It Adds Up

"It stung like a violent wind that our memories depend on a faulty camera in our minds" - What Sarah Said - Death Cab for Cutie

"I am going to stab you in the neck." He said elbow on his desk, grin on his face and pencil pointed in the air.
"No, you're going to finish that math." I said without so much as a blink.
Being threatened is a rare thing, for most people anyway. In a lifetime, maybe they have a handful of times when they are really in a situation where another person is willing to cause bodily harm. For three years, I was threatened on a regular basis while I worked in a school system.
After the first dozen times or so, you're blood doesn't even really get pumping. Not every threat was serious. The one above wasn't even one that warranted any discipline. After awhile, you actually hope they act. Just to see what happens.
But I remember this instance because it was my birthday. But which birthday, I am not sure. Maybe 23. Maybe 24. I don't know they run together.
In fact as I consider it more, he may have said "eye" not "neck."
But what does that matter. I guess if he did it not much. A pencil through the eye or in the right place in the neck would have the same result.
He wasn't going to do it. Not that it wasn't in him. He'd kill if pushed to it, but I don't think a page of third grade math really bothered that high school kid enough. For the two years he was in our program, he was a daily pain in the ass. For me, more than anyone.
Why?
While I don't think he'd admit it. He liked me. After he graduated, he stopped by a time or two. But then he went to prison (for the second time in his life). Math was never what he really needed to learn.