I used to have a pet named after my high school English teacher. It got its name as soon as I saw it creeping on a wall next to my bed one night, and it became my companion after it was captured in a jar because I was afraid that if I had tried to splat it with a slipper, it could have fallen on my sheets. Of course, the creature was a cockroach and it soon became extremely popular in my high school class. It was a vivid illustration of the general opinion about this woman, who was a teacher only by appellation, as she avidly avoided taking new lessons by making dictations every other day…
