The man behind the curtain

One of my very first thoughts as I woke up this morning was “I do not want to go outside today.”  I could hear the wind fiercely howling outside my window and my curtains had that notorious brown hazy look that signals large quantities of dust in the air.  Thewind has been so strong today that it (or objects carried by it) managed to break some of the windows in the number one teaching building (photo obviously not taken today).

Upon arriving in my classroom this morning, I noticed that one of the classroom window’s outside panes was indeed broken.  Fortunately, there was also an inner pane of glass that prevented the room from becoming a wind tunnel.  A few minutes before class began several workmen came in to examine the damage.  I went about my business of setting up my computer and passing back papers, and was happy when the men exited the room just before class began.  I proceeded to pass out a quiz, and returned to my perch at the front of the room to carefully watch for any student who might attempt a peek at their notes.  About halfway through the quiz, I almost let out a full fledged scream.  All of a sudden, a man peeked out from behind the curtain in front of the broken window.  I was under the impression that all of the workmen had left, so the sudden appearance of this face was quite frightening.  He must have seen the fear in my eyes, for he quickly hid himself again behind the curtain.

I continued with my class (what else was I going to do?) and the man continued to hide out for the next twenty five minutes or so.  I have no idea what he was doing behind the curtain.  Perhaps he was making sure the broken shards didn’t blow into the classroom?  Perhaps he had a keen desire to learn English?  Perhaps he was pretending to be the Wizard of Oz?

About thirty minutes into the class, his two workmen buddies appeared again with toolboxes and proceeded to loudly discuss and go about their repairs.  I attempted, somewhat unsuccessfully, to hold the attention of my students and continue the lesson.  Five or ten minutes later, the men finished their work (what that work was, I’m not entirely sure, I couldn’t see anything different about the broken window after they left) and class returned to normal.  However, I have a feeling I will forever be wary of the curtains in that classroom.