NOVEMBER 22, 1963
First Grade school 62,
I was six.
Several elementary
classrooms had
gathered in the classroom
with a big table radio
on a shelf, high on the wall.
We were sitting on
the cold waxed linoleum floor,
listening to:
a Radio Story Hour...
.. about rabbits and deer
and birds living happily
in a cheerful woods...
News of Dallas broke in.
All the teachers cried.
It must be REAL I thought.
The Principal came in...
"I'll have to close the school...
It's bad for morale for the
Students to see the Teachers crying."
He looked at me...
and knew I understood...
I stood at the gate, waiting for
Wendy to walk me home ...
After about 10 minutes, I realized that they didn't close
the Middle School across the street ..
I'll have to walk home by myself,
I think I remember the way...
Arriving home, the door was
locked.
Mom was at the Hospital
with my Dad...
I rang the bell, and my Great Aunt Celia answered the door.
"Oh ! what are you doing home
now, you bad boy...skipping school !"
No, Aunt Ceil, I'm not skipping
school ! The President was shot,
and they sent us home early !
"Oh ! and making up stories too !
You wait till your Mother gets home ! You'll get a spanking !
I told my Nana too, and she
just titched...
"Making up stories !"
I began to cry, because they
didn't believe me...
AND
They thought I was BAD..
AND
They fortold PUNISHMENT!
Nana felt bad for me, and
made me some instant
Chocolate milk, In a holiday
decorative Sour Cream glass.
I sat with my
chocolate milk...
Then Aunt Ceil turned on
the TV.
"It's time for my Stories!"
she said...
Newscast on channel 2...
"Where are my stories ? "
Newscast on channel 4...
"Where are my stories ? "
Newscast on channel 7...
"Where are my stories ?!?!? "
That's what I told you, Aunt Ceil !
I wasn't making up stories !
It really happened !!!
Oh how they cried.
...
2-1/2 months later...
A Saturday...I think ...
Mom had left for
the Hospital..
I visited Nana & Aunt Ceil...
Nana gave me an
"I Got It !" rubber ball
from Crystal Beach "bingo"
"Play on the stairs !",
she suggested...
As I was bouncing the
red white & blue
ball on the aluminum
capped maroon
linoleum stairs...
In the peppermint
pink stairway, with
gray wainscotting...
The phone rang...
I could hear Aunt Ceil
answer it...
"Oh Noooo ! " she cried.
I entered their
Raleigh - Winston
cigarette
smoky kitchen.
That was Dad, wasn't it ..?
He died... didn't he ..?
They just looked at me
with no explanation...
except...
their tears.
- 1962 Johnson Deal ...
- Senator Ripkin "SATISFACTION"
Listen to JFK's WISDOM !
- Southern School PROBLEMS ...
- THEY wanted Kennedy
- to Fight Vietnam...
- He told Cronkite NO.
That 11 Billion Tax Cut
may have been TOO MUCH...
Too Much for THE AGENCIES !
*****
[Beans Wed, 11-22-2023 Time : 10:00a]
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