Day 91, "Every picture has a story"
Yes the story goes on!
This is NOT Cayuga school but is very similar to Cayuga. The school has since been torn down but for my story let's say this is Cayuga. There was no entrance on our school so just take that off and there is Cayuga. Way to the right would be the road that came into town from the south. There was also a white building behind it and that housed the 1st and 2nd grade. The 3rd and 4th grade were in the basement on the far side with the lunch room being in the basement on the side we can see. First floor on the far side was 5th and 6th with 7th and 8th being on the near side first floor. The top floor was for the HS. The HS was closed in the fall of 1959 and they were then bused to Forman which became Sargent Central. SO in the fall of 1959 the 7th and 8th grades were moved up to the top floor. There were swings, a merry-go-round, and monkey bars on the far side of the school. To the right was the ball field for 5th and 6th grade while the 7th and 8th grade played on a field in the foreground to the left. As I mentioned there was a white building moved to the back and that created a gap between the main building and the white one moved in. That horse shoe space was open to the east and that was the jail as the boys and girls played capture! I won't go into details but I promise there was NOTHING kooky going on in those days. The worst that happened is if you caught a girl and put her in jail you may get teased about her for a while! In our school there were windows all across the front, maybe 2 or 3 in each classroom. The same was true of the top floor, maybe a total of 6 across on the second floor. Those windows were the subject of the SECRET of the 5th and 6th grade boys. The ball field to the right faced the school as the ball would travel towards the school building. The SECRET among the boys was could we hit the ball far enough to break a window!!! Really the only ones that may be able to do that were Jack and me. Jack was a year older and a very good athlete but I was maybe a head taller, a lot stronger and I could hold my own on the ball field. In the fall of 1957, as we played ball during recess and noon, it appeared as if the windows were safe. Of course nobody talked about it but the unwritten word was can anybody hit it that far? Maybe the school hot lunch gave me strength or maybe pitching hay helped me get stronger but whatever it was spring sprung in 1958 and both Jack and I felt, way deep down that we could do the deed! Snow melted in early April that year so we would have several weeks of ball before the end of school. Finally it happened. Shortly before the bell rang to end noon hour Jack came to bat and POW the ball traveled in the air over Collen's head and into the basement window where Mrs. Askerooth was sitting correcting papers. Of course, on the outside, we were all horrified but on the inside we were , "Way to go Jack!" But for me, on the inside, I said I think I can do better than that. Of course all the boys were talked to and told that we could NOT hit the ball that way as it was spendy to fix big windows. "For sure" we will be careful. BUT I said to myself I will be careful BUT I need my own glory too! It finally came. A week before school was out for the summer I said to myself it is probably now or never as we went out for noon hour. Jack and I always got to bat cleanup and we always had to be on opposite sides. The first time up I popped up but Janet missed it and I got to second base. I came up one more time and I knew the bell would ring soon. Nobody had talked about Jack's ball for some time but I knew I just had something to prove as I was sure I could hit it harder and farther than Jack but I was not sure anyone else thought that. The pitch came and it left the bat with a resounding VOOM and in a straight line headed for the FIRST floor middle window. Crash and it was done. It was the kind of swat I knew I had and now everyone knew it!!! Oh yes, we pretended we were afraid and someone said, "Carmen your Dad will have to pay for a new window". Deep down I knew that would never happen as we had so little money we got free lunch! However, that was the end of the ballfields on the west side of the school. I know it was kind of not nice of me but if I could have reached around my back I would have patted myself on the back and said way to go Carmen.
I will play in my first 70+ tennis match today. I will play with a friend Terry. He has been playing well lately so we will see what happens today. 1:00 here we come. My Terry is coming and we will do some shopping afterward. I am guessing I will not play next week as the captain wants everyone to play and there are probably enough guys so we will play every other week I think. I really am just gearing up for my teams first match tomorrow. I think/hope we will all show up with our A game and play well. Of course it would be nice to win but Rich and I are on court #1 and that is usually tough. Do not worry, I will try my best to have fun!
Sausage gravy and biscuits were great with a wash down of FP. A great way to start the day.
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