I have not made much progress on my short stories, “Circular Run” in particular. I have made progress on more of my Gitmo stories. This one in particular, “First Grade,” was the first of many misadventures in academia.
-John
First Grade
My first memories of any type of organized school are in Gitmo. Kindergarten in 1963 and in the Fall of 1964 I started First Grade at the Sampson Elementary School run by the DoD. My Teacher was Mrs Dunbar. She had black hair and read to us from the “See Spot” type reading pamphlets they gave to us.Gitmo
The school had the old fashioned individual student wood desk and chair sets. The kind everyone scratched up and had the cavernous open storage shelf right under the top. You were a lucky one if you get get your arms all the way in there to touch the very front piece of wood. The matching wooden chair came with two horizontal, curved slats on the back for support.
Back support. Not to be used as a necklace… At some point and for whatever kid reasoning was prevalent on that particular day, I turned my head sideways and stuck it through the two slats from the back of the chair.
I learned then that my ears will lay flat going through, but the backs would flap out and prevent any rearward attempts to remove my head from the chair back. After being cautioned to quit trying to yank my head out my tears started flowing. Thoughts of not being able to go home or having to eat with a chair forever around my neck filled my head. Mrs. Dunbar shushed me and helped me walk through the school to the playground where she was met by a man in khaki shirt, shorts and ball cap. He was carrying a saw! It was a hack saw, exactly like my father used to cut through bulk meat! This was it! I scrunched my eyes and screamed as the sawing started! The saw did not bite into my neck, but into the joint where the upper chair slat met the back frame. In less than a minute I was free and my chair disappeared with the man with the saw.
While that traumatic incident should be enough to remember one’s teacher, the gift of reading is why I remember Mrs. Dunbar the most. She gave out the Dr. Seuss book, “Happy Birthday to You!” to any of her students on their birthday. Believe it or not I still have the book with her “Happy Birthday John!” wish inscribed inside the front cover. Dr Seuss was a favorite author and I read his popular books at the time. You know, “Green Eggs and Ham,” “The Cat in the Hat,” and my favorite, “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.”
When we left Gitmo, she gave me a small gym bag as a farewell present. One of those two handled vinyl bags with brass buttons for feet and a vinyl wrapped piece of cardboard to keep the bottom flat. I remember it was navy blue in color with a central zipper, but, more importantly, it was big enough to hold my Dr Seuss books!