Crazy Things That We Did

Trooper Walsh was an 8th grader in 1966-67 who, it was rumored, had an uncle who was the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps. Trooper and Terry Victor and a few others would spend time in the woods near the duck pond searching for salamanders and the occasional snake; blacksnake, hognose, garter snake, etc. Sometime during the winter of 1967, I switched rooms from room 21 to room 20 and left Paul Ellis' reign as room officer to Gibby Gahan's. The bell that rang at 9:30 for Middle School lights out was a long bell and you weren't in trouble unless you weren't in bed with the lights out by the time that the bell stopped ringing. I had a habit of dashing from across the hall to my top bunk where I jumped into bed and turned off the light switch at the same time. I lost that habit when one night as I jumped into bed, something coiled around my leg and I quickly knew it was a snake, one that either Terry or Trooper had caught in the woods. Somehow, no one got in trouble, but I've hated snakes ever since.