A fight

Down the Hill and Across the Road

A Fight

We all go through transitions in our lives. I have lived a long time ….almost seventy-nine years. I have gone through many transitions in my life. At the time some transitions were scary. The scary ones and the not so scary ones…. I made it through them all.

One I recall that was very scary, at the time, was going from attending a one room country school to attending school in town.

I started first grade September of nineteen forty-forty. I was so excited about going to school. My older sister Donna had already gone through second grade. Donna taught me some of what she had learned in school. So, for a first grader I could read quite well. When the school teacher found out how well I could read she thought it would be good for me to read in front of the other students. She told me she wanted me to stand in front of all the students and share my reading skills. I wasn’t too sure about that. I had never done anything like that. I thought this is Donna’s fault. If she hadn’t taught me how to read I could just sit in my seat.

The teacher said, James come up here and stand by my desk. I went to the front of the room and stood to the right of her desk. I stood there scared to death. The teacher was all smiles as she said “James is going to read for us”. The eighth grade boys were snickering. The teacher, said everyone be quite. Okay, James you may begin. As the tears filled my eyes I couldn’t see the words in the book. Then, I felt the warm water running down my legs. As the pee made a large puddle on the floor, I felt a hard slap on my rear. The teacher grabbed me by the arm and dragged me to my seat. Then she mopped the floor. I don’t think I read even one word. The worst part was the fear. Next thing was the fact I had to spend the rest of the school day in wet clothing. What the teacher did was wrong. I have since forgiven her, but it wasn’t easy.

School was going well for me. I really liked learning. By the third month I was a seasoned first grader. Then it all took a turn for the worse. I developed a terrible pain in my belly. My Mom and Dad thought I had eaten too many green apples. My pain didn’t get better. The fact is it got so bad I could hardly bare to move. At that point Mom and Dad decided they better take me to the Doctor. Dad drove me into town in our ’34 dodge to see Doctor Cowan. Doctor Cowan was heavy gentle man. He examined me. He Then turned to my father and said, Clarence you boy is very sick. His appendix has burst.  We have to do surgery as soon as possible or he won’t make it. The next thing I knew I was lying flat on my back on bed with wheels pushed by four people and we were moving down a hallway.

We turned into a room with the brightest lights I had ever seen. When the bed stopped moving a nurse looked down at me and said Jimmie, how far can you count? I can count to one hundred I proudly said. She placed a mask over my nose and mouth saying; okay start counting for me now. Then I woke up with a bunch of people in white clothes standing around my bed. I could hear them talking but couldn’t understand what they were saying. I looked up to the ceiling and saw my mother walking on the ceiling carrying a skillet. I wanted to cry but couldn’t. It was a scary awakening.

I stayed in that bed for the next twenty-seven days. The surgery incision got infected and developed gangrene. As the flesh would not hold the stitches it was necessary to re-stitch the incision every few days. (This left a horrible looking scar which I have had a lot of fun telling goofy stories about it came to be for many years).  Rev. Fred McPhal Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Aurora came to see me at least four days a week. If he happened to be with me when the nurses changed the dressing on my side and cleaned the incision he would hold my hand and pray. He would give me a nickel or a dime if I didn’t cry.  Doctor Cowen came in one day and said we have a new medicine that is going to make you well. A few days after that a nurse came in and said little buddy you are going home. It was months before I was back to one hundred percent. So, I couldn’t attend school and would have to take the first grade over.

Like I said I had become a seasoned first grader before my sickness. However, I was not prepared for what was to happen next. That following summer the County Board of Education decided to consolidate Mineral Point School and send the students to Lowell Elementary School in town. I did not know what the word consolidate meant. I thought it might have something to do with the war. The whole thing brought about a lot of questions. How would we get from our house to the School in town?  How often would we be allowed to come home? These fears were dispelled when it was explained to me that we would ride a bus. The bus would come pick us up each morning and bring us back home that same day. I had never ridden a bus in my whole life. This whole thing brought about more fears and questions. Where would I stand when the bus came to pick me up? I didn’t want to stand where the bus would run over me and I would be killed. As my mind thought of all the possible dangers, my Mom explained to me that there would not be a bus for each one of us kids, but that we would all ride the same bus. I knew then I would not be alone my brothers and sister would be with me.

The day the bus came I held my sister Donna’s hand tightly as we stepped up the two steps into the bus. It seemed we walked a long way before we came to a seat where we sit. As the bus roared down the dirt road I held Donna’s hand even tighter. By the time we had picked up more students this bus ride thing was becoming fun. The driver Mr. Howerton stopped the bus in front of a large brick building with two tall doors. Written above the doors in the stone was the words LOWELL SCHOOL. As I stepped off the bus I held Donna’s hand.  I suddenly stopped and looked at that large building. I wanted to go home. I thought I don’t even know where my home is from here! If I could stay with Donna I would be okay. Donna wasn’t afraid of anything. Donna kind of pulled on my arm and said come on Jim let’s go. We climbed the wide steps and went through the tall doors. I thought why do they use two doors? Once through the doors we went up more steps. We were in a large hallway with doors on every side. Donna let go of my hand and said “here we are”. She then turned to the left and walked down the hallway. A lady dressed in very nice clothes came up to me and said, “How old are you young man?” I said I will be seven in two weeks. Then you will be in second grade. I wanted to say no, I have to repeat first grade. However, nothing came out of my mouth. She led me to this room and said here you are. I stepped in the room and saw Marlene White standing with a lady. Marlene had been in the first grade with me at Mineral Point. They both looked my way and Marlene said something to the lady. The lady came over to where I was standing. While looking in my eyes and holding my hand said gently “I think you should be in the first grade room”.  She must have sensed my fear. She and I walked across the hallway. She opened a door and said this is your room. I stepped into the room. I didn’t say thank you, or anything, I just stood there looking around. The teacher said “children find a seat you like and sit down”.

I didn’t like any seat! I didn’t like this place at all! I wanted to find my sister and go home! I felt hopeless, helpless and afraid. I saw an empty desk in front of a slim red headed boy who looked friendly. I moved quickly to that desk and sat down. After a few minutes the teacher said “everyone please be quite”. She didn’t have to tell me to be quite; I was too scared to make a sound.  The teacher moved around the room looking at all the students. My eyes followed her every move. She stopped and stood in front of her desk. Saying, now children as I come to your desk please stand and tell me your name. Did she want me to tell her my first name or my whole name? What if I just said my name is Jim?  I thought, Jim is not my real name. If I say Jim I would be lying because my real name is James. I didn’t want to be punished for lying!  When she got to my desk I stood up, tears came in my eyes and I blurted out “James Edward Gray”. I sat back down and was relieved that was over. Why didn’t I say I would like to be called Jim? It was too late she had moved on to the next student. So, I was called James Edward the rest of my time at Lowell School.

 The red headed boy’s name was Lee. Lee and I became good friends. I enjoyed first grade. I had a lot of new friends and I enjoyed playing on the big playground. The fact that the restroom was inside the school building was really nice. The first few days I would look for my brothers and sister at recess just to be sure they were still there. Before long I was completely comfortable as a student at Lowell School.

 Then school was out for the summer. My life was involved with all the summer fun such as going barefoot, working in the garden pulling weeds, picking blackberries and playing with my brothers and sisters. The war was now over. Adult’s conversation had turned from talking about the war to how well their crops were doing. I wasn’t old enough to understand a lot of what was going on. However, I could sense that the tension people felt during the war was gone.

I started second grade in the fall. I had the same bus driver and the same bus. My brother Braxton began first grade that year. I showed him around. I think it made him more comfortable. I was no longer scared or unsure. As a second grader I felt quite confident. The second grade class was made-up of the same students that had been in first grade. There were a few new students. I think a total of four… three boys and one girl. The new students seemed nice. My friend Lee and I sat next to each other instead of me sitting behind Lee like in first grade. At first recess I went up to one of the new boys and said, hello. He just looked at me and didn’t say a word. When I pointed him out to Lee and told Lee he wouldn’t talk to me. Lee said that is George. I said I don’t think he wants to be my friend. Lee said he lives on my street. I think he came from California. He moved here this summer. Lee said, I don’t think you want to be his friend because he is really mean! He fights a lot. The school he was in before he moved here he broke a kid’s neck. The kid was never able to walk after that. After what Lee told me; I tried to stay away from George. I didn’t want to get my neck broken.  

One day George walked up to me and said “I don’t like you”. I said, okay! He said, tomorrow I am going to beat you up. I thought about what he had said all the rest of that day. When I got home I couldn’t think about anything but what George had said to me. I decided I could not go to school anymore. After supper I told my Mom, “I’m not going to school anymore I’ll just stay home and work”.  She said what brought this on? I said I just think I would be better off here at home. She said, Jim as long as you are able you will go to school. I knew I had to come up with something so wouldn’t have to go to school the next day and get my neck broken. What would I do if I could never walk again? Later that evening I told my Mom “I think I am getting polio and will be too crippled to go to school tomorrow”.  She said, Jim what’s wrong? I said “oh nothing”!

I couldn’t bring myself to tell my Mom that if I went to school the next day I might get my neck broken, be paralyzed and unable to walk. As I lay in my bed that night I thought and thought how could I keep from going to school the next day? One thing I thought I might do was when the bus came I would hide in the ditch among the weeds. I would stay there until the bus came back. I could get up out of the weeds and walk to the house with my brothers and sister. No! That wouldn’t work they would tell on me. I thought, early in the morning I will get up and run away and live in the woods. I would just eat blackberries and stuff and sleep on the ground. I would just live the rest of my life alone. Away from people….at least I would be able to walk.

The next morning I got on the bus with my brothers and sister. I had made up my mind that whatever happened I would not let George break my neck. Everything went fine through the first recess. At noon I ate my lunch and went out on the playground. All of the sudden George was standing right in front of me. Then he punched me real hard in the gut. I thought I was going to puke. My brother Bruce had told me if you get in a fight, don’t let them knock you down and get on top of you. If you do, you will lose the fight and probably get hurt real bad. George hit me again. Then I hit George. Then George hit me. Then I hit George. Then we were hitting each other at the rate of eight hits per second. To this day, I believe I could have won that fight if the two teachers who were assigned as playground monitors had not pulled us apart. Oh, well, I didn’t get my neck broken and I stayed on my feet. Oh yeah, I can still walk just fine! 

Jim Gray

Peculiar MO