“So when I was four, my brother who was four years older than me decided that we were going to play hide and seek from my sister who was eight years older than me. And so he took me into our sort-of side room we had and he looked at me and said “I’ve got a perfect idea, remember the circus? Remember the guy in the tube that was rolling along the floor? You’re going to get in the dryer, you’re going to put your hands and arms up, and we’re going to turn the dryer on and your sister will never know your in here because your going to be like the guy from the circus!” It was a terrible idea, but at four years old I thought I could do it. So he put me in the dryer, had me put my arms and legs up, turns it on, and I get about half a rotation and I obviously don’t hold on to it. So at this point the dryer is going, and that thing that agitates the clothes is knocking me in the back of the head every time, so I begin to scream and I realized it wouldn’t open from the inside, and my brother, instead of helping me out and calming me down, he stood over the dryer and “shhh-ed” me saying “Mom will hear! Mom will hear!” And so my mom of course hears what sounds like tennis shoes in the dryer and runs out and sees my brother shushing me in the dryer (which he has still not turned off) and after he finally did I had a huge welt on the back of my head and my brother was grounded and a whole bunch of other stuff.”
-Sarah Kelley, Arlington High School English Teacher
#humansofarlington
