Fortieth High School Reunion
This year I will attend my fortieth high school reunion and as
I look back on the time I spent in high school, I found myself smiling
at the things I remember.
I can still remember the smell of the wood floors in the halls and
the smell of the lunchroom on the days when they made macaroni and
cheese. I remember the color of the evening light that filtered through
high classroom windows; the sound of squeaking shoes and bouncing
balls on the gym floor.
I remember my first exposure to gambling behind the gym. The first
morning I wandered back there before classes began, I saw a bunch
of guys flipping coins and catching them in mid air - calling even
or odd. If both coins were heads or both coins were tails then the
one calling "even" won the toss, and the other person's
coin. If they were not “alike” then the "odd man" won.
I tried my luck and won a dollar. I was really encouraged and that
afternoon stopped by Albritton’s store on the way home and
spent my booty on candy, chips and a cold Orange Crush. The second
day, I lost all my lunch money and I spent the afternoon so hungry
that I could have eaten road-kill. On the third day I wanted to try
to re-coop my losses, so I stopped by the concession stand to get
a dollars worth of quarters. I rounded the corner just in time to
see our principal Mr. Gant marching a crew of guys to the office.
I acted as if I were lost and headed back to the front of the gym
post haste. I later learned that Mr. Gant had introduced the gamblers
to the board of education. The next day, the area behind the gym
was strangely quite.
P.E. classes were fun, but I hated playing softball with my old classmate
Gordon. He was a very nice guy who went around with a smile on his
face most of the time, but when he came to bat, he was formidable.
He could knock a softball into the next time zone. When it was time
for him to bat, we would send a seventh grader scurrying for the
top of the hill on the other side of the ball field. "No, go
farther, go farther!!!!" we would yell to him...then WHACK!!!
Gordon would launch that ball and the kid in the outfield would run
off out of sight. The game would often end there because even if
we could find the ball, it was usually lopsided and worked better
as a Frisbee.
I also remember one boy who tried to jump from the back steps of
the auditorium to grab a limb on the old cottonwood tree that grew
nearby. A million kids had made that jump, but he missed and broke
both arms when he hit the ground. He came back to school a few days
later with full casts on both arms which put him at a disadvantage
when going to the bathroom. I never figured out how he managed in
there. I guess he found out who his true friends were.
Graduation night was a blur with everyone scurrying around getting
yearbooks signed and saying their goodbyes. I remember the moment
it finally sunk in - I would not return next year and these old familiar
halls would be history. When I daydreamed about graduation day, I
always thought I would be so happy. I was happy that day, but what
I did not expect was the sadness and the feeling of loss.
We started getting graduation invitations this week from kids that
we’ve watched grow up through the years. I am both excited
and apprehensive for their future. I am sure they will find their
way and I hope that forty years from now they can look back on their
high school years and remember things that put a smile on their face.
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