The Needle Incident

This week was the 20th anniversary of an embarrassing incident from my teen years:

Home economics was not my favorite class in junior high school. For the valuable life skills they offered, I was far more concerned with earning a good grade. On alternating weeks, we would either be in either one of two specially designed classrooms, one for the sowing unit (which doubled for health classes) and one in a kitchen. The elective was taught by Ms. Schnorr, an obese, middle-aged woman who usually yelled directions from behind a desk and chair.

The first big project we had in the sowing unit was creating our own multipurpose aprons. First, we had a preliminary introduction to the sowing machines, with a safety and component quiz. Then, we created pockets for the aprons before moving on to the apron itself.

I didn't quite feel comfortable using the machine, but I went along with the assignments in a cautious manner. The machines were in special tables with detachable platforms, with a pedal connecting to wire. About halfway through the apron, I stood up to adjust the fabric, accidentally stepped on the pedal, and the sowing needle went straight through the tip of my thumb. 

I screamed for a couple of seconds, loud enough to get the semi-immobile teacher to rush to my care. I nudged the pedal out of the way with my other foot, and Ms. Schnorr was able to get the needle out of the machine. One of my classmates walked me to the nurse; I was too panicked to even notice who it was. The school nurse removed the needle very gently, put some astringent on it, and bandaged me up. After calming my nerves, I walked myself back to class.

Junior high can be a hornets' nest of gossip and misinformation, and Herrick was no exception. By the time lunch period (5A) half of the school was not only talking about my thumb, but were spreading misinformation and blowing things out of proportion. Some of the kids even thought I'd had my thumb amputated. I had to show off my wounded thumb in the lunch line to prove it was a relatively minor injury.

Even though the wound was skin-deep, the thumb incident messed with my head for the duration of that trimester. I was even more nervous about using a sowing machine, and even though I passed the class, I have no interest in operating a sowing machine ever again. Its a life skill that I've learned to do without. About a month after needle met fingertip, I suffered some first degree burns on my left hand in the same class. I had to put my hand in cold water for the duration of third and fourth period, but the needle was marginally more traumatizing. I guess those are the real scars you carry.

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