Growing up in rural Wisconsin has many advantages. However, having a large school with lots of course offerings isn’t one of them. In fact, many of our teachers have to cross departments and teach different content areas to make up a full schedule. That’s also why we tend to get a lot of new, young teachers who get experience and then move on to larger districts. Since we were seventeen and eighteen year olds, our teachers were often close in age to us.
My senior English teacher, for example, was also my PE teacher. We had PE third period and then went right into English class with him. Mr. Crete was a second year teacher who was twenty-four years old and a former county all state basketball player from a nearby high school. To get a PE job, he had to pick up the English assignment as well.
Being an athlete, Mr. Crete always ran a really vigorous PE class and he participated as well. Since this was a small school, the coaches did not have a separate locker room or office. Mr. Crete just stripped naked with the rest of the guys and used one of the small cage lockers like the rest of us. If he was an older teacher that might have been weird, but since he was the same age as some of our older siblings it wasn’t strange at all.
After class, he was always just as sweaty and dirty as the rest of us, and we all showered together in the small gang shower that had ten showerheads mounted to the walls.
The guys always knew this situation, and we just accepted it as the way things are done at our school. We never knew anything different.
I don’t know if it was because Mr. Crete was by far the most handsome teacher in the school, or if news just traveled slowly to the girls. However early in September, we were at a party with a bunch of girls from our class and the subject of Mr. Crete came up. They commented that he was always so fresh smelling in English class.
I laughed and said that soap and water have that effect. The there was this moment of silence as my comment was sinking in with the girls.
“Wait a second,” Ashley said. “He showers before class?”
“Well of course. He’s playing basketball or other games with us and is just as sweaty as us!” I said.
“So you guys see him naked?” Ashley persisted.
“Of course. This isn’t the Olympic Park you know. It’s just like the girls’ locker room. Small, square, open,” I said.
“Oh my God! What is he like naked?” Simone wanted to know too!
“Aw you know guys don’t look and tell!” Jason joked. “If we start telling about Mr. Crete he might tell the female teachers what WE look like naked!”
Without missing a beat, Ashley jumped in, “Jason we’ve ALL seen you naked and… ”
“OK, OK, fine,” Jason smiled knowing where this was going.
“Well maybe if you just ask us questions. Besides, I don’t know how to describe a dude. He’s just one of us,” I said.
Ashley hopped onto this, “OK, we can ask questions. First, does he have chest hair?”
Jason said, “Yes, I can confirm that he has chest hair. Blonde fuzzy chest hair.”
Kathy hummed, “Mmmm.
