I've been reading the short stories of H.P. Lovecraft on the recommendation of a co-worker. Until now I had no idea my books could be classified as horror stories. I've learned a lot from reading!
One story in particular 'The Reaminator' brought to mind an episode from my elementary school years long forgotten. I didn't like science class all that much, but our fifth grade teacher, Mr. Cashman, made science more interesting to me. One of our class assignments was to enter the school Science Fair. This was something I always shied away from, but as this assignment made it mandatory there was no escape. Our first step of the assignment was to write a project plan for his review. We were to include a list of the materials we would need. Mine resulted in me having to meet with Mr. Cashman after class.
My list of required materials included two mice, a pump, plastic tubing with insertion needles, glass beakers, hypodermic needles, copper wires, a dry cell battery and liquid nitrogen. I think of all the items, the liquid nitrogen was the reason for this meeting.
"Let's discuss your experiment."
"Okay."
"Tell me what exactly you plan to do."
"I'm going to drain the blood from the mice as I pump liquid nitrogen into them to freeze them. Then I'm going to put them in our freezer at home for a week. Then I'm going to pump out the liquid nitrogen and pump the mouse blood back in and then shock them back to life with a charge from the battery."
"I see. Have you discussed this with your parents?"
"No. I can't let my Mom know I've put mice in her freezer."
"How do you plan to buy the the hypodermic needles and the rest of it?"
"They sell needles at the drug store for diabetics, so I figured they'd be easy to get. The rest I thought you could get."
"I don't think I can buy liquid nitrogen for you?"
"Oh. I thought teachers could get stuff normal people can't."
"Maybe you should come up with a different project."
"I like this one. I'll just make posters with drawings of how the experiment would go."
I made three posters which I taped together as a triptych which illustrated the procedures. I didn't win a prize, but I did get an honorable mention. Some people thought I had stolen the idea from some story or comic book I must have read. The truth is, I didn't like to read when I was younger, not even comic books. There was nothing like this on television in the early 1960's. I operated purely from my own imagination.
Then again, I might have been remembering something I experienced in a future life time.
One story in particular 'The Reaminator' brought to mind an episode from my elementary school years long forgotten. I didn't like science class all that much, but our fifth grade teacher, Mr. Cashman, made science more interesting to me. One of our class assignments was to enter the school Science Fair. This was something I always shied away from, but as this assignment made it mandatory there was no escape. Our first step of the assignment was to write a project plan for his review. We were to include a list of the materials we would need. Mine resulted in me having to meet with Mr. Cashman after class.
My list of required materials included two mice, a pump, plastic tubing with insertion needles, glass beakers, hypodermic needles, copper wires, a dry cell battery and liquid nitrogen. I think of all the items, the liquid nitrogen was the reason for this meeting.
"Let's discuss your experiment."
"Okay."
"Tell me what exactly you plan to do."
"I'm going to drain the blood from the mice as I pump liquid nitrogen into them to freeze them. Then I'm going to put them in our freezer at home for a week. Then I'm going to pump out the liquid nitrogen and pump the mouse blood back in and then shock them back to life with a charge from the battery."
"I see. Have you discussed this with your parents?"
"No. I can't let my Mom know I've put mice in her freezer."
"How do you plan to buy the the hypodermic needles and the rest of it?"
"They sell needles at the drug store for diabetics, so I figured they'd be easy to get. The rest I thought you could get."
"I don't think I can buy liquid nitrogen for you?"
"Oh. I thought teachers could get stuff normal people can't."
"Maybe you should come up with a different project."
"I like this one. I'll just make posters with drawings of how the experiment would go."
I made three posters which I taped together as a triptych which illustrated the procedures. I didn't win a prize, but I did get an honorable mention. Some people thought I had stolen the idea from some story or comic book I must have read. The truth is, I didn't like to read when I was younger, not even comic books. There was nothing like this on television in the early 1960's. I operated purely from my own imagination.
Then again, I might have been remembering something I experienced in a future life time.
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