School Days

by Ed Nelson

  “Excuse me I have to tell Cheryl and Mrs. Hawthorne something.” They looked at me expectantly with no idea what I was about to say.

  “No one calls me Cowboy, but I was the guy involved with that incident out at the radar station.”

  Mrs. Hawthorne looked nonplussed. Cheryl just stood there stunned.

  “I’m sorry I just found out that Mr. Hawthorne doesn’t want Cheryl near me.”

  You should have seen the look on Mum’s face. If she had been a violent person someone might be getting ready to die.

  “What do you mean,” asked Mum through gritted teeth?

  “Mr. or rather Colonel Hawthorne knows a little about the problem last month out at the base and he doesn’t want her to be near the boy who was involved.”

  Mrs. Hawthorne spoke up, “Jim only knows that Rick came on to the base with an unauthorized weapon and fired it.”

  Mum through still gritted teeth asked, “Was he told why Rick did that?”

  “No, he was told that it involved a National security matter.”

  “Well, I suggest that he finds out what went on before he blackens my son’s reputation.”

  I could see that this was about to go downhill fast.

  “There is nothing we can do or settle here. I suggest we leave this till later when your husband can get more details of why I did what I did.”

  During this very short tense conversation Cheryl had moved over by my side, it was like we were in this together. Mum relented and agreed that would be a good idea. Mrs. Hawthorne said her goodbyes and almost ran upstairs with Cheryl trailing.

  Mrs. Hernandez said brightly, “That went well.”

  It was too much, we broke out laughing. Denny, Eddie and Mary had been there with their mouths open the whole time. They didn’t know what to do and they still didn’t, but they laughed with us anyway.

  Mum, Dad and I talked it over after dinner. We all agreed there was really nothing any of us could do. Either the Colonel would get enough information to change his decision or he would relent anyway.

  If he did great, if not well it was his decision as long as he didn’t slander me. The bigger question was whether I even wanted to date Cheryl.

  I found her attractive and she seemed very nice. She didn’t even know anything about me so that was a plus. I am certain that will change as she gets back to school. The next question was whether she wanted to date me. While I hadn’t known her very long she didn’t seem repulsed by me.

  It would all work out or it wouldn’t. One thing I knew was none of that Romeo and Juliet stuff for me. I might pout for a while, but committing suicide was out of the question.

  Wednesday was clear and cold again. Ice skating would be great if this kept up. Breakfast was hot porridge, as usual during winter. Dad gave us a quick update on his plans for the day. Jackson Housing now owned a total of four buildings with eight rental units and six of them were currently occupied. This was well ahead of our original schedule. The Simmons had settled into their unit and looked like they would be model renters.

  He was finishing up painting the two empty units and hoped to have them available to rent by the end of the month. Only one of the units had needed major work. Dad went to install a shower and when he opened up the wall it had leaked and there was mold. He had to pull out a lot of the laths and replace them. That took more time than cost but it still was work.

  Dad’s contracting course said that they thought that some molds could cause lung problems so he bought sick room masks at the pharmacy and wore them while pulling stuff out. I asked him why he was concerned about his lungs all of a sudden, or was he going to quit smoking. I was reminded sharply he was my Dad and I wasn’t too big to belt.

  He also told me later he was trying to quit. It was harder to stop smoking than to stop drinking but he was trying. He was down to one pack of Lucky Strikes a day. I apologized for being out of line and he accepted it.

  I walked to school with Tom from next door. He told me he heard that I had received detention again.

  “How did you hear that and who would care?”

  “You are kidding right? The guy who pays for detention getting detention? That is news. Everyone thinks it’s a wonderful payback.”

  “You know why my family did that.”

  “Yep but it is still too funny. Besides it proves you aren’t Ricky Perfect the Super Boy.”

  “Are we going back to that crap again?”

  “No,” said Tom, “but it is fun to pull your chain.”

  I picked up a handful of left over yellow snow and chased Tom to school but didn’t catch him.

  School was school. I lucked into one homework assignment. In history we had been studying the Ohio Indians and how the territory was opened up. There were several essays we could write.

  One of them on the list was how did one of the Indian factions deal with the federal government. I would use the material from the Bellefontaine Gazette as my source.

  Blackhoof’s letters would probably be good for PhD research. Unfortunately I wouldn’t be able to explain where the information came from. Maybe later after the Shawnee Tribe revealed their existence I could reference them.

  Still, I had an easy slam dunk paper.

  I saw Cheryl at lunch time. She came up to me and said she was sorry about how yesterday ended. She and her mother had talked to her father and he was going to see if he could officially find out if I was a bad guy, a loose cannon or just a kid involved over his head. I was voting for in over his head. The more I thought about it, the scarier it was. What if I had hit and killed that guy or worse yet hit the dynamite and destroyed the radar?

  We ate lunch with Tom Wilson, Tom Morton and his girlfriend Tracy. Tom and Tracy had been together ever since school started. It seemed like forever but they had actually only been dating a couple of months.

  Anyway Cheryl fit right into the group. Tom Humphry came over and tried to talk to Cheryl but she shut him down. His parting shot was. “Why are you sitting with a golf wimp? You ought to be with the real men of the football team!” She asked me if I played golf. I told her I did but the rest of the guys at the table told her I was the State of Ohio youth champion.

  “My Dad loves to play golf. Maybe that is how we can get him to know you.” Now that was a good sign.

  “When the weather breaks I could invite him out to the country club to play a round.”

  “He would like that very much. Since he is the base commander he was given a complimentary membership but it still would be good if you and he could get to know each other. I can’t wait to tell him about your golfing.”

  Tom Wilson put in, “What about his bull riding?”

  I groaned but he continued, “I bet wonder boy here hasn’t told you a lot.”

  I told the table, “It is all going to come out so why don’t you take her to my trophy case and fill her in on my sordid past while I go to the library.” I saw Cheryl once more as we were changing classes but didn’t have time to talk. She just looked at me with those big eyes of hers. I swear they had gotten bigger since lunch.

  After school I walked downtown to start my Christmas shopping. I had looked at some items earlier, and then talked it over with my parents, so we wouldn’t cross paths. I ended up buying each of the kids a brand new toy that was called an Etch-a-Sketch. They had one out in the store to use and it seemed really neat.

  I bought Denny a Disney space ship set of plastic models to build. There were three in the set. For Eddie a Play-Doh machine since he liked working with models. There was a new doll for girls called a Barbie Doll I thought Mary might like. I also picked up a Howdy Doody TV game and a Mr. Potato Head game. They were the newest games this year and I thought it would be fun to play them in Spanish. I also purchased Mary a stuffed animal to continue a tradition. This year it was a wolf. It was a friendly looking wolf, not a scary one.

  Mum and Dad were the difficult ones. I solved both at once. I stopped by Dr. Costin’s office. I was lucky and he
was able to spare me a minute. I explained that my parents had been discussing joining the country club and that I would like to pay their initiation fees and the first year. He had an application in the office. I had a blank check in my wallet which had been signed by Dad for emergencies. I filled out the application in my Dad’s name and wrote the check.

  When everything was filled out he told me they had a board meeting on Saturday afternoon and that he would put them up for a vote at that time. He saw no problem with them getting in.

  When I made it home it was the usual routine, typing, Spanish, typing out Spanish words. Mary kept asking me what I was giving her for Christmas so I told her I had bought her a wolf. She didn’t believe me. It appears I don’t have a good track record of telling my brothers and sister what their Christmas gifts were. Actually I was notorious for just plain lying!

  Dinner was fun. We had a winter picnic. We roasted hot dogs in the fireplace. There were also marshmallows. We had tried hamburgers once but they didn’t do too well on a stick over the fire. Mum had made one of her wonderful potato salads. That along with baked beans and we were ready to go to the beach.

  I started a new book tonight. I had read the whole series several times but I really like it. I loved the little things in the story. My hero had left his pocket watch hanging on Lord Nelson’s casket. He never had an opportunity to retrieve it. I know it is a story, but I like to think if Nelson’s tomb was opened the watch would be there. I think it was cool that my sailor had also learned Spanish.

  Chapter 34

  Thursday was a day at school. Time crawled as we were coming up on Christmas vacation and all the students were tired of school. I think the teachers were tired of school also or at least tired of the students.

  I sat at what was becoming a regular table of Tom Morton, Tracey, Tom Wilson, Cheryl and I. Tom Wilson kept us in stitches but I noticed that his humor was never directed to hurt anyone.

  It was mostly self-depreciating. I wondered if it was a compensation method. He would depreciate himself before others could. I knew I wasn’t the most secure person around but I was glad I wasn’t that far gone. I even mentioned it to him indirectly.

  “Tom you have a lot going for you that people never see but you always downplay that and emphasize your weaknesses.”

  “I do?”

  “You do. Quit being a smart-aleck in class one day and play it straight. It would help the grades you need for college and I know there are several girls that think you are good looking but are put off by your attitude.”

  “What girls?”

  Fortunately, this was the new Rick. I had thought it through before I opened my mouth.

  “Who is that girl on the end riser in music class?”

  “You mean Tammy Woodstock?”

  “Yeah, her,” I replied.

  Actually there were about five cute girls on end risers in music class. I had just let him select the one he wanted.

  “Tom, you will have to show her your serious side before you will get anywhere.”

  “I’m now a man on a mission. She is going to be impressed with the new improved serious Tom.”

  “Good luck.”

  I then dropped the subject and turned to Cheryl. I asked in Spanish how she was doing. She replied that she was fine and that I was a good guy for what I was doing for Tom. She then updated me on her Dad’s attempts to find out what had gone on out at the base.

  He had attempted to interview everyone that was involved that night. They had all been transferred out. He was beginning to realize that something big had gone down. He reviewed the radar logs and saw that jets all over North America had been scrambled to head off incoming Tu-95 Soviet bombers.

  Many of the radar systems of the DEW line had gone down and Campbell’s Hill had carried the load that night.

  She shared that with me in Spanish so the other kids didn’t know what we were talking about. I was impressed with how much better my Spanish was getting. I could follow her. I had to think of a lot of words that I wanted to use, but I was really beginning to understand conversational Spanish.

  We didn’t talk about dating or seeing each other. Lunch would be it, unless her Dad relented. I was hoping he would relent soon as Cheryl was looking more attractive to me all the time. The great thing was she just accepted me. She didn’t talk about the things I had done.

  At home we used our Spanish lesson to string buckeyes for Christmas decorations. Mrs. Hernandez had never seen a buckeye, so it was fun. Of course Eddie and Denny had to make conkers. This was where you drill a small hole through the buckeye and put a thread through it. Tie the thread off and swing your buckeye trying to break your opponent’s.

  I think the name conkers came from what always happens. Denny was over enthusiastic and hit Eddie in the head. He got conked, this of course led to cries and wailing. Mum came running downstairs. When she found out what went on, she gave a lesson on how to conk, without hitting your opponent in the head.

  She also told Eddie to belt up, he played the game, and he took the hits. Quit whinging. I really wondered at times where my Mum obtained her attitude.

  We also made paper chains from construction paper. Christmas decorations at our house were mostly a do it yourself project.

  I read more on my naval hero. I thought fire ships must have been about as nasty an item used in the Napoleonic wars. I did wonder if the Spanish always treated their prisoners that well. I suspected not.

  Friday was the last day before the holidays. When I went to homeroom there was a note to go to the office. I wondered what I was in trouble for now. It wasn’t that at all. Dr. Costin left me a note. He had found out that they needed Dad’s signature on the Country Club application. My surprise wouldn’t happen. I thought about it and thought what the heck. It’s the thought that matters right?

  After school I went straight home. Both my parents were there so I explained to them how I had attempted to surprise them with a country club membership but that it needed Dads’ signature.

  He signed and said, “It is the thought that counts.”

  “I am going to drop this off at Dr. Costin’s office right now. They will be able to vote on it tomorrow.”

  At that I started to head out, Mum added.

  “Bundle up or you will catch your death.”

  I rode my bike down the hill. The roads were clear but man was it cold. A quick turnaround at the Doctors office and I headed home. It wasn’t into the wind but it was up hill. I didn’t catch my death, but I think I was on its heels by the time I returned home.

  That night I reread that graphic description of cutting some ones leg off. It was totally fascinating but gruesome. What hit me is to learn how to do that they must have cut off a lot of legs.

  Saturday was a nice day, so Dad and I left for Dayton trying to arrive at lunch time. We had been invited for lunch and were told that the sutlers would be set up and ready for business. Colonel Tolson had sent us a map with directions so we should be able to find the place.

  We found it with no problem. They had set up in a field next to a secondary road. It was easy to tell when we arrived because cannon had just fired. Between the noise and the cloud of smoke there was no question that this was a civil war unit. It also helped that there were two Union soldiers on guard duty at the entrance. They had our names on a list so we were admitted. The sergeant, who I recognized from his stripes, told us that this wasn’t a public event but people kept trying to join them.

  After parking the car in the field near the tents, it was easy to find Colonel Tolson. He was at a large headquarters tent with flags in front. He welcomed Dad and me and gave us a tour of the campsite. They had troops doing close order drill. Dad chuckled at that.

  “Some things have never changed.”

  We walked over to the cannon firing line. They had two cannons in what they called a battery. They had wagons with them that they called caissons. These were for the cannon balls, gun powder and other supplies. I now knew what
caissons rolling along meant in the song we sang in music class.

  I didn’t see any cannon balls and asked about that. The Colonel laughed.

  “We wouldn’t dare fire any around here. They go for more than a mile and then would go through a house front to back. There is a place we can fire over in eastern Ohio, one of the old strip mines. It is the only safe place in the state.”

  “We don’t use cannon balls either, they are too expensive. We have found that a cement filled beer can work’s perfectly.”

  I wondered what Generals Grant and Lee would have thought of that.

  We had lunch with the group. I had read enough about the civil war to expect a meal of hardtack, pork, half raw potatoes and chicory coffee. Instead we had cheeseburgers, hotdogs and French fries. I asked, and was told that they reenact the battles not the meals!

  They would do one of the meals the old way on occasion, but unlike the civil war their wives accompanied them to the field and wouldn’t put up with poor food or bad cooking.

  The men were on kitchen police duty which meant they cleaned up after the women cooked. Again I wondered what Grant and Lee would have thought of that.

  I was introduced around to almost everyone in camp. I noticed that the only kids there my age were children of reenactors. They were dressed in uniform and learning to march and later to fire their weapons. Looking at the older men who seemed hard bitten and the fresh faced boys I had a strange feeling I was looking at one of the many faces of war.

  They were all nice, but I wouldn’t want to be on the other side of a firing line. How long would it take those fresh faces to become like their fathers?

  Dad talked to a few of the enlisted men at lunch. He found that to a man they were World War II veterans. He asked how they could stand to be in uniform again.

  “Jack we just do the good parts. It’s like a play. We don’t even use fake blood.”

  Dad nodded and smiled, apparently he had been thinking of the bad parts, which he never talked about.