Herman’s Suicide — A Comedy in Two Fingers - Those cheeky boys set me up

Herman died in sixth grade. It was the year I discovered I liked boys for more than their Halloween candy.

Back in the 1960s, Alberta, Canada, sixth grade was the last year of childhood innocence before we were promoted to the most terrifying years of our lives — Junior High!

The Teachers
My class had two teachers, Miss Forbes and Mrs. Friesen. Miss Forbes was also the principal of our elementary school, so she job-shared with Mrs. Friesen to allow time for her administrative duties.

The incident in question occurred on Mrs. Friesen’s watch, as there is no possibility of it happening in Miss Forbes’ classroom. In those days, it was Miss, not Ms.

Miss Forbes was in her early 50s, never married, with steel grey hair, quite squat and about 250 pounds. She had a Jekyll and Hyde personality, which moved with such fluidity that we never saw it coming until it was too late.

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