All Teachers, Great and Small

Pep

IT may be shocking to some who personally know me, but I do have a shameful memory involving me inflicting abuse on animals. I was about four or five years old when my primary school in Australia kept a little coop on a patch of grass, full of the fluffiest yellow chicks that were being kept as school pets. I recall tempting the chicks to the corners of the coop by feeding them blades of the grass on one side, then pulling on any tail feathers that stick out through the other side.

Their screams of pain came out as cute little cheeps. I don't know why I found it fun to do. What was worse was that I only did it when no one was looking, which meant that I knew I was doing a bad thing.