was actually on the second floor.  A pair of massive staircases, flanking the lower floor entrance, led to a large balcony type landing in front of impressive entry doors.

As best I can recall, we were in our freshman year and charged with raising money for our class.  This was a class effort.

Other grade levels had created their own projects and someone in our class hit upon an acceptable idea of making small yarn dolls to wear on the lapels, or around the neck, suspended on strands of matching yarn in the form of a necklace.  The creations were to be sold throughout the school.  Our school colors were red and black.  Wool yarn was purchased accordingly.

I don’t remember the full construction details, but several short strands were folded in half and tied about mid-way in order to create a waistline.  The folded portion formed a head and I believe that by separating and tying-off each half of the lower portion, legs were created for a boy doll, or character, while the undivided combined strands on the lower portion simulated a full length “skirt look” for a girl doll.  Several strands, tied off at each end formed the arms.  This component was passed through about one-half of the strands forming the upper body and secured to the rear of the body strands with another short piece of yarn.  From the front there was no evidence of how the arms were attached.
At any rate, the finished product consisted of one boy doll and one girl doll, each of a different school color.  This effort went on for several days in art class with the female class members doing the bulk of this “sissy” project.

Fragments of yarn were readily evident almost anywhere on the floor during the days of construction.

At this point in life, I subscribed to the “out-of-sight, out-of-mind” philosophy and took every opportunity to position myself toward the rear of any classroom.  (Less likely to be called on by the teacher, I reasoned.)  I was not alone in this well thought-out theory.  Boys just naturally gravitate toward the rear, while most of the girls, being more mature for their age, liked the exposure and often sought the coveted “teacher’s pet” status.

Allen Boyd, virtually a life-long friend, sat in the seat ahead of me.  We were about three-fourths of the way back in the room and in the center row, directly in line with the teacher’s desk.  On this particular day, we had been given a “study period” to catch up on our individual work.  The teacher was busy at his desk.  Heads were down in most areas of the room, and students were busy.  I too, was busy.  Apparently, Allen was caught up on his work because it was during this time that he decided to resume technical tests on aerodynamics.  He had conducted such tests recently with startlingly good results.

It’s not often that one has the opportunity to be an eye-witness to history in the making, but that’s exactly where I found myself on that day.

With devil-may-care confidence, (evidently based on previous successes) he randomly picked up a fragment of yarn from the floor beside his desk.  From my observation, it appeared that the color was of no major concern - any piece of that size would have probably sufficed.  After he made the selection, I couldn’t see what was taking place - but I knew.  I’d seen it done before!  He was carefully stretching the fibers apart to make it almost like a fluffy feather.

Excitement filled my being!  Was he going to do it again?  NOW?

Moments later I had my answer, as he slid his lanky frame down in his desk and tilted his head back.  The top of his wavy hair extended back over the forward third of my desk top. 

This posture was essential for a good vertical launch.  As an added bonus, this low profile placed all students seated ahead of him, between the test site and the control tower - that is, the teacher’s desk.  With the confidence of Orville and Wilbur, he calmly held the “frizzed” piece of yarn above his up-turned mouth.  With perfect synchronization, he masterfully spread his finger-tips releasing the yarn, as he gently blew upward.  As if educated, the fragment of a sheep’s coat took flight!  The precise control of breath propelled the yarn straight up.  As it gently succumbed to the force of gravity, it was majestically whisked upward again - and again.  Such control.  It was beautiful!

Other than the skilled technician himself, I alone was privileged to witness this marvel of flight.

How many times could he do it?

Suddenly, without warning, things went horribly out of control!

Brain/eye sensors that coordinated the precise relationship between the heavier than air object and inhale-exhale synchronization ran amuck!

On the test site, inhale-exhale polarities reversed and the heavier than air device, at the worst possible moment, was drawn, (wouldn’t you know it) into the propulsion orifice.

(In layman’s terms, he sucked when he should’a blowed and ended up with this “wooly thing” in his throat.) 

This experiment, conducted under the earth’s gravitation pull, attested to what we had been taught in science class - “What goes up must come down” and occasionally in the most undesirable locations.