51�Թ�

The hagfish, a deep-sea scavenger about the size and shape of a tube sock, has the curious ability to smother itself in its own snot.

In an orange bucket, she kept district-issued emergency supplies: wasp spray, to aim at an attacker, and a tube sock, to hold a heavy object and hurl at an assailant.

For Mandi, the decision to be armed in the classroom seemed like a better solution than wasp spray or a tube sock.

One theory of the tube sock pairing is that they help to buffer one’s feet against the spikes.

So I slipped a padlock into a long tube sock, tied that sock into a tight knot, and used it to beat a chunk of meat out of Burger's head, thereby reclaiming my space on the food chain.