{"id":7789,"date":"2024-05-14T20:32:16","date_gmt":"2024-05-15T03:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leftyparent.com\/blog\/?p=7789"},"modified":"2024-05-14T20:33:19","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T03:33:19","slug":"clubius-contained-part-25-fifth-grade-september-1964","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.leftyparent.com\/blog\/2024\/05\/14\/clubius-contained-part-25-fifth-grade-september-1964\/","title":{"rendered":"Clubius Contained Part 25 – Fifth Grade (September 1964)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I woke up to that guy on the radio, that \u201cdisc jockey\u201d guy, talking in his fast way that kind of went up and down and was almost like singing, but not really. Dad had gotten David and I a \u201cclock radio\u201d to help us wake up for school in the morning, though David usually was already up before it went off. Instead of the alarm, I had moved the little switch on the side to turn on the radio at 7:45, which we usually had on that CKLW station at the \u201c8\u201d on my little transistor radio but at \u201c80\u201d on this new bigger radio. After a bunch of other words all over the place he said\u2026<\/p>\n

Twenty twenty weather word, \u201cmuggy\u201d. Low sixties this morning but a humid near ninety, yes nine zero boys and girls, this very afternoon. So much for Labor Day being the end of summer! And Martha Reeves and the Vandellas’ new hit\u2019s got something to say about just walking to school this morning\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Then those people sang the \u201cCKLW\u201d letters and then the song started\u2026<\/p>\n

Callin’ out around the world
\nAre you ready for a brand new beat
\nSummer’s here and the time is right
\nFor dancing in the street<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I let the song continue to play as I took off my pajamas and put on my regular clothes, shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. As usual, David was already up and probably eating breakfast downstairs in the kitchen.<\/p>\n

There’ll be swingin’ and swayin’ and records playing
\nDancing in the street
\nOh it doesn’t matter what you wear
\nJust as long as you are there
\nSo come on ev’ry guy grab a girl
\nEverywhere around the world<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The song made me think of Molly, because it was the same older girls who sang \u201cHeat Wave\u201d that both Molly and I like and heard so many times in our trip to Saugatuck together. I wondered how it would be for her, starting at a new school, that Mack place, while I was starting at her old school, Burns Park, which would be new for me.<\/p>\n

There’ll be laughing, singing and music swinging
\nDancing in the street
\nPhiladelphia, PA (dancing in the street)
\nBaltimore and D.C. now (dancing in the street)
\nCan’t forget the Motor City (dancing in the street)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That was the neat nickname for that big Detroit city that wasn\u2019t far from Ann Arbor where we lived. That place where all the \u201cMotown\u201d groups, like Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, The Supremes, The Temptations and Smokey Robinson, were. \u201cMotown\u201d was an even neater, shorter nickname, like \u201cCoop\u201d instead of \u201cCooper\u201d.<\/p>\n

All we need is music, sweet music
\nThere’ll be music everywhere<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well probably not today, since it was the first day of school. I never liked the first day of school. The summer always seemed too short. I wasn\u2019t ready for grownup teachers to be in charge of me all morning and a lot of the afternoon. Mom and dad would be excited about school starting, so I figured I shouldn\u2019t tell them that I didn\u2019t want summer to end. At least I\u2019d be going to a new school, so that might be a little bit interesting. I did want to see the inside of the building, because it looked very different than my old Bach school.<\/p>\n

Mom said she had talked to the principal at the school and that my teacher was going to be Miss Kennedy and my class was going to be on the third floor to the left of the staircase at the main entrance of the school. She said that just like at Bach, the \u201cfirst bell\u201d rang at eight fifteen, the \u201csecond bell\u201d at eight twenty five, and the \u201cthird bell\u201d rang at eight thirty, when you were supposed to be in your classroom. I was used to leaving our old house to walk to Bach at about eight o’clock and then hearing the first bell when I was close to the school. But at my new school, which was just across the street, I could wait for the first bell to ring before I even left the house. I could probably even wait for the SECOND bell to ring before I left!<\/p>\n

When I went down the stairs into the living room, the round table that mom and dad worked on so much was there at the bottom. It didn\u2019t have four legs, like a regular table, but one big leg in the middle that mom called a \u201cpedestal\u201d, and then tiny legs at the bottom of the pedestal that were more like curved feet. The top part was all brown and just a little bit shiny. Mom called it a \u201cmatte finish\u201d. Though it was brown, it wasn\u2019t like brown paint, because you could see the pieces of wood underneath with all those lines in the stuck together boards that she called the \u201cgrain\u201d. The sides of the table under the top part and that whole pedestal thing was painted a shiny white.<\/p>\n

They had also got four \u201cHerman Miller\u201d chairs to go around the table made of criss-crossing shiny white metal tubes that also were the chair legs. They had yellow plastic \u201ccushions\u201d on the part where you sat so they felt softer to sit on. Mom said they were \u201cdesigned\u201d by that same Herman Miller guy who designed that chest of drawers, with black metal \u201cframe\u201d, and shiny white and yellow drawers that we\u2019d had for as long as I could remember. I guess that Herman guy liked things that were shiny white and yellow.<\/p>\n

In the corner of the room between the table and the front door was the rocking chair they had fixed up. It kind of looked like one of those puffy couch type chairs that Molly and other people had in their living rooms that were really soft to sit on, except this one had those curved wood things underneath instead of legs that made it into a rocking chair. It WAS really nice and soft to sit in.<\/p>\n

I continued into the kitchen where David had already finishing his Cheerios, and mom said she was going to walk over with him early for his first day to meet his teacher, Mrs. Peabody. I would NOT want mom to walk over to school with ME, because that would make me seem like a little kid. But David WAS a little kid, so I guess he wasn\u2019t old enough to worry about that.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay Coop\u201d, mom said, \u201cI\u2019m going to head over with David. I don\u2019t suppose you want to walk with us.\u201d I just shook my head as I poured Cheerios into my bowl. She nodded and grinned just a little, like she figured I wouldn\u2019t want to.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour first day at a new school\u201d, she said, \u201cHow exciting! Good luck! I guess I\u2019ll see you at lunchtime.\u201d I nodded again, my mouth full of cheerios. Mom and dad always thought school stuff was exciting. Dad liked it so much that when he was finally done going to that Michigan college school, he decided to keep going to school and teach, that \u201cEastern\u201d college school.<\/p>\n

Mom and David left while I was still eating. Dad was already gone to \u201cEastern\u201d with the car so he could be one of those college type teachers they called \u201cprofessors\u201d.<\/p>\n

So when I was done with breakfast, I went out the front door and sat on our stoop and waited for the first bell to ring. When it did, I looked over towards the school and saw a bunch of kids who looked about my age playing soccer on the football field in front of the school. I looked closer and they were playing on BOTH football fields and with MORE THAN ONE soccer ball, which seemed strange. I hadn\u2019t played soccer much myself at Allmendinger Park, but I had watched kids play and they had always played with ONE ball. And they usually didn\u2019t play so early in the morning. So I figured I had to go check it out.<\/p>\n

I walked across the street into the park and over to the football fields where all the kids were playing. I saw that kid named Mike I had met in the park. He was standing in front of one of the goalposts on this side. And when kids playing on the other team tried to kick a ball through the goalposts he tried to stop it. He caught one ball but another went by him and between the goalposts, and the kid who kicked it was holding up his fist and saying \u201cyeah\u201d. The ball rolled into the trees near where I was standing watching, so I ran over to pick it up. Mike put the ball he had caught down on the ground in front of him and kicked it really hard so it went a long way towards the other end of the football field. Then he looked at me and smiled.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you guys doing?\u201d I asked, \u201cThe bell just rang. Aren\u2019t we supposed to be going to school?\u201d He nodded his head but held out his hands like he wanted me to throw him the ball I had picked up, which I did. He rolled the ball in front of him on the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah\u2026\u201d, he said as he ran towards and kicked the ball, \u201cAnother year of school. But we don\u2019t usually stop playing until the second bell rings.\u201d Then he looked at me and said, \u201cYou should be out here playing with us, we need you! Most of the good players on our team last year are now on the sixth grade team. You\u2019re fifth grade, right?\u201d I nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho do you have?\u201d he asked, \u201cDesmond or Kennedy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKennedy\u201d, I said.<\/p>\n

He nodded as he turned to watch some kids with a ball at their feet getting close over to the left as he said, \u201cToo bad. I got Desmond.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen are you guys playing again?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cUh after lunch, before class\u201d, he said, \u201cAs soon as somebody brings a ball and there are kids there from both teams here ready to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you pick the teams?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t really pick them\u201d, he said, \u201cIt\u2019s the sixth graders against everybody else, which is pretty much the fourth and fifth graders.\u201d A ball that had been kicked from the middle part of the field bounced toward him and he caught it. He then kicked the ball like you\u2019d punt a football.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sixth graders are older so they\u2019re better, right?\u201d he said, \u201cSo our team gets to have more guys. That is if enough fourth and fifth graders show up.\u201d Somebody kicked a ball towards the goal but it missed and rolled into the trees behind me. \u201cWe need you\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never really played soccer very much\u201d, I said, \u201cI\u2019ve mostly watched other kids playing it. I play other sports. Lots of baseball. Some football and basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur rules are really simple\u201d, he said, \u201cSix graders against everyone else. Only one goalkeeper for each goalposts who can catch the balls with his hands. Everyone else can\u2019t touch the balls with their hands. Goals have to go between the goalposts and under the crossbar.\u201d He jumped up and smacked the crossbar above him with both hands. He was really tall and jumped really good.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s the score?\u201d I asked. He laughed and shook his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d, he said. He moved his head from side to side looking at all the kids out on the fields in front of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey Andy\u201d, he yelled, \u201cWhat\u2019s the score?\u201d This other kid off a ways in the middle of the field raised his arms and shoulders like he didn\u2019t know either.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re probably winning\u201d, he said to me, \u201cBut who cares. It\u2019s just fun.\u201d That made sense.<\/p>\n

The school bell rang, echoing through the park. All the kids running stopped, a lot of them catching their breath.<\/p>\n

\u201cSecond bell\u201d, he said, \u201cTime to stop and start another year of education!\u201d He laughed through his nose and looked at me. I laughed through my nose back at him and nodded my head.<\/p>\n

Most of the kids started running towards the main door of the school, though some ran to the other doors on the side. I ran with Mike towards the main door. We went through them and up the stairway with a bunch of other kids. Some had been on Mike\u2019s team and others had been on the other, sixth grade, team. Kids were talking to each other about goals they had got or almost got. That Andy kid that Mike had yelled at came over to walk up the stairs with us.<\/p>\n

\u201cAndy?\u201d Mike asked, \u201cYou\u2019ve got Kennedy, right?\u201d Andy nodded. Mike pointed at me and said, \u201cThis kid\u2019s got Kennedy too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNeat\u201d, said Andy, as we all climbed the stairs together, \u201cWhat\u2019s your name?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCooper\u201d, I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs that your first name?\u201d Andy asked. I nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople call me \u2018Coop\u2019 too\u201d, I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAha\u201d, said Andy, \u201cPleased to meet you \u2018Coop two\u2019. I never really got to know \u2018Coop one\u2019!\u201d He laughed and I did too. We got to the top of the stairs and there was a grownup man with a clipboard looking at all of us coming up the stairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay guys\u201d, he said, \u201cFourth graders to the left and around the corner. Sixth graders to the right and around that corner.\u201d He pointed in each direction. \u201cFifth graders\u2026 Kennedy to the left and Desmond to the right\u2026 and I\u2019ll see all you gentlemen and ladies on the tours today and in gym class tomorrow.\u201d He sounded like my baseball coach because he called us boys \u201cgentlemen\u201d. Andy and I went to the left and Mike went to the right.<\/p>\n

\u201cFun times\u201d, said Mike as he walked away.<\/p>\n

My classroom was on the top floor, just like I hoped. Andy and I and a bunch of other boys who had been playing soccer walked into the room together. There were mostly girls sitting in seats already.<\/p>\n

The teacher looked at us and said, \u201cOkay good, here you all are finally, take seats please.\u201d Andy and I found seats across from the doorway by the windows. There were a whole bunch of shiny books in piles on her desk at the front of the room in front of the chalkboard.<\/p>\n

Our teacher said her name was \u201cMiss Kennedy\u201d, and wrote her name on the chalkboard behind her. Then she took \u201cattendance\u201d, looking at a little notebook she had, and I could tell as she read of names that mine would probably be last. I was right.<\/p>\n

\u201cJonathan Zale\u201d, she finally said. I raised my hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cCall me \u2018Cooper\u2019\u201d, I said, and she nodded and carefully wrote something in her little notebook as her lips squeezed together. A lot of the other kids in the room looked at me when I said that. I wasn\u2019t used to that, since after first grade at Bach, most of the kids on the first day of school already knew who I was.<\/p>\n

So then she talked about all the stuff we were going to learn about this year. I listened closely because I wanted to keep being a really good student so that this new teacher liked me and didn\u2019t worry about me very much so I wouldn’t have to worry about HER very much.<\/p>\n

She said, \u201cWe will be reading a variety of genres including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama.\u201d I looked around at the other kids, and I could tell that most of them hadn\u2019t heard that word \u201cgenres\u201d before. I had heard dad say it, when he was talking about what he was teaching to his students, and I figured it was just one of those words grownups used to make you think they were really smart, and it just meant \u201ckinds\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will also be doing a lot of writing in this class\u201d, she said, \u201cAnd much of that writing will be based on you telling me details from what you\u2019ve read to summarize it, identify the main idea or theme, compare characters or events, or compare different texts about the same topic. Also to identify an author or narrator\u2019s point of view and explain how this affects what he\u2019s written.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then she smiled and said, \u201cAnd I\u2019ll ask you whether you liked what you read or not. You don\u2019t have to like it to get a good grade\u201d, she said laughing a little but then wagging her finger at us, \u201cBut you\u2019ll have to tell us why, and clearly explain your reasons, both with your written AND spoken words.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then she lowered that hand and grabbed her other hand down at her waist and said, \u201cWe will also be doing what every fifth grade class does. A state report, and you can choose any state other than our own state of Michigan, as long as someone else in class isn\u2019t already doing it. You will probably have to go to the library to do research, or ask your parents or other adults about what they know about the particular state that you are reporting on, and I imagine it will require some work outside class. Not only will you write it, and turn it in, but I will also ask you to present a summary of it to the rest of the class, to give you some experience with talking in front of a group.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said that we would be using a new \u201creading program\u201d called \u201cSRA\u201d, which she said, \u201cUses a systemized approach to reading instruction, that allows each of you to move forward with your reading comprehension at your own pace, working through the color levels.\u201d I could tell that SHE really liked it. She showed us the big shiny box that it came in and pulled out a few of the things you could read to show us. They were pieces of paper, also shiny, in different colors. Each color, she said, was a \u201clevel\u201d, starting at red and going up through a bunch of colors to blue.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring reading time in class each day\u201d, she said, \u201cJust pick out a card at your color level, read the story, and then answer the questions at the end on a piece of paper. Just make sure you put the color, the number, and your name up in the top left corner of your answer sheet and put it in this box on my desk. Once you complete the reading for one level and successfully answer the questions, you\u2019ll move up to the next level. Consider it a challenge, but you can take it at your own pace.\u201d I had never thought of reading as a \u201cchallenge\u201d, but I figured I was pretty good at it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn math\u201d, she said, \u201cWe will be learning how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimal numbers, plus learn how to convert fractions to decimals and vice versa. Also about angles and shapes, what mathematicians call \u2018Geometry\u2019.\u201d She picked up a book from her desk and held it up and said, \u201cI\u2019ll be assigning lessons from our math textbook, which I\u2019ll be handing out in just a bit. There will be homework, but hopefully not too much.\u201d Mom had already showed me how decimals worked and I was also pretty good at fractions, though I\u2019d never changed them from one to the other. And I knew what \u201chomework\u201d was, because older kids talked about having to do it from school, but I hadn\u2019t had to do it much before.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn science\u201d, she said, \u201cWe will be learning about earth and space, plants and animals, the cycle of life, the human body, electricity and magnetism, motion and sound.\u201d She held up another book for her desk that was very shiny. \u201cWe have a brand new science textbook that I think is particularly good, with lots of great pictures and diagrams. I\u2019ll also be handing that one out too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd finally in history\u201d, she said, \u201cWe\u2019ll look at United States history, beginning with the discovery of the New World and the colonization of America, and continuing as far as we can get, even up into our own century. Along the way we will analyze the reasons behind events, looking at the broader themes of our nation\u2019s development.\u201d Then she picked up another, bigger book from the stacks on her desk. \u201cAnd you guessed it\u201d, she said, laughing through her nose, \u201cYet another textbook, to be handed out in a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

She raised her shoulders, breathed in air and blew it out, then clapped her hands together once. \u201cBut first things first\u201d, she said, \u201cI want you to have at least a small space that is your own here at school, and since we don\u2019t have lockers, the inside of your desk will be that space. So we\u2019ll have assigned seats.\u201d Andy and a couple of the other boys groaned. A couple of the girls made a clicking noise with their mouth, I guess because they didn\u2019t like that either.<\/p>\n

For the first time, our teacher looked worried. She said, \u201cI know some of you don\u2019t like assigned seats, but I don\u2019t want you to have to carry all your books home and back to school again. So at lunchtime, and for the ones you don\u2019t have homework in after school, you can just leave them in your desk.\u201d There were still groans and clicks and our teacher took a deep breath in and out.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay\u201d, she said, \u201cEveryone stand up please and stand along the walls of the classroom. Then I\u2019ll call each of your names again and I\u2019ll assign you your new seat.\u201d She looked at her little notebook for a minute, frowned, and then went over to her desk and picked up a clipboard, and then smiled instead of frowned. She then walked over to the desk at the front closest to the windows.<\/p>\n

Looking at her clipboard she said, \u201cBeth Westman\u201d, then looked up and around the room at all of us. A girl raised her hand. Our teacher put her hand on the desk and said, \u201cThis is your desk, Beth.\u201d Beth nodded and went over to it and sat down. Then she called one of the boy\u2019s names to sit behind her. Then another girl behind him and a boy behind her, with a girl in the last seat at the back of the room. Then she called my name and her hand touched the desk at the front of the room next to that Beth girl\u2019s. Then the kid behind me was a girl too, then another boy. And once the teacher did the line of chairs behind me, the person sitting next to me was another girl, Abby, who was the one that lived across the street from our new house. I figured that our teacher was doing it so no two boys or girls sat next to each other or behind each other, though I wasn\u2019t sure why.<\/p>\n

So once we were all sitting in our \u201cassigned\u201d seats, she called each of us up to her desk this time and had us take one of each of the three \u201ctextbooks\u201d. Our history book was the biggest one, it had a picture of a bunch of those guys from a long time ago wearing those funny white \u201cwig\u201d things on their heads.<\/p>\n

Then she took us on a \u201ctour\u201d of the school. She said that even though most kids in class had been here last year and already knew where stuff was, that a few of us were new, like I was, and needed to know, plus it would be a \u201cgood refresher\u201d for the others. That \u201ctour\u201d was the best part of the whole morning in the school, because we didn\u2019t have to sit and we got to see all the inside parts of the place. She showed us all three stairways, which we went up and down to see different parts of the school, where the bathrooms were, one for boys and one for girls in the same place on each floor. The hallways in the school went all around the place, like in a square kind of \u201cu\u201d shape. There were three floors, and each one had the same kind of u-shaped hallway, with stairways at each end and that main one in the middle. All the doors to the different classrooms were in those hallways.<\/p>\n

The little kids\u2019 kindergarten and first grade classrooms were on the first floor. I remembered that first time Molly showed me Burns Park and the school, when she used to live here, and we looked in the windows of her first grade classroom. I knew the kindergarten rooms were on the first floor too, and when we all walked by them, I peeked into the windows on those doors and saw some kids but didn\u2019t see David.<\/p>\n

The second floor had the classrooms for the second and third graders and the library, which was like the library in my old school with bookshelves all along all the walls and that desk for the grownup in charge of it. There was also that \u201coffice\u201d part where all the grownups were who weren’t teachers, but did stuff for the school. That main \u201cprincipal\u201d woman, who was in charge of everyone else, had her little \u201coffice\u201d inside the big \u201coffice\u201d, which I thought was kind of funny, and kind of neat, even though she was just another grownup.<\/p>\n

And then the third floor, OUR floor, had the classrooms for the fourth, fifth and six grades. That made sense too, because as you got older you got higher. All the boys in my class thought the fifth grade classrooms were the best in the whole school, because they were up high, on the top floor, AND they had windows on TWO sides, rather than one side, like the other classrooms.<\/p>\n

Then there was the \u201cgymnasium\u201d. That\u2019s what our teacher called it, though all the kids called it the \u201cgym\u201d. Our teacher liked using more of the longer grownup words instead of our shorter kid words. The gym was just like the one at my old school, though I\u2019d only been in that one a few times, when there was too much rain outside to go out for recess. It had that really shiny wood floor where you could see the long skinny boards which were all painted with different color lines and circles. There were those basketball nets on both ends, and what the teacher said and even the sound of our feet walking made echoey sounds, which made the big room seem even bigger.<\/p>\n

That grownup guy who had the clipboard when we all came into the school this morning was there and he told us all about having gym class instead of recess. He said he was \u201cMister Baum\u201d, and he said we\u2019d have gym class every day. I remembered that when we walked in from playing soccer, a bunch of the sixth grade boys called him \u201cCoach Baum\u201d. That was interesting, because he seemed like that grownup man who was the coach of our Little League team, calling us boys \u201cgentlemen\u201d. And he also called the girls \u201cladies\u201d, which was the woman version of \u201cgentlemen\u201d.<\/p>\n

I figured there were different kinds of grownups in charge of you. At home, it was your mom and dad, which a lot of grownups and even some kids called your \u201cparents\u201d. Then there were the grownup women who were in charge of you at school who were called \u201cteachers\u201d, or that one in charge of the teachers called the \u201cprincipal\u201d. And then the grownup men who were in charge of you when you did regular sports and exercising stuff were called \u201ccoaches\u201d. Teams had coaches, so I guess it made sense that the grownups that were in charge of you at school for that kind of stuff would be called \u201ccoaches\u201d too. He even was in charge of gym class for the girls, so I guess that was why he called them \u201cladies\u201d.<\/p>\n

The coach guy said that we were supposed to wear different clothes for gym, a regular white t-shirt and blue \u201cgym shorts\u201d, which he said we could get from a \u201csporting goods store like Moe\u2019s\u201d, and he gave us a piece of paper to give to our parents about what we should get. He showed us where the \u201clocker rooms\u201d were, one for the boys on one side of the gym and for the girls on the other, where we could each use a \u201clocker\u201d to put our regular clothes in when we had to put on our gym clothes for gym class.<\/p>\n

He said we would have class outdoors while the weather was still pretty good and practice all the different \u201cskills\u201d for the \u201cPresident\u2019s Council on Physical Fitness\u201d. That was pull-ups, sit-ups, broad jump, 50-yard dash, softball throw and 600-yard run. He would record how many we did, our \u201ctime\u201d for the running ones, and our \u201cdistance\u201d for the throwing one. This whole gym instead of recess thing got me really worried, and mad even. I mean I was okay having gym, but I didn\u2019t like not having recess anymore. That had been the best part of school, when we could go outside, and talk to each other without the teacher being around. And the teacher really wasn\u2019t in charge of us unless we did something bad.<\/p>\n

And finally there was the auditorium, which was my favorite place in the whole school. It was in the very center of the building and had no windows, which I thought was really neat because it was like this giant secret inside part of the school, all the other rooms in the school had windows. I mean I really liked windows, because you could look out and see what was on the outside around the room you were in. But I also liked the idea of the giant room, that no one could see from the outside, and imagined all the kids sitting there with no grownups deciding how to do stuff by telling their ideas and then voting for the best ones.<\/p>\n

The giant auditorium room had five different doors. The main doors went out to the hallway on the second floor where the stairs came up from the main doors to the school. The door on either side went out to the first floor hallway where all the little kids\u2019 classrooms were. And there was this other kind of secret doors that went from the back of the stage part of the auditorium into the gym. I think my old school also had those secret doors connecting the stage of that auditorium to the gym too. Finally there was a FIFTH door, on our third floor that went into the balcony, which was really neat, above everybody else sitting in the giant room, and I couldn\u2019t wait to get to sit there for real. I also noticed that the auditorium didn\u2019t echo like the gym.<\/p>\n

I remembered when Molly first showed me the Burns Park school, and we looked in the windows to her classroom. I was actually kind of glad Molly didn\u2019t live here anymore, because if the other boys in my class saw us playing together I think they would think that it was weird for me to be playing with a girl, specially one that was only in fourth grade when we were in fifth. It seemed like none of the boys I had talked to liked or played with any of the girls, or liked playing with any of the kids in fourth grade.<\/p>\n

I think everyone in my fifth grade class figured I was the same age as they were, and I didn\u2019t tell any of them that I was a year younger because I skipped kindergarten. I was worried that if they knew, they might treat me like they did regular fourth graders and maybe even think I was some kind of a spy.<\/p>\n

By the time it got close to lunchtime, our teacher was still talking about stuff and I was watching the clock on the wall over the door of our classroom clicking each minute. If it was quiet in the room you could even hear it click. When the bell finally rang at eleven thirty, all the kids were quiet for a second because I think we were all wondering if we had to wait for our teacher to tell us we could go but we should go quietly, but she didn\u2019t say anything. It was kind of strange because she looked at us all looking at her waiting for her to say something.<\/p>\n

Then she smiled, laughed through her nose, the first time I\u2019d seen her do that, and said, \u201cWhen the bell rings you are all free to go, you don\u2019t have to wait for me to dismiss you.\u201d Most of the boys jumped up, and some of the girls, and ran to the door and then out in the hall, bumping our shoulders against each other as we did.<\/p>\n

When I got out into the hall all the other kids were coming out of their classes too. Andy saw Mike coming out of the other fifth grade classroom down at the other end of the hall. Andy ran over to him, so I did too. There was another kid talking to Mike.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo how was Kennedy?\u201d Mike asked us, \u201cDesmond was okay I guess.\u201d He turned to look at the other kid he\u2019d been talking with. \u201cThoughts Sir Arthur?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah\u201d, the other kid said, making a funny thinking face, \u201cShe didn\u2019t do anything really horrendous I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKennedy assigned seats\u201d, Andy said, \u201cGIRL BOY even!\u201d<\/p>\n

Mike laughed. \u201cDesmond hasn\u2019t done anything like that yet. We\u2019ll see!\u201d He looked at me. \u201cSo you gonna join us at lunchtime fighting off the sixth grade hoard on the fields of battle?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t you go home for lunch?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cNah\u201d, he said, \u201cAndy and I just go over to his house and make peanut butter sandwiches. He just lives at the edge of the park at the corner of Baldwin and Wells.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere do you get the balls to play with?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe bring em from home\u201d, Andy said, \u201cAnd just stash them in the bushes in front of school when second bell rings in the morning before we go into class.\u201d<\/p>\n

We walked down the stairway to the main door of the school. Kids were all around us, mostly going down the stairs too and talking loudly. When we got out the doors, Andy ran over to one of the bushes by the library windows and grabbed a ball with white and black patches on it. He used his foot to scoop the ball up in the air in front of him and catch it with one open hand. Then he kind of spun it on his fingers in front of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cYep\u201d, he said, \u201cGenu-wine soccer ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know\u201d, said that Sir Arthur kid, \u201cWe\u2019re the only ones in the world that call it soccer. Everybody else calls it \u2018football\u2019. The REAL football, not our crazy crash into each other version!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI kinda like our crazy version\u201d, said Mike.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou would\u201d, said Andy, laughing through his nose, \u201cYou\u2019re so big you just bowl everybody over.\u201d Then he looked at me with big eyes and said, \u201cDon\u2019t ever play tackle football with this guy. He will run you down and grind you in the dirt.\u201d Mom had told me that was the one thing she never wanted me to do, play tackle football. I hadn\u2019t played, though it made me mad that she had said I couldn\u2019t, and I really wanted to try sometime.<\/p>\n

\u201cC\u2019mon\u201d, said Mike, sounding mad, \u201cI would never do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah\u201d, said Andy, \u201cThat\u2019s what you tell us so we\u2019ll let you play. I\u2019d rather play soccer against you any day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo Arthur\u201d, Mike asked, \u201cYou going home for lunch?\u201d Arthur nodded. \u201cWill you be back for soccer round two before afternoon class?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d, said Arthur like he wasn\u2019t sure, \u201cI went to Discount Records yesterday and they\u2019d just got in that new Kinks forty five, \u2018You Really Got Me\u2019, and it\u2019s smokin\u2019. I want to go home and listen to it twenty times!\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019d never heard another kid say \u201csmokin\u2019\u201d before, except for the older boys on that \u201cAmerican Bandstand\u201d show on TV. Arthur pretended to play a guitar with his hands and tried to make a sound like one of those electric guitars, \u201cDer der der der der. Der der der der der.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mike shook his head and laughed through his nose. Arthur walked away from us still pretending to play guitar and saying, \u201cDer der der der der. Der der der der der.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mike looked at me and said, \u201cWell you better join us, we need you. We don\u2019t want the sixth graders to completely kick our butts!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay\u201d, I said, nodding, \u201cWhen I see you guys out there I\u2019ll come right over.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou live close by?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight over there\u201d, I said, pointing at our new house.<\/p>\n

\u201cDamn, you’re closer than Andy\u201d, Mike said, \u201cMaybe we should go to YOUR house for peanut butter sandwiches!\u201d We walked through the park towards my new house.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo who would you vote for for President?\u201d Mike asked me, \u201cThat is if you were old enough to vote.\u201d Noone had ever asked me that before. I knew mom liked President Kennedy, who was on the Democrat team before he got killed, but I think she didn\u2019t like Johnson as much, because he was from Texas, which was in the South. But she didn\u2019t like that Goldwater guy at all who was running against him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess Johnson\u201d, I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you see that commercial?\u201d, Andy asked, \u201cMy mom was watching it on the Today Show this morning. The one with that girl picking the flower and then that nuclear explosion? If we elect Goldwater he\u2019ll get us into World War Three!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, \u2018In your heart you know he\u2019s right\u2019\u201d, said Mike, \u201cIsn\u2019t that Goldwater\u2019s campaign slogan? It should be more like, \u2018In your heart you know he MIGHT\u2019, push the button that is.\u201d Andy laughed through his nose and nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cOr in your guts you know he\u2019s nuts\u201d, Andy said, and I remembered mom saying that same thing about Goldwater.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely Johnson\u201d, I said.<\/p>\n

We crossed the street by my house on the corner and they kept walking up the street to Andy\u2019s house. I was glad they did, because I saw mom back out in the driveway working on that round table, and I didn\u2019t want her to see them and try to talk to them and make me embarrassed. She just never was like a regular mom like some other kids had.<\/p>\n

Mom and dad had bought two old tables at that university \u201cwarehouse\u201d place and mom had already stripped off the old paint and sanded the top of one of the tables. Now she was squirting this clear brown liquid out of a can onto the top part and then rubbing it around with an old towel. She saw me and smiled and lifted up her hand with the towel in it and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and not the towel.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey Coolie\u201d, she said, \u201cHow was the first morning of school?\u201d She usually called me \u201cCoolie\u201d when she was happy, but she hadn\u2019t called me that in a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess it was okay\u201d, I said, \u201cFor the first day. Our teacher said we\u2019re going to do this \u2018SRA\u2019 reading program and we\u2019re going to do adding and multiplying decimals and changing between fractions and decimals in math.\u201d I usually just told mom or dad a little bit about what I was doing so it sounded good so they\u2019d keep letting me do things myself, and not try to help me. Only little kids needed their mom and dad to help them. I was a big kid now. Next year I\u2019d be in SIXTH grade, the highest grade in elementary school.<\/p>\n

I FELT like a big kid. All the new fifth grade kids I had met this morning and in the park in the last couple weeks seemed way more like older kids, talking more like Margie or Aunt Pat or Dad\u2019s college students who helped us move the stuff from our old house here. These kids seemed a lot older than my Allmendinger Park and Bach School friends who were the same age.<\/p>\n

When I went into the kitchen to make myself a sandwich for lunch, David was already there eating a sandwich he had made for himself. As I pulled out the Wonder Bread, Oscar Meyer Baloney, Kraft American Cheese slices and the French’s Mustard and made myself one, I asked David about his morning, because I figured that\u2019s what big kids would do with their little kid brothers. He looked at me while chewing a mouthful of food.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was strange\u201d, he said, talking while his mouth was full chewing his sandwich, \u201cWe sat at desks instead of tables and they gave us these books that were about numbers and reading, but not stories like regular books. The reading book had kind of dumb stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Was it \u2018Fun with Dick and Jane\u2019?\u201d I asked. He nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cYep\u201d, I said, \u201cPretty stupid.\u201d I felt so much like an older kid big brother, that was neat.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to walk back to school with me when the bell rings?\u201d he asked. I didn\u2019t want to, but I figured there was another thing I could say that didn\u2019t sound so bad.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could\u201d, I said, \u201cBut us older kids play soccer before the bell rings. Us and the fourth graders play against the sixth graders.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe I could play too\u201d, he said, his mouth still full of sandwich.<\/p>\n

I made a clicking sound with my mouth. Not the kind that dad did when he liked something, but the kind mom did when she DIDN\u2019T like something, or like those girls had done in my class. \u201cI don\u2019t think you\u2019re old enough. It gets pretty crazy with everybody running around. Somebody might crash into you by accident.\u201d David wrinkled his nose like he didn\u2019t like that I was saying no, but he didn\u2019t say anything more and just kept chewing.<\/p>\n

Just like Mike had said, about 12:15 I saw some kids out on the football fields in front of the school playing soccer. I could tell it was Mike being a goalkeeper because he was so tall so he was easy to see from far away. I started to head in the direction of the park.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou headed back already?\u201d mom asked, still putting that Linseed oil on the round table and rubbing it in, \u201cThe first bell hasn\u2019t even rung yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know\u201d, I called out, still walking away from her, \u201cWe\u2019re playing soccer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGreat!\u201d she said, \u201cWell good luck this afternoon.\u201d Not even looking back at her I nodded, and started running across the street toward the football fields.<\/p>\n

When I got to the goalposts where Mike was, he saw me, grinned and said, \u201cThere you are, good. Get out there. The sixth graders are kicking our butts as I suspected. That Billie Boyd kid thinks he\u2019s god\u2019s gift to goalkeeping, but he\u2019s not, and the sixth graders are using him for target practice. I already sent Andy over there to try to help out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The way Mike was talking it seemed more like a pretend war than just a game, but that made it extra fun I guess. I nodded and ran over to that farther football field. There was this kid playing goalkeeper for our side who was shorter than I was. A sixth grader kicked a ball that went by him and through the goalposts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll get it\u201d, said this other kid, running into the trees after the ball. The kid playing goalkeeper nodded at him.<\/p>\n

\u201cDamn\u201d, he said as he looked at me, \u201cMy boys are failing me out there. You\u2019re that new kid in Kennedy\u2019s class with me. Billy Boyd\u201d, he said, sticking his arm out to shake my hand. That was something grownup men did a lot, specially when they didn\u2019t know each other, but kids didn\u2019t usually do it.<\/p>\n

Following his lead I said, \u201cCooper Zale\u201d, and I stuck out my hand and we shook, as another ball rolled through the goalposts behind him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got that one too\u201d, said the other kid who had gone after the first ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoyd you suck as a goalkeeper!\u201d some kid yelled out, who looked like a sixth grader on the other team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat can I do?\u201d he yelled out, then looking at me and grinning, \u201cI\u2019m a victim of circumstances.\u201d This kid was definitely funny, I thought.<\/p>\n

So I was on the field now standing near Billy trying to figure out what to do to play and help him and the rest of my new team. That other kid came back to the goalposts with those two balls he\u2019d gone to get.<\/p>\n

\u201cGive \u2018em to me, Gilbert my lad, so I can kick \u2018em\u201d, Billy said to that other kid. Then he pointed to me and said to him, \u201cThis is Cooper, by the way, the new kid in our class.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHi\u201d, the other kid said, waving at me, \u201cI\u2019m not really Gilbert\u201d, he said, \u201cI\u2019m Gill.\u201d He was kind of dorky and reminded me of Kenny.<\/p>\n

Then he said to Billy, \u201cI wanna kick them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the goal guy\u201d, said Billy, \u201cI get to kick them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me kick one\u201d, said Gill.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, just one\u201d, said Billy, and Gill threw him one of the balls. Billy held it out in front of him, ran forward and kicked it like you punted a football. It landed in the middle of the field and Billy nodded his head and grinned like that was good.<\/p>\n

Then Gill tried to kick one the same way, but it didn\u2019t go very far.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey\u2026 No fair!\u201d yelled a sixth grade kid out in front of the goal, holding his hands in the air, \u201cYou only get one goalkeeper using their hands per goalposts!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah yeah\u201d, said Billy, waving a hand in front of his face.<\/p>\n

Another sixth grader was coming down the middle towards the goalposts. He managed to get the ball around two kids on our team that tried to stop him. Now only I was between him and the goal. He tried to fake me out, but I just stood there, so he looked around and kicked. The ball zoomed by my head and Billy behind me managed to catch it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes\u201d, he said, sounding really excited, \u201cBilly Boyd, goalkeeper deluxe!\u201d, and he made a fist with one hand as he looked at me looking back at him, as another kid on the other team kicked a ball through the goalposts behind him. It was that same kid from before.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou still suck\u201d, he said. Gill ran after the ball to bring it back.<\/p>\n

So I played \u201cdefense\u201d, that\u2019s what Billy called it, for the rest of the time until the second bell rang and everyone stopped. The kids who had brought balls found theirs and most everyone ran toward the school, though some of the sixth-grade kids just walked. Gill ran, but Billy just walked so I walked with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw you talkin\u2019 to Mike and Andy\u201d, he said, like he wasn\u2019t sure that was good, \u201cAnd Arthur too earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah\u201d, I said, \u201cThey seem neat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah maybe\u201d, said Billy, \u201cBut they\u2019re not super cool school like we are.\u201d He saw another kid.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeddy!\u201d he yelled. \u201cOver here!\u201d<\/p>\n

This taller kid ran over to where we were walking.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeet Cooper\u201d, said Billy, \u201cHe\u2019s that new guy in our class. I was telling him that we\u2019re the cool guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah sure Billy\u201d, Teddy said, looking at me and rolling his eyes around, \u201cGood to meet you Cooper\u201d. He stuck out his hand for me to shake it, which I did. Seemed like Billy and all his friends liked shaking hands, even though most kids didn\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo they call you Coop?\u201d Teddy asked. I nodded. \u201cCoop it is\u201d, Teddy said, \u201cHow do you like Miss Kennedy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s okay so far I guess\u201d, I said as we walked toward the main door with a bunch of other mostly sixth-grade kids who had been playing too.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s much better than Desmond\u201d, said Billy. I wondered why he would say that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy\u2019s she better?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d, said Billy, making his shoulders go up and down, \u201cShe just is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause you say so?\u201d Teddy asked, sounding like he didn\u2019t think that was right.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeahhh\u201d, said Billy grinning, \u201cBecause I said so.\u201d<\/p>\n

We got back in our classroom just before the third bell rang. All the girls were already in their seats. Miss Kennedy, our teacher, looked at all of us boys coming in at the last minute and it seemed like she was a little bit mad, though she didn\u2019t say anything. I took my seat between those two girls, Abby and Beth, in the front row.<\/p>\n

For a lot of afternoon class our teacher talked about and showed us the SRA program for learning how to read better. She told us again that each color was a different level and the idea was to \u201cwork at your own pace\u201d to get to the higher levels. She said that the \u201cRose\u201d level was the lowest, which was like you could just read \u201cFun with Dick and Jane\u201d, and she figured we all could do that, so she didn\u2019t even include the rose colored stories in the box. The other levels were \u201cRed\u201d, \u201cOrange\u201d, \u201cBrown\u201d, \u201cGold\u201d, \u201cLime\u201d, \u201cGreen\u201d and \u201cOlive\u201d, which were all in the box. She said we probably should start at the Orange or Brown level, or we could even try starting at the Gold level, if our reading was really good.<\/p>\n

Then we were supposed to read as many of the stories that were that color that we could, and after each story, take the test at the end. She said the questions were \u201cmultiple choice\u201d, and each one had four answers, and we had to pick the answer that was best. Some questions might have one answer that was a little bit right, but you should choose the answer that was the most right. If we got most of the answers right on all of our tests on one level, we could move up to the next one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am trusting all of you not to cheat\u201d, she said, \u201cAnd copy someone else\u2019s answers, because you will only be hurting yourself\u201d. There was no way I would try to cheat. I would never want her to think I was a bad kid, and I figured I was really good at reading so it would be easy for me!<\/p>\n

She said that we\u2019d also go to the school library so we could read regular books too, and even check them out and take them home like a regular library. She would ask us to do \u201cbook reports\u201d on some of the books we picked out to read from the library. We would also use books in the library to do \u201cresearch\u201d for some of the \u201cessays\u201d she would ask us to write.<\/p>\n

She had us look through our other textbooks. In the math one, there were chapters about \u201cDecimals\u201d and \u201cFractions\u201d and \u201cGeometry\u201d. In the history one, chapters about \u201cThe Age of Discovery\u201d, \u201cThe American Colonies\u201d and \u201cThe Revolutionary War\u201d. And in the science one, there were \u201cunits\u201d that had a bunch of chapters in them, units on \u201cLiving Things\u201d, \u201cEarth and its Resources\u201d, \u201cAstronomy and Weather\u201d and \u201cMatter and Energy\u201d. She showed us how each chapter was divided up into sections, and at the end of each section there was stuff that WE would be doing. Problems in math we would have to figure out and questions in the history and science books we would have to answer about what we read in the section. She said in science we would even do some \u201cexperiments\u201d, which sounded really neat, like Tom Swift stuff.<\/p>\n

But she also said that she would \u201cassign\u201d us problems to figure out and questions to answer at home for \u201chomework\u201d. I knew what \u201chomework\u201d was and I had had to do it once in a while last year in fourth grade, but she said that we would be doing it a couple times a week.<\/p>\n

After going through these books for a very long time, I kept wanting to look at the clock on the wall over the door and watching for when the big hand moved to the next minute with that click sound, and we were a minute closer to 3:15 when the bell would ring and we\u2019d be done. As much as I liked all the stuff we were going to learn in our textbooks, I didn\u2019t like having to just sit there and listen to a grownup talk and not get to say anything unless I raised my hand and was called on so I could ask a question. Some kids in the class were raising their hands and asking questions, even stupid questions, so they could at least do SOME talking. Other kids were just looking out the windows.<\/p>\n

When it was getting close to the end of class, the teacher said she had some \u201chousekeeping tasks\u201d to take care of and we could stand up and walk around the room and talk to each other, as long as we did it quietly. Billy, Gill and Teddy were standing by a window talking together, but Andy was just standing across the room looking out another window where you could see the football fields, so I walked over by him and looked out too. He noticed me next to him but kept looking out the window.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you met the \u2018Billy Boyd Boys\u2019\u201d, he said quietly, laughing through his nose, \u201cI saw you at lunch time playing defense over by Billy\u2019s goal and talking with them.\u201d Then he shook his head and said, \u201cHe\u2019s something, isn\u2019t he? Teddy\u2019s okay but Gill\u2019s a bit of a twerp.\u201d I just nodded my head. I DID kind of feel the same way, but they were really nice to me and wanted to be friends. I looked over to where Billy, Teddy and Gill were standing and talking, and I could see Billy and Gill quickly turn away from looking at me.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you guys will all be playing soccer tomorrow morning before class, and again at lunchtime?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes siree\u201d, he said, grinning now as he continued to look out the window, \u201cEvery morning, rain or shine, as soon as somebody brings a ball and there are at least a few people there from each team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat about in the winter?\u201d I asked. He laughed through his nose again.<\/p>\n

\u201cRain, snow, wind, mud, slush, darkness or shine\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen kids are in charge\u201d, I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYep\u201d, he said, nodding.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo girls ever play?\u201d I asked. He shook his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot usually\u201d, he said, \u201cThere were a couple of fifth grade girls last year who were really good at soccer who we let play with us against the sixth graders, but now they\u2019re in sixth grade and I didn\u2019t see any of them playing today. I think it\u2019s supposed to be against the rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWho decides the rules?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d, he said, \u201cThey just get decided somehow. Some kid says \u2018hey, that\u2019s against the rules\u2019 and some other kids say \u2018yeah\u2019 and if nobody argues about it, then that’s the rule, until it\u2019s not.\u201d He raised his shoulders and then dropped them back down. We kept talking about stuff until the bell finally rang, and everyone got noisy and crowded at the door to the room to get out.<\/p>\n

When I got back to our house, dad was back from teaching and was out in the side yard by the driveway, taking the legs off an upside down table. He looked up and saw me and smiled.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy\u2019re you taking the legs off that table?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey Cloob\u201d, he said, my old nickname that I hadn\u2019t heard either dad or mom say for a long time, \u201cHow was your first day of school?\u201d I wasn\u2019t sure how to answer that, because dad taught school to those older \u201cstudent\u201d type kids, and he really liked it, so if I just said \u201cokay\u201d it might make him sad, and I wanted him and mom to be happy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was good\u201d, I said, which was partly true, since I had gotten to know some kids in my class and the other fifth grade, my textbooks looked like they had interesting stuff, and we kids had our own soccer thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have that SRA stuff\u201d, I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh yeah\u201d, he said, then blowing air out of his mouth, \u201cI\u2019m not much for that program. It\u2019s like bribing kids to read. I\u2019d rather just let them find good books in the library and explore them on their own.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell\u201d, I said, \u201cOur teacher\u2019s going to let us do that too, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh good\u201d, he said, then, \u201cWell I need to get back to work here. I\u2019ve got to get these table legs over to my buddy who has a table saw that can saw them in half.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are you sawing them in half?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell\u201d, he said, \u201cYour mom and I bought two old tables for five bucks each at the university warehouse. This one we decided we\u2019re going to turn into a coffee table so we need to make the legs short.\u201d Then he pointed at the other table sitting in the driveway with a bunch of newspapers on the ground under it. It looked like a regular nice table, not an old one anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour mom already finished that one and it looks great\u201d, he said, \u201cShe said they\u2019re both good pieces of wood. So she\u2019s happy, at least for the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was happy they were happy, at least for the moment too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I woke up to that guy on the radio, that \u201cdisc jockey\u201d guy, talking in his fast way that kind of went up and down and was almost like singing, but not really. Dad had gotten David and I a \u201cclock radio\u201d to help us wake up for school in the morning, though David usually […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[1777,13,1774,1773,1799,1800,1775],"class_list":["post-7789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","tag-1960s","tag-ann-arbor","tag-autobiography","tag-childhood","tag-free-range-kid","tag-growing-up","tag-memoir"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t