I can still visualize the window,
the blackboard, and the stove in that room. The entry
where we left our coats and boots that always seemed very
dark.
Surprisingly, I seem to recall that I enjoyed the walk
to and from school. The Drake and Reynolds clan usually
straggled along together. On a fall or spring day when
there slashing rain my father would come and give us a
ride home. That was a real treat.
In good weather we started the day by forming a single
line, according to age, outside the door and marked time
in place to the music from a scratchy record cranked upon
the Victrola, then we all tramped inside in time with
a Sousa March.
The day when Mr. Mills made his
visits are remembered because they broke the usual routine.
One evening Mr. Mills took me with him to a spelling
bee somewhere in the area. I was eliminated fairly early
on in the Contest, but I remember how kind Mr. Mills
was when I cried on the way home.
