School Days

by Ed Nelson

  After it had died down we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mr. Barton had set picnic tables up in the field so we had everything we needed.

  Sue’s parents would come and go just enough we didn’t feel smothered, but enough that we couldn’t get away with much. I noticed that Tom and Tracey went for a long walk in the dark, but they soon came back, shortly followed by Mr. Barton.

  Sue walked me to the car and really laid a kiss on me. That was the first time I ever had a tongue involved with a kiss. Wow!

  On the way home, Tracey said, “Just friends.”

  It was late enough when we got home that I didn’t feel like reading.

  Sunday I had to give Mum and Dad the complete details on the hayride. Well almost all of the details, I doubted they would be interested in any hugging and kissing that I may have done. I escaped that conversation as quick as I could and went over to Tom’s to help wash and wax his parent’s car.

  After that we came back to my house, where Denny and Eddie soundly beat us at basketball. How could we have lost? They were both shorter than us. They were also faster, better passers, and a lot more accurate with their shooting. Also Denny had picked up this annoying habit of stealing the ball.

  This was the end of an exciting week.

  Dad wanted to be seen as a land lord that took care of his tenants and property. That way he would attract a better class of renters to Jackson Housing.

  We went home to find that poor Mary had really broken out in blisters all over her body. I don’t remember any of us being that bad. She was burning up with fever so Mum kept damp rags on her forehead. She was asleep currently so we ate dinner. Mum hadn’t time to prepare anything, so Dad made some pancakes. Somehow it didn’t seem like a party. We just ate and were done.

  Mum went back upstairs to see to Mary, while Dad and I did the dishes. While we were doing them, him washing and me drying, he asked me if I had seen the Wingers new car. I hadn’t. He told me to check out their drive way. They had a brand new 1958 Ford Edsel.

  Dad said, “It has to be the most butt ugly car ever made!”

  I had heard that about them, but had never seen one. I would have to check it out.

  I received a telephone call from my Scoutmaster, Mr. Geist. He asked me to participate in a planning group for a Boy Scout Camporee. It was to be a multi-council event and the largest gathering of Scouts ever held in Ohio. It would be held in May. I was being asked to work with our District group to suggest events for the boys. Our suggestions would feed up to our Council. Then in turn to the overall Camporee committee who would pick the most popular and feasible recommendations.

  I said it sounded like fun. The meeting would be at a church near West Liberty, Tuesday night. He would pick me up at 6:30 if that was okay. I told him that would work.

  I explained it to Dad when I hung up, and he shrugged, “Just be careful, when I was your Cub Master they told me it would only take about two hours of work a month. You saw how that worked out.”

  It took Dad about ten hours a month not counting all of Mums time.

  We watched a little Monday night TV but it was boring so I went to my room and read. It was about the Baltimore Gun Club and their cannon. It gave a new meaning to, “One of these days, Alice, right to the moon.”

  Tuesday the weather was nasty, it was a cold hard rain which had set in for the day. I didn’t even think about running. Mary was still breaking out in blisters, which hadn’t started to burst yet. She came down to breakfast but just sat at the table, she hadn’t any appetite. She was so forlorn looking it was sad. Mum had dabbed each of her blisters with cornstarch to reduce the itching. She had also put a pair of mittens on her so even if she tried to scratch she could only rub and not dig.

  Eddie brought a little smile to her face. He had pasted little red dots on her favorite Teddy Bear. He told her she would have to take care of Teddy because he also had the chicken pox.

  She took the Bear and cuddled it while telling Teddy he had to get plenty of rest and drink lots of water. If his head ached she would put a cold rag on it. Eddie got smiles from all of us.

  I did check out the Wingers new car. Why would Ford try to sell a car that ugly? Dad’s comments were kind.

  I stopped in before classes to see Mr. Donaldson to see if progress had been made on my shower head and adaptor drawings. He had the drawing finished for the adaptor. It really looked good. He also had a written quote to make ten of them. They would be seventy five dollars for the lot.

  It worked out to a twenty five dollar set up fee for the metal lathe, then five dollars each including time and material for the ten finished adaptors. Any future ones would be a ten dollar set up fee, as they had the settings, so it would only be the time to actually set it up, and the finished parts would still be five dollars. I told him to go ahead with the order for ten.

  I would bring the money and the NDA’s I needed signed tomorrow. Dad had told me he would get the lawyer to draw them up for Mr. Donaldson and his brother. Our lawyer now had them as templates that only had to be filled in.

  Mr. Donaldson told me, “The Bellefontaine Copy and Blueprint shop can convert this drawing to a blue print for you. That way you can have as many copies as you need.”

  Since he knew the people well he offered to drop it off. He would have ten copies made and bill me two dollars a copy. I thanked him, and told him I would see him tomorrow. Then I rushed off to class.

  I was still able to get all my school work done in class or study hall. This made my school day go by fast. I was a speed reader before speed reading became known. I would read down the center of a page rather than side by side.

  I never tried to say the words in my head. I just saw them on the paper. My comprehension rate was as good as anyone else. The only difference was that I was doing it at close to two thousand words a minute.

  This is how I was able to read so many novels. Mum claimed I could read them so fast because I had so much practice reading. That sounded like the chicken and the egg question, so I just read rather than try to figure it out.

  Though I think I had figured out which came first, if you believed in creation the chicken came first, if you believed in evolution the egg came first. Myself I had absolutely no idea how it all worked.

  Before dinner Dad gave me the NDA’s he had picked up and the cash I had requested to pay Mr. Donaldson.

  Dad jokingly asked, “As your business manager is there anything else I need to do.”

  “Thanks Dad, would you see Mr. Burke about starting a company for me, Jackson Engineering. And I will need to see a patent attorney soon, so could you see if Mr. Christensen will be available the Friday after Thanksgiving for a meeting. I will need a ride to that meeting. Also Dad, be careful what you ask.”

  He hit me on the shoulder hard enough to make me rock in my chair, but he was laughing when he did it, so I guess it was okay.

  After dinner that evening Mr. Geist picked me up at my house and we drove down to the West Liberty First Baptist Church on old Ludlow Road. There were other Scout Masters there accompanied by Eagle Scouts. There was also our District Commissioner and the District Scout Executive. Everyone had their uniform on but me, I didn’t have one that fit, something else to take care of.

  We went through the handshake thing. Since the other boys were wearing their Order of the Arrow sashes I knew they were Vigil level members, so gave the whole fist full of fingers secret handshake of the Society. They knew my name when I was introduced, but didn’t make a big deal of it.

  We came up with the usual list of scouting skills and demonstrations. Knot tying, log splitting, cooking contests. I had a bright idea.

  “Why not invite a group of civil war reenactors and have them put on a fake battle. Then set up stations where each boy can fire a black powder rifle. Cannon fire would be a neat way to announce major events. A cavalry charge would be awesome.”

  No one including the professional Scout Executive had ever heard of that being done at a C
amporee so it went to the head of the list. Then the District Commissioner announced.

  “Since this is Rick’s idea, I think he should present it to Council.”

  Everyone agreed. I wasn’t given a choice. Mr. Geist and the Commissioner talked it over and they decided the Commissioner would take me to the Council meeting tomorrow night. He would pick me up around 6:00 for the trip to Springfield to our Council Headquarters.

  Notice how much choice I had in the matter? I went along with it, I had never been to a Council level meeting and was curious, and had nothing else planned. I also thought I had better start investigating civil war reenactors. I had read about them in the Columbus newspaper but didn’t know anyone that was involved.

  I asked the group if they knew anyone. The Scout Executive, who was paid staff for the Scouts, said he would ask around. He knew an Ohio group had appeared in Springfield several years ago, so someone must know something.

  When I got home that night the house was quiet, Doctor Costin’s car was there. Mary’s fever had got up to one hundred and four degrees. He had given her an antibiotic and Mum had her in the bathtub with cool water, trying to bring the fever down. The Doctor left as he had done all he could for now. Around eleven o’clock her fever broke. We all heaved a sigh of relief.

  The boys and I went to bed because we still had school tomorrow. I was too tired to read.

  Chapter 11

  It was still cold and rainy, so no running today. It was almost cold enough to turn to snow.

  Thursday my first stop was at the school shop to see Mr. Donaldson and pay him what I owed him. Dad had also managed to get the NDA’s from Mr. Burke, so I presented those.

  He signed his and would have his brother sign the other at lunch today. He would have it for me after school along with the blueprints.

  They had turned on the heat in the school. The boilers were rattling the radiators in our class room. By lunch time the school would be so hot that teachers would be in danger of falling asleep standing in front of the class. We went through this every year.

  The best thing to do when students are hot and sleepy is to give a snap quiz to wake them up. Every teacher in school seemed to work on that principle today. The students wailed in the halls between classes.

  It didn’t bother me at all. I was ready for the tests. The teacher would allow us five to ten minutes for the exam. After they were collected, we were then allowed to work on our lessons.

  This allowed me to keep ahead on each chapter. While we were doing this the teacher would stand by the open class room door. The doors were open to help cool the room. In Miss Bales room she had to crack a window at the back of the room it was so hot. I noticed the teachers would congregate in the hall for a minute, talk and then return to their classroom to make certain we hadn’t stolen the furniture.

  Of course there was a lot of whispering and note passing. I kept out of that and just worked. Tom had told me I was getting a reputation as a ‘grind.’

  No fun at all.

  In study hall one of the reference books was really interesting. Since it was one that could be checked out, I did so, I wanted to read it. It was deeper than anything I had previously read, other than Plato’s Republic. That one still kept my head in knots thinking about it.

  This one was on how a leader should run his country to keep his power. It had nothing to do with ethics or morality it was on the use of power. I don’t think I would be speed reading this one.

  In Algebra after the test, Sue wanted to talk, I couldn’t avoid it. In a whisper she wanted to know if I liked her.

  “Sue I like you, I’m just not ready for a girlfriend.”

  “What about that girl in Columbus?” she asked.

  “Judy is a good friend, but we both agreed that with the distance it would make no sense to try to date.”

  “Then you could have a girlfriend here.”

  “Yes I could but I’m not going to.”

  That ended that whispered conversation. I don’t think Sue liked me very much just then but I wasn’t ready for a girlfriend. I’m not even sure what that means, I like the hugging and kissing part, but not the being together all the time and letting her set the agenda. I had things to do. I hadn’t taken the time to go to the youth center or to Don’s for weeks. My life was too busy.

  I thought about explaining all this to Sue, but realized that she wouldn’t understand. Or worse yet she would say she understood until we started dating then try to change me. I had heard girls use the term, ‘work in progress’ about too many guys.

  After school I went back to Mr. Donaldson’s office, he had the signed NDA from his brother and a cardboard tube with the blueprints rolled up inside. We pulled them out and went over them.

  After reviewing the design we were both happy. His brother would machine the parts and then have them chromed at an electroplater in Urbana. They should have them done by the middle of next week.

  It took longer than I thought. School had been out for forty five minutes. As I left the main door to head home I noticed Steve Simmons standing across the street under a tree. It was still raining and cold so it must have been uncomfortable for him. I didn’t think too much of it at the time and headed home.

  Mary was now at the whiny “I don’t feel good” stage. Poor kid ached all over. Mum tried every favorite food of Mary’s that she could, but she just wasn’t happy. From the looks of her I wouldn’t have been happy either.

  I just had time for dinner which was cheeseburgers. Yum! I was showing Dad the blueprints for the shower adaptor when the doorbell rang. It was my ride to Springfield.

  Mr. Harris hadn’t met my Dad before, so they talked for a few minutes and then we left. It was a little strange, Mr. Harris was in uniform, and I wasn’t. I had never seen so many patches on a uniform.

  He had three rows of square knots which are the adult scouter awards. They were different colors for different achievements. Some had little medal devices attached. I had no idea what they all meant. I thought it all made him look like a Christmas tree. Naturally I didn’t say that.

  I had to get down to J C Penny, the local distributor for scout uniforms and get a new one that fit. What I really hated was sewing all the patches on. Mum had revolted last year and taught me how to sew my own. Mum had iron on patches for my jeans when I wore a hole through the knee. Maybe they could come up with iron on patches for scouts.

  We arrived at the Council headquarters on time. Others were pulling in as we arrived. The front part of the building was called the Scout Store. They sold all the scouting awards and patches for both Cub and Boy Scouts here. This is where scout leaders came to pick up their unit awards or badges, that or ordered them by mail.

  I picked up a catalog from a stack on the desk it would be interesting to see what was in it that I couldn’t buy at J C Penny. Old James Cash kept a good stock, but I wondered what else there was.

  We met in a large conference room at the side of the building. I had never been in anything like this. The table could seat sixteen people. The chairs were on swivels and were padded. They were the nicest office furniture I had ever seen. There must be some real money in scouting!

  Again I was the only one not in uniform. I just thought our District Commissioner looked like a Christmas tree. I couldn’t count the patches on some of the uniforms. Many of the adults had military style campaign hats. Like Smokey Bear and forest rangers wore.

  Several of them had large metal first class scout emblems pinned on the front. They were really neat looking. I wondered if I would be allowed to wear it as part of my uniform.

  I asked my District Commissioner and he said that I could wear the hat, but that the emblem was not a recognized part of the uniform. The guys that wore them seemed to be high ranking.

  They had coffee available, so I got a mug. The meeting started on time with the pledge, followed by the Lord’s Prayer. They had one of the uniformed boys lead the pledge. Apparently one of the men was a minster or priest b
ecause he led the prayer.

  We were handed a formal agenda along with minutes from the previous meeting. One of the men was keeping minutes of this meeting. I hadn’t thought about it, but I guess men can be secretaries.

  The first item was attendance, they did a rapid go round of the room and each of us gave our name, position in scouting and where they were from.

  “I’m Richard Jackson from Scout Troop 113, Bellefontaine.”

  I noticed all the other kids made a point of stating that they were Eagle Scouts, even though we could all tell it because they were wearing the medal over their patch. Several of the adults looked up when I stated my name, but nothing was said.

  At about an hour into the meeting a break was declared. Donuts were set out so I headed right to them, along with everyone else. That and another mug of coffee helped. This was interesting, but it had been a long day. The actual event was going to be held at Camp Birch the local scout camp of Tecumseh Council right here in Springfield. It was over four hundred acres in size.

  Most of the meeting was concerned with logistics of having about four thousand youth and adult leaders at the camp for a three day weekend. Traffic control, first aid, fire safety, camp layout, sanitation, promotion, programs and budget were just a few of the issues.

  Chapter 12

  I begin to see how a business might be run by breaking everything down into bite size projects. The people present, except the boys, who were special guests, were the committee heads giving a report on where their committee stood on each item. There must be a hundred people working on this Camporee. I thought that one just showed up and pitched a tent!

  During the break I was approached by two gentlemen, a Bill O’Leary our Council Commissioner and David Stanton the Council Executive. Mr. O’Leary was the highest uniformed volunteer in our Council and Mr. Stanton the professional scouter that ran the Council.