School Days

by Ed Nelson

  Before I left for school I got a phone call from Lou Sperry.

  “Rick, I thought I would let you know, the FBI was here about that guy. Turns out he’s a con artist they have been chasing. They searched the room he had been staying in, but I don’t think they found anything.”

  “Thanks for letting me know Mr. Sperry, I was curious.”

  “Yeah, me to, there for a while I thought we had a spy on our hands.”

  “Mr. Sperry, I think that is only in the movies.”

  “You would know about that wouldn’t you, movies that is.”

  “I have only been a bit actor. I’m not an expert on movies.”

  “The closest to one this town has,” he rejoined.

  “Well in that case in my expert opinion there was no spy.”

  “Got it,” he chuckled as he hung up.

  At school I heard one kid whose dad worked at the airbase say.

  “They had a drill last night. It was no big deal, they locked down for a few hours and that was it. My dad said they are just wasting tax payer dollars practicing for things that will never happen.”

  I remembered a phrase I had read somewhere.

  “People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”

  While the people I met last night weren’t what I would call rough, they were certainly ready to do violence on our behalf.

  I kept my mouth shut. I couldn’t add anything without giving away what I knew. There was a lot of talk about Friday’s event at the Holland Theater. It was like I had just got back from my summer vacation. People wanted to talk about the events all over. Except this time everyone knew everything.

  I was looked at in a different light by everyone including my teachers. The strange part is after their initial comments they pretty much left me alone except for one thing. The autograph book fad had run its course in my middle school years. Now they were brought out and I think I signed one for every kid in school.

  I came up with a little poem, “Roses are red. Violets are blue. I will remember the rodeo and you.”

  Then I would add the old standard line, “I’m a poet and I know it, my shoes show it, they are Longfellow’s.” I really do know I’m not a poet.

  I suspect when our year book is published I will be signing those also. People were taking the attitude, “I knew him when...”

  Gee no expectations here.

  Lunch was interesting. Tom Wilson a junior class clown yelled, “Food fight,” and started throwing rolls he had collected from other kid’s lunch. No one else joined in with him.

  He threw the five rolls he had. Then Mr. Hurley collared him. I do mean collared him, he grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulled him up on his toes and marched him out of the cafeteria presumably for an eternity of detention.

  With our watchdog gone, someone picked up one of the errant rolls and threw it again. That started it! The fight was on. Fortunately everyone stuck to rolls so after everyone in the cafeteria had several throws we all picked them up. Mr. Hurley came back into the room alone just as the last of the rolls had been thrown in the trash. He looked around and stated loudly,

  “As you can see I won’t tolerate any food fights in this cafeteria.”

  How he didn’t see the rolls in the garbage can I don’t know, it was right by the door.

  No one responded to him, just kept eating and talking. I was happy. I had nailed Tom Humphries in the back of the head from across the room.

  In Algebra class Sue Barton told me they were having a hay ride at their farm on Saturday night, and I could come if I wanted to. I said I would like to, did I need to bring a girl? I mean everyone knew what hayrides were for.

  She replied, “I thought you could be with me.”

  Now this left me a little dilemma. Judy and I had never said we were girlfriend or boyfriend much less going steady.

  I thought for about a second and said, “Sure; that sounds neat.”

  Sue told me, “I saw you in the film Friday with that girl from Columbus so I know you aren’t looking for a girlfriend. I need a date and I don’t want a steady boyfriend so you would be more like an escort.”

  Well my ego never got a chance to swell. That’s a good thing, right?

  She let me know where she lived off of Ludlow road and to be there at 6:00. There would be the hayride, then a bonfire and wiener and marshmallow roast. Tom Morton and Tracey Gallagher were coming. Maybe I could get a ride with Tom.

  Tom and Tracey had been going steady since the homecoming. She didn’t have his class ring because we couldn’t buy those until our junior year.

  He did have a DeMolay ring and she wore it on her finger. To make it fit, she, like all the other girls spent hours wrapping it in angora, different colors for different outfits.

  I saw Tom in the hall between classes and arranged a ride for Saturday night.

  After school I went down to Wingers for my Spanish lesson. I knew I was in trouble when she started out with, “Hola” and never said a word in English. She would point at something and repeat its name.

  I felt like a fool but kept with it. After a while she would point at something and I could repeat its name back to her. She also brought out a calendar and went through the months, days, and dates with me in Spanish.

  At the end of the hour she handed me a Spanish textbook and said something while pointing at the first chapter. I think she meant I was to study the lessons and vocabulary in chapter one.

  The whole time she never said a word in English. She ended with “buenas noches.” I think that meant, “Get the heck out of here,” because she made a shooing motion.

  Dinner was fun, until Mary told her brothers they were, “Eres estúpido.” The estúpido sounded enough like stupid for them to get it. Denny and Eddie wanted Mum to punish her. Dad and I were above this fray.

  Mum surprised us all, and said well you just need to learn Spanish. I will talk to Mrs. Hernandez tomorrow. You would have thought Denny and Eddie had just been beaten from their reactions.

  Later Mum and Dad shared that they had thought learning Spanish a good idea, so we would know a second language like most Europeans. She had just used the opportunity to force the issue.

  Chapter 9

  That night I reread an old favorite, the earth is invaded and conquered but the invaders end up dying from microbes.

  School the next day was just another day and it went by. I was always busy in class doing my work to keep ahead so I can’t say it was slow, just nothing noteworthy. I wrote my usual letter to Judy updating her on events. I even told her about the hayride I was going on.

  After school I stopped at Guys Newsstand and bought another note book; this one for an adjustable shower head. When I got home I wrote out the general use and purpose of this notebook, then signed and dated it. I also wrote my first thoughts.

  The device I had in mind would adapt any standard straight shower head to being adjustable. The idea being if you removed a shower head from the pipe fitting, the pipe fitting had a male threaded end. The shower head itself would have a female thread.

  I would have made three pieces. Part one would be a pipe length with a female end, which would thread onto the pipe fitting at the water output end. It would have a cup on its other end. That would form half of the ‘socket.’ This part of the socket would have a male thread around its outer lip.

  The other half of the socket part two would be a cup with a female thread to fasten to the male threads. It would have a hole in the center of the cup so that it could slip over the third part. The third part would be a threaded pipe with a male fitting so it could attach to the shower head. The other end would have the ‘ball’ which would fit into the cup. The ball would have a hole through its center so water could flow through to the shower head.

  So to assemble the unit, you would first attach Part One to the water pipe. And then slide Part Two over Part Three. Place the ball of Part Three in the socket of
Part One. Tighten the threads between Part One and Two. Last step is to fasten Part Three to the shower head.

  Boy, this would be more fun than last Christmas helping Dad assemble Mary’s dollhouse, with Tab A into Slot B. That sheet metal would cut you in a heartbeat.

  My adaptor was simple to design, but how would I get it made? I decided to go back to Mr. Donaldson the shop teacher for ideas.

  That night I read a book about a volcano erupting in Rome. It had people being fed to the lions, witches, earthquakes, lightning strikes and murder through poisoning. Exciting stuff but the language in the book written a century ago was so heavy it was tough going. My Aunt Merle had bought the classics I was reading as a set. I bet she never read this one.

  Thursday it was drizzling rain and looked like it had settled in for the day so I didn’t try to run. Mum had gotten up early and was doing laundry. She had Dad’s workpants set out to dry. She was using those metal frames that fit into each leg and were adjustable. They would hold the material taunt so when they dried she didn’t have to iron them.

  I arrived at school early, so I would have time to see Mr. Donaldson. I showed him my rough sketch in my note book of what I was trying to make. He thought it was a good idea.

  He said, “If you just want one, have a machine shop form the parts. If you want many then you will need molds made so they may be cast in aluminum.”

  “I would like just one to see if it will work,” I replied.

  “I don’t see why it wouldn’t, the only concern I would have is abrasion wear on the inside of the ball and socket. Since it will be sealed, there shouldn’t be a problem. If you use a machine shop you want them to use hard material like chrome for the interface of ball and socket. They would have to send them out for plating but then the unit would last forever.”

  He proceeded to tell me, “A machine shop will want drawings. Who will do that?”

  “I hadn’t got that far in my thinking. How much do you think that would cost?”

  “I would charge one hundred dollars if it was me.”

  I came back with, “Are you interested in the job?’

  “For one hundred definitely, that would take care of Christmas for us, three kids make it expensive.”

  “Okay but when you make the drawing, use Jackson Engineering in the letterbox, that way there is no question who owns the product. Also I ask that you sign a Nondisclosure Agreement, I don’t want this to get out.”

  “I can do that, also this is an adaptor, do you want a set of drawings for this to be built right into a shower head for new installations?”

  “Yes please.”

  “I would ask another hundred dollars for that drawing.”

  “That would be fine.”

  I wrote out the deal in my notebook, and we both signed and dated it. He was very surprised when I pulled out my wallet and gave him three twenties.

  “Is the rest on completion okay?” I asked.

  “More than okay Rick, I can see that you are going to make some serious money in your life. Keep me in mind if you have any other projects.”

  “Now is there a machine shop in town that you would recommend?”

  “I recommend Bellefontaine Tool and Die, but you should know that my brother and I own and run it.”

  “That’s great, the less people involved, the better I like it. Please give me a quote on building five adaptor units. Please handle that with your brother and just give me a quote. While you are at it would you please buy several brands of common shower heads and see if it would require much in the way of redesign to build in the ball and socket. I will pay for the shower heads.”

  “We can do all of that. When I said, keep me in mind if you had any other projects I didn’t think it would be this fast!”

  “You have to be careful for what you ask,” I replied with a grin.

  My day was off to an excellent start, I thought it would take a while to get the shower head project moving. Now I was on my way to a working model. My next steps if it really worked like I thought it would were in a world new to me. I would have to figure out how to set up a manufacturing plant and then a sales and distribution network.

  The only problem was that knowing I would need manufacturing, sales and distribution was all that I knew. I had read of the concepts in my novels, but I had no idea of how to implement them.

  Besides I didn’t want to get bogged down trying to run a company at age fifteen. I suspect it would be a disaster. I think I would be better off trying to license the patents to companies already in the business.

  I would have to patent the concept which I would have to do no matter how I went about it. Once I have a patent in hand, I would approach the major shower head manufacturers and see if they would license them from me.

  Before I left Mr. Donaldson’s office I looked up shower head manufacturers in his set of Thomas Registers. Delta, Moen, Pfister, Kohler, American Standard and Detroit Faucets seemed to be the big players. I wrote their names and contact information in my notebook.

  Classes were just classes that day, nothing exciting. The cafeteria was calm after the food fight yesterday. Tom Wilson got ribbed a lot. He took it in good humor. He got a week’s detention for his antics. He said it was worth it to know that the rest of the school had put one over on Mr. Hurley.

  I saw Mr. Hurley standing in the doorway. He could hear what Tom was saying. I’m not sure anything had been put over on Mr. Hurley. He had a little smirk on his face. I wondered if he had seen those rolls in the garbage can after all.

  Did that mean our teacher with the strictest reputation wasn’t as mean as we thought? Were we really getting away with anything? That idea sure took the fun out of it. I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t want to damage his reputation.

  On the off chance I was right, on the way out I said to Mr. Hurley.

  “Those rolls were certainly bad yesterday.”

  He smiled and said, “Yeah I noticed they all got thrown away.”

  Then he winked at me. I think it is going to rain frogs, and dogs will dance in the street, the world must be coming to an end, our teacher is a human!

  I passed Mrs. Ramsey in the hall, but she didn’t notice me. I know Pam Shaffer and Sam Shepard are still together, so the play must still be on track.

  After school I had two letters, one from Judy and another from the White House. I opened the White House letter first. It was a simple note.

  “On behalf of a grateful nation, I thank you.”

  It was signed, “Dwight D. Eisenhower.”

  No reference to why he was thanking me, but I knew it was for the events of last Monday. I handed it wordlessly to Mum who had been waiting for me to open it.

  Her only comment was, “Good show.”

  Dad had been on a train to Cleveland when this all occurred had been mumbling about those, “damned commies,” all week. He thought Eisenhower should have dropped the bomb. At least till Mum had straightened him out.

  “Jack I lived through the blitz while you were safe at home. I don’t want to ever have our family face the horrors of an atomic war!”

  That may not have changed Dad’s mind, but it did shut him up. He wasn’t a fool.

  I took my letter from Judy to my room as I always did. We never wrote anything our parents couldn’t read, but I wanted privacy just in case. I had been a little worried when I wrote her about the hayride, but she had no problems with it. In fact it cleared the air for both of us. We lived too far apart to date.

  We had to have social lives, when she went to their youth center she would like to dance. She wanted to continue to write and even if we never could get together it was still good to have someone to share daily events with that supported you.

  I wasn’t certain about her dancing with other boys, but what she wrote made sense. I echoed those sentiments in the return letter I had started.

  The Spanish lesson was fun. There had been a change in the classroom though. Mum had talked to Mrs. Hernandez and now our base
ment was her classroom. All four of us kids were now taking Spanish. Mum informed me that she was now paying for everything.

  She kept the same pay scale so now Mrs. Hernandez was making thirty dollars a week for teaching one hour per day. I heard Mum tell Dad that her friend, Susie Winger and her husband Jim really appreciated having her out of the house for an hour a day.

  I wondered why they would like that; then blushed like crazy when I realized what they might be doing. Old people should behave.

  We had Swiss steak for dinner, along with mashed potatoes. It was one of my favorite meals. We kids all tried our fractured Spanish on each other. It was funny that the youngest Mary; knew the most words.

  I read about a group of outlaws in Tunstall Forest, and their adventures as related by Captain George North. It is one of the few stories that I’ve read that presents Richard Crookback in a favorable light.

  Chapter 10

  Saturday afternoon I received a joint phone call from my Engineers as Dad called them. Don Thompson had two phones at his house so they could be on the line at the same time. They reported they were making progress, and should have a complete set of drawings available by early December, and by the way thank you very much for the checks.

  Mum had written them for me. We agreed that we didn’t have to have these calls every week unless they ran into difficulties. If all went well they would call me on the first Saturday of December.

  Tom picked me up for the hayride. We then went to Tracey’s to pick her up. His parents had let him use the car, but he had agreed to wash and wax it for the privilege. He had just got his driver’s license, so it was all exciting for him. I offered to help with the car if he wanted to do it tomorrow. He jumped all over that idea.

  When we picked Tracey up she wanted to know all about Sue Barton and I, how long had we been going out? I told her that we weren’t that we were just friends that would date occasionally. She didn’t seem to buy that, but didn’t push the point.

  The hayride was a ball. Sues dad took us out for an hour. Yes we did cuddle to keep warm, and there was a kiss or two, but nothing else. We just sang songs, joked and enjoyed ourselves. That continued on with the bonfire. I had never been to one so big. Sue’s Dad would collect brush all year; then lit it off in the late fall. When he lit the fire, it must have jumped thirty feet in the air.