Saturday, May 20, 2006

Once when I was in the second grade, my friend Sylvia and I decided to play hookey. What we didn't click into was that it was very shortly after a horrifying news frenzy about a young girl who was savagely murdered in our town. It was so close, there was a long period where all the parents were driving their little ones to and from school(back in the days when that wasn't the norm.) Of course the attention span of a 7 year old leaves something to be desired, so though we new of the attack, it wasn't in our minds at that moment. As we were wandering through the suburban streets killing time, the school was contacting our mothers, sending them into a maternal panic!

I remember Sylvia getting upset when we walked within eye-shot of the school field. There happened to be a group of children and adults doing some activities that looked like it was sports day. I tried to reason with her, explaining that we would know if it was sports day. That's when it all began to go down hill.

There we were, two little girls wandering down the street in the middle of a school day, when we noticed a strange car slowly approaching us from the opposite direction. Our minds suddenly flashed on the recent news that our parents couldn't stop talking about. We were pretty scared. As the car got closer, the sun was hiding the face of the driver. When we finally were able to determine the driver's identity, we were even more scared than before.

I'd never driven in a principal's car before. It smelled new and leathery...and there was the distinct odor of fear. When we got to the office and sat down, I could see that Sylvia was losing it. During the interrogation, I had tried to stick to the compelling and believable story, that we were, "walking slowly and took the long way," but Sylvia was crumbling under the pressure. It wasn't long before she tearfully blurted out, "We were playing hookey!"

Y'know, I don't even remember if we were punished for what we did, though I think the good firm talking-to we received from the principal was punishment enough. I'd never been happier to be back in my desk at school than I was after leaving that office.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

If your friend hadn't of fessed up then you could have been on your way to being on America's Most Wanted. These people start at an early age you know. I couldn't have skipped school if I wanted to. The town was so small that you couldn't make a U-Turn in it and besides that I didn't want to skip. I had enough chores on the farm to do as it was...think of what I would have been doing if I had gotten caught skipping.

ellen said...

I skipped school just once, in high school, to attend the inter-high track meet. Someone (and to this day, I don't know who) phoned my mom and ratted me out. You can imagine how your Oma reacted - You would have thought I'd committed the crime of the century. I never did it again; just wasn't worth the flak.

Unknown said...

I have forgotten most of my school time. I grew up in WW2. I Went to school for the first time in 1944. During that time until 1945 I mainly lived on the streets and was not in school, always searching for something to eat. It was winter in Amsterdam where we lived and it was cold, very cold. I was hungry, but as far as I can remember I also was a happy kid. We did not know better. It was Wartime and at my age it was not unusual, it was normal. In my view it was always War.

At the end of 1944 we were evacuated from Amsterdam to Breezand a small village in Noord-Holland, about 12 km from where I live nowadays. I can remember all the soldiers driving army vehicles, smoking cigarettes, distributing chocolate to us children, bread, butter and sweets. For the first time I saw other soldiers then Germans. They were Canadian soldiers! Believe me, I will never forget.

Bye Ellen, Bye Curtis, Bye Sharon and Alicia. What a kind people you are.

~DdK~ said...

you obviously don't know them that well. heh heh

ellen said...

Who let that smarty-pants in here? Cmere, Dennis, and bring me somethin I can hit you with....

Penny said...

I loved "the smell of fear". You are a funny writer.

Anonymous said...

Hahaha! What a great reminder of our "shady" youth. Thanks for the memories, Sharon.

Sylvia