Another person at school who gave me a hard time, was an assistant principal and a Chemistry teacher, but her reasons were different. I forgot her real name. We called her Marmishka. Her face absolutely lacked a chin and that word resembles a Russian word for a mouse. Before me, she taught my older sister, Lera. Lera is very smart and hard working. She tried hard, but sometimes, she needed a little time to get her answer together. Marmishka, whether because she was impatient or because she didn't like Jews, refused to give her that time. During the last exams in High School, Lera did so well that Marmishka told her at the Graduating Ceremony: "I thought you were plumbum (lead) and you are aurum (gold)!" When she became my teacher, though, the same prejudice set in. I liked Chemistry and studied for the lessons, but when Marmishka called on me for an answer, I looked into her icy eyes and forgot what I learned. So, she was not of a great opinion of me. Once she got me and a boy from the same class to retake a test. There were only three of us in the office. I knew the material, but the boy didn't. He asked me for help and I wrote an answer for him on a piece of paper. The Mouse pounced on it like a cat. She then accused me not of helping him, but of bringing that piece of paper with me to the test! Nothing could dissuade her. At the last exams I repeated the history. We had to do oral tests, and she was the one to hear me, not only in Chemistry, but also in Physics. To tell the truth, out of about a hundred questions of the Physics' exam, I studied only the first three, but I got lucky. My answers were great, and I studied hard for the Chemistry. She was impressed. Do I care? No. I pity her and hope that she had a chance to see beyond her chauvinistic blinders.
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