Detentions!

Just for the record...I only got sent to the Principal's office twice while attending Hugoton Elementary, Middle, and High Schools. Both times Brooke was in with me!

In 5th grade we were in Mr. Calvert's class. Brooke and I sat in the back left corner with Shannon and either Jana or Rene in front of us. Over in the back right corner sat the trio of Billy, Darren, and Jeff. They loved to torment us. We, however, also found little ways to get under their skin. (I remember, for instance, calling them "Lilly Beeper" and "Karen Dark".)

I'm going to side-track for just a minute here because I LOVED Mr. Calvert's class. Here are some highlights from that year:

• We listened to music often--Flying Purple People Eater, I love a Rainy Night (I can picture Thad and Lance on the front row singing this and bobbing their heads back and forth!), The Tide is High...


• Jolly Ranchers--these were our "prizes" for different activities.


• Short Stories--I remember going to the the little custodial closet to record my short story on a cassette player. At the end of the year we walked to his house for a field trip and listened to all of them! We thought they were all so funny.


• As we walked back to class from PE, cutting across the playground, Aaron punched Brooke which knocked the wind out of her, which made her pass out! She was at the end of the line and nobody realized it! Did we make it back to the room and see her out the window or realize it before we got back in? I can't remember...


• Select Choir--I was an alto and Brooke was a soprano. However, after we were given our seating assignments, Brooke and I decided we needed to sit together. So we sat on the back row of her section. Apparently Mrs. Stahlman had forgotten where we were SUPPOSED to sit. We both sang high soprano from then on. It was NOT pretty!


• Shannon put a tack on Brooke's chair as a joke. When Brooke came back to her seat, she was talking to me and put her knee on her chair. That tack sank all the way into her kneecap. It was pretty tramatic for all of us girls!

Back to the story...

The devilish trio was often tormenting us. Since we all sat at the back, they would say things that Mr. Calvert could not hear. I don't remember ever tattling on them but we were sassy enough to retaliate occasionally.

On this particular occasion, we were working with clay. (Mr. Calvert must've had a good understanding of Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles even back then!) As the boys were tormenting us, I made a clay face. Then I said to them, "This is Jeff's face!" and I smashed it. They proceeded at this point to hurl obscenities our way. I remember our response to this clearly because I thought we were so clever. We said, "We have mouths, too. And Mr. Begley has ears!"

The next day I came to school and sat with my little group in the common's area waiting for the bell. But while I was waiting, I got called to the Principal's office. Apparently three young men from my class had went to visit him with some concerns. Mr. Begley asked me about making the clay face and smashing it. I, of course, started bawling and admitted to this heinous offense. Then he told me that they had indicated that I was making fun of his ears. What?! I tried to explain our clever response between my sobs but don't know that he ever understood what really happened.

As I left the office, Brooke walked in. The color drained from her as she looked at my tear-streaked face. She really thought she was in for it! When I got back to class, Mr. Calvert pulled me aside to see if I was okay. I was so embarrassed that I was crying so I wanted to justify my tears. My response was, "Casy hit me!" (Years later I told Casy about this little untruth. She was mortified!)

My second offense was on the bus in junior high. We were headed to a track meet or a field trip somewhere. Brooke and I were sitting together and this time we were being tormented by Brian and Lance.

I had made a trip to Bloodharts right before we left so I had one of their cute little sacks with Precious Moments characters on them. This particular sack had two sweet little girls hugging one another. We wrote Brian's name and drew an arrow pointing to one girl then wrote Lance's name with an arrow pointing to the other...then handed this back, seat by seat, until it reached them on the bus.

Brian went home that evening and gave it to his mother. The next morning she went to see Mr. Krueger with the little bag in hand. Brooke and I got 15 minutes of detention. We served it with pride.