Snack time was probably the reason I continued to go to school every day. Chocolate milk and lorna dunes! We never had either at home. My Mother was ahead of her time as she did not give us sugary snacks. How I loved chocolate milk! It was so thick and creamy! I took a couple long drags with my straw and hurried over to the sink with Robbie, Petey and Nellie. I said, "You go first" as I wanted to savor the moment. The sink was a large white utility sink at our level. Robbie poured her milk all over the bottom of the sink, on the sides and rims of the sink. I liked the way the brown creamy color contrasted with the white and how it streaked here and there, and then, with a huge blast, the faucet washed it clean. We all clapped and laughed excitedly. Where Mrs. Hostetter was at this time, I don't know. Probably in the bathroom after the kid flushing theirs down the toilet.
Our joy was rudely interrupted by Mrs. Hostetter's shouting for everyone to sit down. She then said to bring our chairs over to the center of the room and form a large circle. We all hopped on our chairs and rode them like horses as fast as we could to get to the center of the room. We did like as if in a trance like humans did in the movie, "Time Machine", when the siren blasted its mournful summons. No one wanted to be left outside the circle. If you were the last one there, and the circle closed in, you had to sit on Mrs. Hostetter's lap. As I recall, her breath smelled like our garbage cans did at home. I made it to the circle just in the nick of time. Robbie, poor thing, did not. Mrs. Hostetter told Robbie she was not fast enough, as her large arms swooped down like a hawk and picked her up, high over the heads of the other seated children. She sat down on her chair triumphantly and held Robbie tight. Robbie was all red in the face as her classmates viewed her piteously, much as one would view a mouse in the mouth of a cat. Mrs. Hostetter announced that today's circle game would be "Button Button, Who"s Got The Button?" This game consisted of a button of course. One child would have the button inside their two pressed palms and would go one by one in front of each child. With their hands pressed in a prayer position, the child with the button would insert their hands into the clasped hands of another child, leaving the button with someone else. No one could actually see who received the button, but you could usually tell by the kid's expression on their face. No poker faces here! If you got the button, you would get up immediately and chase the other child
around the circle and get to your seat before they did. Kids always picked their friends, so if Matty got the button you could be sure as poop that Davey would get it. But we would all feign surprise. One day, Robbie got sick of Mattie and Davey always being the buttoner and buttonee so she would put out her foot "accidentally" and Davey went flying across the hardwood floor. Robbie was put in the broom closet for that offense. When she came out, she smelled like the janitor.
No comments:
Post a Comment