The Vanusi Tribe

Last Friday I was substituting for a P.E. teacher. The classes started outside at the basketball courts at Van Nuys Middle School, but the rain drove all the classes inside. The regular P.E. teachers set up a game for the students to play which involved several large inflated balls like beachballs, only tougher. Some of the balls were around eight feet tall. Others were smaller, about three times as wide as a humand head. The four classes sat in quadrants around a circular area on the gym floor where two or three teachers stood. The students were supposed to push the balls around to the other quadrants while music played. If a ball went to the center, a teacher would volley the ball out. I was one of those teachers.When the music started, one of the kids grabbed a ball and threw it right into my face. A yell of enjoyment went up from the crowd. Some of the kids don't like me in this school because they know how strict I am. Maybe watching me get hit was their chance to get revenge for the detentions and referrals I had given them. I decided to stand my ground. Rather than push the ball back politely the way the other teachers were, I decided to hit them like a street fighter. I was wearing a brown bomber jacket over my T-shirt and jeans, so I was already dressed for the part. When one of the big balls came my way, I would launch it back with a jab or a right cross. Shouts of approval went up from the crowd. The climax came when a big ball ricocheted of a kid who quickly sent it toward my head. I quickly deflected it with a left uppercut. The kids yelled a big "Oh!" in surprise. After the game was over, one of the bad kids said, "Hey, Mr. Sanchez! Nice moves!" I felt a bit like I could have been in a scene in an Indiana Jones movie where Indy endures a challenge from a tribe of pigmies, let's call them the Vanusi Tribe, and wins their respect.