11/18/2018
“Another One Bites The Dust” ?? How weird is that! The SIMH gets to me some mornings, maybe because of a totally carnal nature yet hanging around in this flesh and it is the first thing about me that is conscious in the mornings. But then, it isn’t every morning, just many of them. I guess you could dance to it (you have to be old to know why I added that statement.)
This song was another “Queen” hit and written by John Richard Deacon in 1980.
Another high school story came to mind last night as I waited to pick up our to-go order. A man standing near me struck up a conversation about football, then his years as a HS football coach and principal. He asked me if I went to school around here, said he thought I might have “played against one of his teams!” I assured him I was older than him, and we laughed at that reality. So he asked where and what kind of school I had attended. When did anyone from Trafalgar, IN, pass up the opportunity to talk about Trafalgar!
This story came out: When I was a Senior, there was a young man working very close to our town who was just out of school. He hang around the high school, friendly, looking to make friends because he was a long way from home, probably 100 miles, or so. Pre-school each morning, I worked for an hour at the drug store soda fountain selling donuts & coffee & cokes, etc. Just as I was finishing one morning, this young man said he had to drive to his hometown to get more clothes, did I want to go with him? I said, “me, skip school?” So, I did. We were about 25 miles from home, stopped to get pancakes at a well known pancake house (at that time) and sat eating at the counter, when a man walked up to the cash register near us to pay and cleared his throat.
When I turned and looked at him, it was my high school principal. 25 miles from home and I get caught skipping school by my principal! He said, “Morning, boys,” with a little smile on his face. We said good morning and he turned to leave. Then he looked back and said, “I will see you in the morning, Mr. Lockhart.” I said, “yes sir.”
The next morning I went straight to Mr. Oliver’s office. He said, “What did your mom and dad say when you told them where you were yesterday?” I said I didn’t tell them. He was quiet for a moment, then said, “You’ll tell them tonight, won’t you.”(not as a question, as a fact.) I said I would. Then, he said “I’ll see you in the morning.”
The next morning, he said, “Well, what did your Mom say?” I said, “she just stood there with her hands on her hips.” “And your Dad?” “He said if you had any more school left than 3 months, you’d deserve a good whippin’!” Mr. Oliver folded his arms across his chest, thought a minute, then said, “You gonna do this again? I assured him I wouldn’t. He looked at his watch and said, “Mr. Lockhart, you better hurry to your home room, you’ve got a meeting to preside over,” (I was class president) I left. He never brought it up again. I never did it again. It never appeared as anything on any school record. Good disciplinarian, Mr. Oliver.
Good old days? I suppose. This retired coach I was telling the story to said to me, “Don’t you wish it was that simple today?” Yep, I sure do. But, it isn’t. What can we do? Probably nothing.
Thanks for reading, the Elder
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