The Fart Incident [Dad's Observations #16]
I came across a post on a site about a bullying incident involving elementary school students.
It said that a cute girl, who was a boss-like figure, let out a fart, and the child who was framed for it was even given the nickname "Fart" and stopped attending school.
It's a painful story that hits close to home, and it brings to mind an incident that I, Dad (back then, Ichigo the boy), caused when I was in the upper grades of elementary school.
Even now, more than half a century later, that moment is etched in my memory as a vivid recollection.
It was a truly terrifying time, filled with anxiety and tension, as if I could hear my own heartbeat right in my ears.
If I had been identified as the culprit back then, my life might have been over.
For a shy and timid boy like Ichigo, it was that big of an event.
From the moment it happened until the situation calmed down, it felt like a very long time, but in reality, it might have been less than 10 minutes.
It was one of the city's leading mammoth schools, with 250 students in just one grade level.
That day, a live-action movie screening for the entire grade was being held in the gymnasium.
We were packed in sitting cross-legged, and the venue was stifling with the heat of the students.
Ichigo had been having stomach trouble since the morning and felt a lingering sense of unease😥.
The anxiety was spot on; by the time the screening was halfway through, I felt my stomach bloating and gas building up😰.
Back then, it was an era where you would be bullied as a poop bug just for entering the large restroom, so if it became known that I had let out a fart in a place with many people, it would be far worse than being called a poop bug.
Furthermore, if it turned out that many gas victims were created in the packed crowd, I would be labeled a skunk and made a public spectacle, with a hopeless future in sight.
Fighting that fear, I pushed back the impending fart several times, but the intervals gradually grew shorter, and I was nearing the limit of my endurance😰.
The gymnasium was dim due to blackout curtains, and looking left and right, even the outlines of the students next to me were blurry.
"I have no choice but to go through with it."
Ichigo, who had some confidence in the silent fart he had trained in daily, decided to take the gamble of a lifetime.
Swoooooosh
I focused all my nerves on my anus and let it all out without making a sound.
................🙄
"Whoa, it stinks!😵"
"Cough, cough, it stinks! Who is it? Who is it?😵💫"
In an instant, screams and angry shouts rose up around me, and the concentric circle centered on Ichigo was in an uproar😖.
It was like a vacuum truck; perhaps the stress of holding it in had an effect?
The stench was enough to make you faint, so it's no wonder it caused such a commotion.
Ichigo also shouted loudly in the darkness, following the lead of those around him.
" Who is it? Who is it? It stinks! It's over there! It's over there!"
Pointing in a random direction, I desperately appealed that I was innocent.
My face was bright red, I was drenched in sweat, and it was truly a life-or-death battle.
Everywhere, there was a huge uproar of it stinks, it stinks, and the stench had spread widely.
After a while, the stench dissipated, and the commotion subsided.
When the screening ended and the lights came on, making the hall bright, the student behind me was talking to the student next to him.
"Man, that was awful. That's not a smell a human makes. It's like a cesspool."
"It wasn't me. They were saying it stunk over there too. Who could have done it?"
Perhaps it was fortunate that the stench spread over a wider area than expected?
I listened with a pounding heart, but in the end, the culprit was never identified.
"I was saved..."
I survived a desperate pinch😮💨.
The horrific incident that ambushed many students in the darkness disappeared into the shadows, unsolved and with the culprit unknown.
Wrapped in a sense of relief, a 'monologue'
It was a good thing it was dark.
It was an incredibly intense one, but thanks to that, the odor spread over a wide area, so
the culprit couldn't be narrowed down.
If even a slight sound had leaked out,
if it had been a bright place,
I would have been exposed as the culprit, sweating and red-faced.
Whew. 😮💨 That was close.
I have to say, I'm proud of myself for deciding to let it out, and for pulling it off so well.
I want to praise myself.
Everything turned out fine in the end,
and although I narrowly escaped disaster,
of all days, why did I have to let one rip on the day of the screening where the entire grade was gathered?
And it was at a vacuum truck level, too.
Why, oh why?
...That said, I am grateful to my mother.
More than God, more than Buddha, I am grateful to my mother.
I only escaped disaster thanks to my mother....
What are you talking about?
It's a noble story about how 'daily training saves you from a tight spot.'
You still don't get it, do you?🤔
The mother of the fifteen-year-old boy loved pranks, and not very classy ones at that.
What she loved to do was 'silent farts,' quietly sneaking up next to family members and releasing a stinky one. This technique, according to Mother, was called
'a surprise attack.' She also masterfully used a technique called 'the ambush,' where she would plant a fart inside the futon.If it worked well,
she would hum and mock them like Hitomi Ishikawa's 'Ambush.'
The stinkier the fart, the more extreme and more active Mother's pranks would become.
Seeing her family attacked by the stench and writhing in agony, she would bare her silver teeth and laugh out loud.
Perhaps influenced by her, the fifteen-year-old boy also began to enjoy the same pranks.
Our home was truly a 'Warring States Period of Farts' with the family all mixed up.
Sneaking up on family members without them sensing a thing and launching a 'surprise attack,' if they let their guard down, they would suffer damage enough to paralyze their sense of smell.
Before long, the fifteen-year-old boy had grown to be able to manipulate 'silent farts' at will.
'Thin, long, and without interruption' or
'thick, short, and choppy,' he was able to
control them in any way he pleased.
Thoughts on the Fart Incident
I'm glad I worked hard on training my 'silent farts' since childhood, inspired by my mother's mischievous spirit.
The key to improvement in anything is consistency, and in that regard, this training involved laughter and fun, and I was able to continue it without any trouble.
In the midst of that tension, I confidently faced the release of my 'silent fart' and successfully escaped the crisis.
"Persistence pays off", I have experienced this saying firsthand.
Without my mother's prank and the subsequent training,
I might not be who I am today.
Thanks to Mom!
What are you talking about?