Abase

To lower; degrade; humiliate.

Henrietta was a red-haired second grade student that loved biology and always wore a swishy pink skirt. Everyday she would ask Ms. Lully questions about possible science projects that the class could do. One day she raised her hand and asked:
"Ms. Lully?"
Everyone in class went "ugh" collectively.
"Yes, Henrietta?"
"When are we going to dissek something?"
"Shut up, stoop!" yelled Adam Bronsky, the class bully.
Henrietta looked at Adam and scrunched up her nose.
"That's enough Adam," scolded Ms. Lully as she got back to Henrietta's question.
"You mean 'dissect'?"
"Yes, I mean 'dissect'."
"I don't know. I wasn't planning on doing any dissections in class. But it certainly sounds interesting. What would you like to dissect?"
"I don't know."
"She wants to dissect poo!" yelled Adam Bronsky.
"Be quiet!" squealed Henrietta, getting defensive.
"Alright you two, that's enough," Ms. Tully continued her inquiry,
"What about an earthworm, Henrietta?"
"That sounds icky," said Henrietta, twirling a piece of frill on her fluffy skirt.
"What about a frog?"
"That sounds icky, too."
Ms. Tully looked up at the ceiling.
"What about a cricket?" she suggested.
And Henrietta thought for a moment. She put a little pale finger to her chin and smiled. This didn't seem icky to her.
"Okay!"
Ms. Lully's husband was a scientist at a college nearby, so the next day Ms. Lully was able to bring in a box full of dead bugs that nobody in her husband's lab was using. The class got into little groups of two and started to take apart the little bugs. After 15 minutes or so, it came time to present.
When everyone started presenting, Adam Bronsky asked to go to the bathroom. Instead of going, though, he waited outside the door and watched his classmates present. He waited for Henrietta.
When it was Henrietta's turn, she walked to the front of the room, her skirt swishing around her. She began,
"This is my dissek-ed--"
"You mean 'dissected'," corrected Ms. Lully.
Adam Bronsky waited, his fingers tightening around the doorway, a little smile creeping to his face.
"Yes, I mean my 'dissec-ted' cricket. It has a head, a body, and little legs that it sings with."
"Very good, Henrietta."
And before Henrietta could curtsy, Adam Bronsky lept out from the hallway and yelled:
"And this is my dissek-tion!" and he pulled down Henrietta's swishy pink skirt so her little legs stood bare and parallel in front of the classroom. Before she ran out of the room crying, she stood for a second looking out at the laughing faces of her classmates. She felt small for the first time then, and saw that people enjoy it when other people feel small, and her face turned a shade of pink that matched the frills of her swishy skirt lying limp and on the ground around her feet.