Saturday, July 25, 2009

THE YEAR OF THE HORMONE !

My Son - Born on July 15, 2009 - 7lbs 2oz

Pauline Soares

Jordyn Anthony was born on July 15th.

What a bundle of joy. God is so good!

CONGRATULATIONS COZ

___________________________


Standing at the top of the stairway
looking south
the sea
the carribbean
gunboat beach
________________
I walked down the entire length of the
upstairs classromms from Mrs Guy's office.
She was now the new principal...she took
over from Mrs Walker......I was in Morris Knibb house...
maybe not...I can't remember the names of the other houses.
________________
Central Branch school on Slipe Pen Road across from the jewish
cemetary in Kingston. I went all the way from
infant school. Mrs Nicholson
was in charge. I also had Ms Brown...
these memories are foggy now but I do
remember the "rocking boat" and the powdered milk,
also the jungle jim at recess.
________________
Bulla slush came later when I was in
'big school'...so did patty an coco bred wid
choclate milk. Ms Edwards was the first
big school teacher then Mrs Nembhard,
Mrs Tavares, Mrs Campbell in 4.
It was in the fifth grade that Mrs Guy became principal...
we then got Ms Perins...WOW...what a year....
that was the year I really fell in love with Valerie Gordon....it was my first taste of real victory in a fight.
________________
I was a timid child. My motto was
" he who fights and runs away,
will live to fight another day."

but love was in the air...I must have been having the hormone start.
I had started to notice Dawn Hardy the year before in Mrs Campbell's
class.....but Mrs Campbell was tough..and that belt was a real stinger.
Mrs Guy was even tougher and we were all fearing the worst in 5A.
Then came the news Mrs Guy was going to be the new principal.
We did not realize it then..but that was the
major turning point in the life
of this class of 1963.. ( I'm not sure of the year )
...all hell was about to break loose.
Four years of repression now at an end !....and not a moment too soon....
it could not have been timed better....it was also
THE YEAR OF THE HORMONE !
________________
5A was the top class
It was the scholarship class and this was the scholarship year.
The common entrance examination was the test that would
determine who would go to high school and to
which high school we would go.
If you were among the CHOSEN....
your name would be in the newspaper....
THE GLEANER ! !
________________
THE TASTE OF VICTORY
so back to Valerie Gordon....
the compettition was too tough...
everyone was 'following' Dawn Hardy and Sandra Champagnie...
I don't know when it hit me like a bolt out of the blue.....
PURE LIQUID LUV......V A L E R I E G O R D O N !!!!!
even now as I write I have the shivers.....stilll......
________________
so anyhow...Ms Perins was brought in to replace Mrs Guy
and Promptly lost her mind....she would sit at the desk..most
of the time...talking to herself....while every man did what was
right in his own eyes....every other day or so she would have a total
meltdown and not show up at all...on these days...Mrs Campbell would
come up the stairs occasionally when the noise would become unbearable.
There were some days when Mrs Tavares
would come over from 'next door'.
But by and large it was every man for himself.
________________
It was in these "terrible" times that I began
to loose my timidity...just a little....
mind you...I still had to go to sunday school
....not to mention GOOD NEWS CLUB
which ironically was held in this same
5A classroom after school....notwithstanding...
somehow I was able to 'arrange' to have my seat next to Valerie Gordon.
________________
Now it was at this time that I was also able
to forge an alliance with a person who
would become an invaluable partner. JF
JF did not hold the interest of
any of the boys that I knew of ...at this time..
to be very blunt about it....most people said she was big, fat and ugly !!...
(KIDS CAN BE QUITE CRUEL)
so...me JF and valerie gordon
shared the same desk...i was supposed to be
on the end away from valerie gordon...
so you get the picture....if i could tweek jnet's
self esteem a little..bingo....i could sit next to valerie....
for short periods...depending
on jnet's mood swings...which were becoming
more unpridictable in this
YEAR OF THE HORMONES....it was a nerve wrecking "affair"....
until KEITH GRANT tried to move in on my turf !
________________
as I said before I was a very timid child...
everytime I was challenged to a fight....
I would cry...they would laugh at me
I got beat up so many times it was a shame
everyone knew I was a coward....
but...my thinking was MURDER...
if a kid picked on me I would think the only way to deal with it
was to simply KILL the kid !!!....being the christian child that I had come to be
that would be out of the question...
this kind of frustration... drove me oft to tears
...I was a crybaby any way...but that's a whole nother story.
But on this particular day....I would never know that kind of humiliating defeat
EVER AGAIN....I can't remember the details but Keith Grant tried to take my girl...
and I beat him to a pulp !
It was a flat out incontrovertible victory...
things would never be the same...
________________


POSTSCRIPT
I did ..eventually get my name in the Gleaner
and went on to one of the
most pretigious High schools WOLMERS
...I actually got two scholarships...
Valerie Gordon....faded from memory...like a buttercup...
I can't explain...maybe you can...

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