“He said: ‘Genius is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration.’ That tells me he worked very hard and that’s what made him succeed where others just as smart didn’t.”
“Oh,” Leona said. “My Mama and Papa always told me that working hard was a virtue, and that it never killed anyone.”
“That’s so true, Leona. In fact, hard work makes you stronger, not just physically, but mentally too.”
While Miss Hutchinson talked some more about the things she would be teaching, Leona sat contently on the warm grass with her legs crossed and with a big smile on her face, becoming almost mesmerized by all the wondrous things that Miss Hutchinson was telling her. But the biggest smile of all came when the teacher told her that she would learn how to read and write more skillfully, and that Arlene would be helping to teach her.
In the days of one-room schools, the older children often had to help teach the younger ones. Not only was it a good way for the older children to retain and expand upon what they had learned, but with eight grades and only one teacher, it was practically a necessity because the teacher had her hands full and couldn’t be everywhere at once. Although, thanks to Margaret, Leona could already read and write unusually well, she was nonetheless ecstatic about becoming even more proficient and couldn’t wait to tell her mother that.
Chapter 25
Meeting Jill
During the noon lunch-break Miss Hutchinson introduced Leona to the only other girl in her 3rd-grade class.
“Leona, this is Jill Jensen. She’ll be in your class. In fact, you two and Teddy Giles are the only 3rd-graders this year. Jill will be able to help you adjust to your new school. She’s been here since the 1st grade.”
Jill lived with her mother Mary, roughly two miles by road from Leona’s home, a little more than a mile as the crow flies. Surprisingly, the two girls had never met before; however, they more than made up for lost time during the noon break by talking for over a half-hour, learning almost all there was to know about each other in that short time. The two became instant friends, and everything was normal until Jill mentioned that her father had died unexpectedly less than a year ago. Leona was so shocked that she didn’t know what to say, so she just said that she was sorry and quickly changed the subject, hoping that Jill wouldn’t become depressed.
“Where do you live, Jill?” she asked.
“Our house is on top of a hill, about a half-mile from the School Road, so I only have to walk about a mile to school.”
When Jill said that her house was white with a green trim, Leona’s eyes lit up.
“That must be the house I can see out my bedroom window. It can’t be much more than a mile through the woods, maybe a mile-and-a-half from my home. Since it’s so close, maybe we can visit each other.”
Hearing that, Jill realized that the yellow house with blue trim, the only one visible from her house, was Leona’s home. Because she lived alone with her mother in a remote part of town, the shy girl seldom left her house, and thus she, like Leona, had to daydream about places and things she had read about, but had never visited or seen, even in pictures. The mysterious yellow house with blue trim sitting off in the distance was no exception.
“When I was much younger I used to pretend that my home was a castle on a hill and that a handsome knight in shining armor lived in yours,” Jill told Leona. “I dreamed that someday he was gonna come and rescue me from my boredom, and ask me to marry him.”
“Well, I’m not a knight,” Leona joked, “and I’m certainly not gonna ask you to marry me, but maybe I can rescue you from your boredom.”
After Jill stopped laughing, Leona told her about her dreams of traveling around the world and of being a dancer.
“When I was five I met some sailors in Bangor, and they told me stories about all the places they saw. And, since then, I’ve dreamed about visiting those places.”
“What places?” Jill asked.
“Places like Norway and India and Japan,” Leona answered. “But my biggest dream is to go to Broadway in New York City to see the Ziegfeld Follies and Mr. Will Rogers.”
“Who’s he?”
“He’s a cowboy; and part Indian like me. He writes funny newspaper columns. Papa told me all about him. He really likes Mr. Rogers; calls him a humorist. Says he’s honest. Mainly makes fun of politicians. I can’t wait to see him. Most of all though, I want to see a Broadway play, one with lots of singers and dancers. I wanna be a Broadway dancer too.”
Jill was mesmerized and looked at Leona in awe. Although she too had dreams like Leona’s, she never believed that they could come true, whereas Leona talked about her dreams as if she expected them to.
“What do you want to do, Jill?”
“Be a teacher, just like Miss Hutchinson.”
“Why do you want to be a teacher? Most kids think teachers are mean.”
“I know. But Miss Hutchinson isn’t mean, so I’ll be like her.”
“So, you like Miss Hutchinson, do you?”
“Oh yes; she’s the best.”
After hearing that, Leona felt even better about having Miss Hutchinson as a teacher. She smiled and laid back on the soft, warm grass, watching the clouds passing overhead. A minute later she noticed one cloud that to her looked just like a whale.
“Look, Jill! Moby Dick!”
“Huh? Who’s Moby Dick?”
“He’s a white whale in a novel I’ve been trying my darndess to read. But it’s awful long and wicked hard, but someday I’ll get through it. Anyway, that cloud up there looks just like a whale.”
“Oh,” Jill said, thinking it looked more like a canoe.
“Do you like to fish, Jill?”
“I sure do; my father and I used to go every now and then.”
“Good. We can go fishing up at the Kenduskeag Stream this weekend, if you want to. My father takes me there all the time. I’m pretty sure he’ll take us this weekend, if I ask.”
“That sounds fun. And we can go swimming too. Do you swim, Leona?”
“Nope. I’m afraid of the water.”
“You are? How come?”
“When I was five I almost drowned, and I’ve been afraid to go in the water ever since. I don’t even like going on boat rides anymore, especially on small boats.”
“But there’s nothing to be afraid of; swimming’s easy, and so much fun. I’ll teach you. I’m a really good swimmer; and you know I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.”
“I know you wouldn’t, Jill. And maybe someday I’ll be able to go in the water, but not right now. I’m deathly afraid of drowning. My Papa has tried to teach me not to be afraid, but when my head goes under the water I panic and my heart starts beating real fast, and I have trouble breathing. So he told me not to worry about it. He said many people are afraid of going in the water, and that eventually I’ll get over it. But I don’t think so. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to learn how to swim. It’s too terrifying.”
—1—
When lunch-break was over, Miss Hutchinson gathered everyone around.
“Now, children, we’re all going to play a variation of the game of baseball,” she said, “and we’ll be using the rubber ball we used in the game of Red Rover, instead of a real baseball, because it will be safer for the younger children. I’m going to be your umpire, so you better be on your best behavior. We’ll be playing in the field across the School Road. It belongs to Mr. Douglass, but he kindly allows us to use it.”
The game that she was about to teach the new kids was identical to the game of baseball, with the exception that there was a new way of getting a runner out that was totally different from the traditional method of throwing the ball to the bag before the runner got there. Although that method was still valid, runners could also be put out by hitting them with the rubber ball whenever they were not standing on a base. Because the small children had tro
uble hitting the ball out of the infield and couldn’t run or dodge out of the way fast enough, they made most of the outs by being hit as they ran from home to first base.
Most kids opted to use this new method, rather than throwing the ball to the base, because it was more challenging and a lot more fun trying to hit someone with the ball. Of course, no one really minded being thrown at either, because the ball was so soft, and it was also more fun trying to dodge the ball than throwing it at someone else.
Leona really enjoyed this new game, even though it was hard for her to hold and swing the heavy bat. Each time the 8-year-old came to the plate, she heard the third baseman shouting awful things about her. He was the funny looking redhead who had pushed her hard to the ground during the game of Red Rover. He appeared to be one of the older kids; in fact, he looked old enough to be in high school.
“No batter, no batter, no batter,” he yelled as loud as his lungs could manage.
Leona looked at him with an evil eye each time he mocked her, and playfully stuck out her tongue at the boy. Her first time at bat resulted in a strikeout, and the second was a pop-up to the catcher. Both times a look of disappointment could be seen on the little girl’s face. She was completely ecstatic on her third at-bat, however, when she swung and hit a soft line-drive that landed on a rounded granite rock protruding a little out of the ground, causing the ball to bounce high over the third baseman’s head for a single.
Leona’s face was beaming as she stood on first base and heard her teammates cheering. She was especially happy to see Arlene cheering for her. Leona was the leadoff hitter, and the next two batters following her made outs. The first one hit an easy pop-up to the catcher, but during his at-bat Leona was able to advance to second base when the ball got past the catcher. However, the second baseman tried to coyly bump her and knock her to the ground when she ran to second. Fortunately, she saw “the jerk” just in the nick of time and avoided his attempt. He was the smaller redheaded boy from Red Rover. After Leona reached second, she turned and stared intently at the boy.
“What are you looking at?” he asked.
“Not much,” Leona replied, causing her teammates to laugh.
Just then the pitcher threw the ball, and the next batter swung and hit a foul ball down the first base line. While Leona took a big lead off second, the batter swung the bat hard again and hit the ball to first base, and was tagged out. Once again Leona advanced a base and found herself standing at third, with an 8th-grade boy everyone called Buzz getting ready to bat. He was by far the best player on Leona’s team, and so far he had a double and two singles in his three at-bats. Buzz didn’t disappoint this time either, hitting the ball so hard over the left fielder’s head that Leona scored easily and he was able to run all the way around the bases for a home run to make the score 7-6 in favor of the opposing team.
Neither team scored in the eighth inning, and the opposing team failed to score in the top of the ninth inning, so the score remained 7-6. Leona was leading off the bottom of the ninth inning, and she was really nervous.
“Just be calm and concentrate, Leona,” Arlene said. “You can do it.”
That helped Leona relax, and although she swung and missed two pitches during the at-bat, she was able to foul off pitches until she heard Miss Hutchinson say, “ball four.”
Leona walked to first base, overjoyed that she didn’t make an out; that is, until the two teammates hitting after her made outs on pop-ups to the infield and to shallow right field, leaving her still standing on first base. Then she saw Arlene coming to the plate, and her enthusiasm returned.
“Back up! It’s Arlene,” one of the kids yelled.
By 6th grade Arlene had become a really good hitter, better than most boys at the school.
“Come on, Arlene!” Leona screamed. “Smash it. Hit a home run.”
Although she already had a home run in the game, it wasn’t in the cards for Arlene to hit a home run in this at bat. Instead, she hit a long line-drive down the right-field line that sailed over the fielder’s head. By the time she stopped running, Arlene was standing on third base and Leona had scored the tying run to make the score 7-7. Leona looked at her sister and saw that she was smiling; even some of the players on the other team were smiling. That’s when Leona realized that just playing the game was as much fun as winning it.
Then she heard a loud cheer for the next batter. It was Jill. Although the same age as Leona, she wasn’t nearly as strong or as athletic as her. Having already made four easy outs, Leona knew there was little chance Jill would get a hit; even so, she yelled encouragement to her new friend.
“Come on, Jill! You can do it!”
Jill swung wildly and missed the first two pitches. It was obvious that the bat was just too heavy for her. So, Arlene called time-out, walked over to Jill, and whispered something to her. Leona wondered what Arlene had said to the skinny girl, and it wasn’t long before she would find out. After returning to third base, Arlene yelled:
“Just remember what I told you, Jill.”
Jill nodded and moved her hands up about six inches from the end of the bat and took three hard practice swings before stepping back into the batters box. Everyone saw that she could now swing the bat much better and the opposing team, which was about halfway in for Jill, moved back to its normal fielding positions.
When the pitch was thrown, Jill shocked everyone by bunting the ball to third and the surprised third-baseman started to throw the ball home to get Arlene out, but decided he couldn’t. Instead he threw to first-base to get Jill out; however, his hesitation gave Jill just enough time to beat the throw to first, and let Arlene score the winning run.
“Good job, Jill,” Arlene said to the little girl when she ran back to home plate to join her teammates who were jumping and screaming and hugging each other.
“See, I told you, you don’t have to be strong to be successful,” Arlene said. “Sometimes being smart is just as good.”
“Thanks, Arlene,” a smiling Jill said.
“I can’t believe a skinny kid like you beat us,” the irritated third-baseman yelled.
Jill yelled back: “I may be skinny, but I can outrun you any day. Next time put some mustard on the ball and you might be able to throw me out.”
“Who is that jerk?” Leona asked Jill.
“Oh, that’s Jack Comeau, an 8th-grader. He’s been an idiot all his life, and he’ll probably be one the rest of it. And his brother Jake is just like him.”
“Which one is Jake?” she asked after she stopped laughing at Jill’s candid remark.
“He’s the second baseman who tried to knock you down when you ran to second.”
“Oh that jerk. Figures,” Leona said. “By the way, Jill, which of the boys is Teddy Giles. Miss Hutchinson said he was in our class.”
“He’s not here, Leona. And I doubt he will be.”
“What do you mean?”
“Teddy came down with polio this summer. He’s really-really sick; and my mother says he probably won’t make it.”
“Make what?”
“Make it back to school, I think.”
“But Miss Hutchinson said he would be in our class.”
“That’s just wishful thinking, I guess.”
Miss Hutchinson let the children play for over two hours that day, and then took them back into the schoolhouse to discuss what she would be teaching the various grades that quarter. When the teacher was finished she let her students out of school at 2:15 that afternoon, rather than the usual quitting time of 3:00. Normally she liked to keep the first day short to allow the younger children to gradually adjust to their new environs.
Chapter 26
Breathing a Sigh
After school, Leona said goodbye to Jill, and then she and Arlene headed down Ohio Street with their neighborhood friends, while Jill walked westward along the School Road toward
the Stream Road, taking the shortest route to her home.
When the jovial Haley girls were turning into their driveway, Margaret saw them through the kitchen window and came outside to greet them.
“How was your first day of school?” she asked to no one in particular.
“It was fun!” Leona said cheerfully. “We played tag in the morning and baseball in the afternoon. Oh, and yeah, I made a new friend; her name is Jill. She lives about a mile from here if you go through the woods. You can see her house from my bedroom, the one I showed you when we first moved in. Remember? Jill and I like the same things and we’re gonna be best friends from now on.”
“That’s wonderful, darling. What else did you do today?”
“My new teacher, Miss Hutchinson, told us what we’re gonna learn this year. And the things she told me are so wonderful.”
“Just what are you gonna learn?” Margaret asked her daughter.
“Lots of stuff. I’m even gonna learn how to read better so I can read to you, Mama.”
“Well, good. It looks like from now on you won’t be as down in the dumps about going to school.”
“No, I can’t wait ‘til tomorrow.”
“SPEAK FOR YOURSELF,” they heard Lillian shout. “I can’t wait for the weekend.”
She was walking up the Winter Fun Road, coming home from high school. Margaret laughed at her eldest daughter and spoke to her.
“I sure hope you take more of a liking to high school than you did to grammar school, Lillian. All you do is complain, complain, complain.”
“Oh, I like school okay, Mama. It’s the getting-out-of-bed-early part that I don’t care for.”
This time Leona and Arlene joined their mother in laughter. The joyful sound was music to Margaret’s ears because she had “worried her head off” the last few days about Lillian going to high school in Bangor, “all by her lonesome.” She was even more worried about Leona, so she was relieved to see that her children made it through their first day of school as well as they did. After talking with other parents in the neighborhood before the start of school, Margaret knew just how easy Miss Hutchinson made that first day of the unknown for her new students, and realized that she shouldn’t be too concerned. Still, a mother can’t help but worry, and Margaret was certainly no exception.
Journey With the Comet Page 24
