A Seat in the Hall

The beginning of my elementary school years was spent attending a private school, Our Lady of Fatima in San Clemente, California. Where I was assigned a seat in the hall.

While many private schools take some getting used to, in my case it took the school some time to get used to me, then we both ran out of time, and alas though it was the beginning OLoF was not going to finish with me.

Another from the SOL file, a seat in the hall.

I don’t remember exactly what my behaviors as an elementary student were, certainly not mean but mischievous, yet I do recall a few results and disciplines doled out to me by my instructors. To only briefly touch on the ear pulls and cheek tugs, these punishments eventually led me into adulthood with earlobes that puppies love and a dimpled smile, on one side, so both have benefited me.

Discipline in my family was not an issue, my father did not spare us the rod and indeed raised no spoiled children. As the oldest of three boys, I was instructed at home to be a responsible example for my younger siblings, both Troy and our youngest brother John, each of us separated by two years. So, I was the first to attend the private catholic school and had two years of experience with the system when Troy started.

My OLoF school introduction began with Sister Teresa instructing the first grade. An angelic, young, and loving nun who was ever encouraging children.

The opposite of Sister Teresa would be, of course, not a nun, and be the second-grade teacher. Not only an expert with cheek and ear pulls, ruler use, and misuse, but what stands out was the many separate times my desk began being relocated that year. Beginning that year my daily routine included moving my desk until eventually, it worked its way out of the classroom.

The first notice was having my desk pulled from my row and brought to the front of the classroom planted right next to the teacher’s desk and turned to face my classmates. This was an attempt to eliminate my disruptive interactions with others. However, this new seating assignment didn’t work optimally with me, I enjoyed diverting the attention of those around me when seated among the group, and hence adapted quickly to take full advantage of my stage in front of the entire class. All eyes upfront… not on her but me!

This arrangement was not going to remedy my ‘behavior’, I was too young to have developed any working experience with modesty. When the teacher recognized my actions to garner the other children’s attention had not abated in the least, she had to produce an alternative, and she did.

My desk was placed outside of the classroom door, tilted to face the teacher, and out of the line of vision of most of the classroom, a seat in the hall. It was there in that hallway I recall spending a great deal of time during the second grade, and the third grade. and the fourth grade.

When my brother started school, he was two grades under me and had to follow in the long shadow I had cast in front of him. My third year and his first were mostly uneventful. When Troy reached the second grade, the same teacher was instructing him I had two years before, where I had begun putting mileage on my desk. In retrospect, referring to what I had left behind like a shadow over him may have been a bit inaccurate, a full solar eclipse that he could not get out from under is more concise.

My brother was quite a bit timider than I, something to do with being a middle child or his natural ability to recognize and avoid placing himself in harm’s way at the time. But it was bound to happen, one morning Troy caught the attention and wrath of his second-grade teacher, who was not about to waste any time putting his desk at the front of the classroom. It was straight to the hall with this one, she was all too familiar with what to expect this one, she knew the bloodline.

He did not have any real behavior issues, at that time, so his teacher’s tirade and actions toward him were both upsetting and a bit frightening. He knew that our father would not, and did not, take any shenanigans lightly when discovered. His 7-year-old heart raced as he exited his classroom and took a seat at his desk, his mind wondering his imagination as to what the outcome would be when he returned home.

“Hey!” Just two classroom lengths up the hall, I called out and waved from my desk, “What happened?” Adding after recognizing his trepidation “Don’t worry it will be ok I am out here ALL the time!”

My shouts brought my teacher out to my desk in the hall, I was ‘caught’ again, but what else could happen? I was already in the hall.

What they did was move my brother back into his classroom. I was alone in the hall again, naturally.

From The Not So Morning Show’s SOL File (S*** Outta Luck).

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