FREDERICK The day after Labor Day and the day he had been waiting for and looking forward to when the youngest of the Troop children would start school. Braxton County had no Kindergarten and Teacup, being a rather poor cow town, had never thought of it. Oh the Peabodys and the Angus’s had tutors for their young children, as well as a governess and servants. But they were big ranchers and they had oil wells on their property. The School on the East side of Teacup was one that had been built after the war, either 47 or 50, I am not sure. Momma and Daddy told me because my grandpa Jim got the contract to build the school building and he had thrown in the athletic field. Oh me, I am Jim, Jim Watson. Well, I go by Jim but my momma and daddy gave me one hellacious name, a name I have a hard time spelling and shucks, every time it is said the other boys and girls laugh. Heck, it is worse that Lewis Horsesrun, but Lew is Ute, and that is a real Indian name. Naw, well if you won’t tell anyone, no one at all, I will tell you the name my folks laid on me. “Frederick Alfonse Sebastian Scruggheimerstein! Now now ain’t that a mouthful of name? Granny said the last name was Jewish, but shucks, I thought daddy was just a plain old Merican. My granddad Sheb called me Jim when I was a little shaver and that is all I was ever called until I got ready for school." The very first day, the first thing after the bell rang, Miss Caducci called, “Quiet, quiet. Sit down and listen as I call the roll,” and she proceeded to call each of us by our full name. Gosh I did not know that Joe was Joseph Halifax or that Lucy June was really Lucinda Samantha Agnes. But they were not as bad as my name. When Miss Caducci got to me she looked at it, paused, took a breath and loudly called out, “Frederick Alfonse Sebastian Scruggheimerstein.” I just sat there waiting for her to call Jim Scruggs, but she did not. She looked around and all the other children looked around. Well me I looked around too then she called it out again and I jumped up, “Oh yessum I think that be me, but maam, folks just call me Jim, Jim Scruggs.” I waved my hand like she could not see me standing there. “Yessum, Miss Caducky, just call me Jim,” and I sat down. The other children laughed. Miss Caducci got all red faced, she lay her roll sheet down and stood up. “Mister “Frederick Alfonse Sebastian Scruggheimerstein, I will not call you Jim, I will call you by your God given name.” Her hands were on her hips and she was staring at me. I knew I was in deep trouble. “And Mister Scruggheimerstein, my last name is C a d u c c I, prounounced Car douche ee, not Carducky. No stand up and say it.” I swallowed, and stood my knees a knocking because my mom and dad had told me not to cause any trouble and to behave or I would get the strap when I got home. “Yessum Miss Car duch eeeee,” I said trying to say it the way she had, but shucks did you ever try to say a funny name when you had front teeth missing and you had to go, really go? I just blurted out, “I gotta pee,” and ran out of the room and down the hall to the little boy’s room. When I came back she was waiting for me. Again she called me by my full name and asked what I wanted to be called. I told her Jim and she said no I had to be called by my real name. “I will call you Frederick,” she said then she lit into me about leaving the room and she had not given me permission and I had not even asked, and I did I know how to ask a question in school. “I just looked at her and said, “Maam, if I had done all that I would have peeed my pants, I would have had a puddle between my shoes.” She grabbed me by the arm and led me back into the room and sat me in the corner. Oh I could feel the strap on my backsides now. We then stood and said the Pledge of Allegiance and I said mine louder than the others. After that she started to tell us about printing and how to make out letters. So we had to practice and I was a writing mine as fast as I could. “Frederick, that is not the way to make an A. You make an A like this and she took my pencil and made an A her way then handed me the pencil. Shucks my momma had taught me to write my letters and numbers and to do a little sound and sight reading and her A was not like my momma made an A. Then she got on me for writing all my letters in big letters and small letters like my momma and them had taught me. So I started trying to do it her way. It wasn’t hard as soon as my fingers decided they had to go a certain way. We had a short recess then it was reading time; well she passed out the first reader and told us we would be able to read it in a few weeks or so. But I got mine and as usual I started to read out loud. “Dick, Jane, Dick and Jane, See Dick, see Dick run, Run Dick run. See Jane, . . . . . . . . “Frederick what are you doing, we are supposed to be studying our new books that we want to learn to read.” Why can you not be quiet like the others?” I stood up, raised my hand and said, “I was reading the new book, I was reading it like I do at home.” I sat down and started to read. Miss Caducci came walking over to where I sat, “Frederick, what do you mean you are reading the book as you read at home?” She narrowed her eyes, planted her feet wide apart and looked down at me. “Now you are going to tell me you can read?” “Yes maam, I learned to read this last year, or was it the year before?” My mother let me read all my brothers and sisters books and all the books we have at home, that is if I can.” I just looked up at her. Then I reached under my desk and pulled out a small book, “Look Miss Caducci, I even brought my dictionary, my own dictionary my brother Hank gave me.” She just sort of shook, “Quiet everyone, quiet, Frederick is going to read to us, from the new book I just passed out to everyone in the class.” She squinted her eyes and screwed up her mouth, shucks I nearly laughed at the way she screwed up her mouth. “Stand up Frederick and read to us, you said you was reading the book, so read to us, share your reading ability.” I stood and I had to go again but I figured I had better wait or try to wait. I picked up the book, slowly opened it and read the first page then I just started and read the whole book. Then I looked up at her, “Miss Caducci, may I be excused I have to go?” And before she replied I was gone. When I came back she was working with some other kids so I read my book, then I got my own dictionary and started to look at it and sound out words. It was fun, trying to sound out new words and then try to read what it said about them. In a few minutes Miss Caducci came back to my seat. She had another book, “Frederick, you memorized that book, you cannot read.” She handed me a book I had not seen before. “Now read this book to me, read it to me now,” she said as she again screwed up her mouth, squinted her eyes and stood with her feet wide apart. I started to stand, she pushed me down. I opened the book, it had a pretty picture of a blue dog and a green cat on the first page. I looked at the page and began to read, “The dog and cat knew where they were at, but the cow and the goat had no coat . . .” “Enough, enough. See me after school,” She reached for the book. “Do you want to read this book?” I grinned and shook my head yes. “You read it and be quiet or I will take it away from you. You can read until we start to do our numbers, can you do your numbers?” I grinned and shook my head. I sat there and read the book she gave me. Heck I only had to look up a few words. She finished that and then we had lunch. Most of the others ate in the cafeteria but I had my brown bag with my lunch in it, two jam biscuits, an apple and three peanut butter crackers. I had money for a bottle of milk. As soon as we finished eating we were allowed to go out and play. I went outside and saw a piece of something in the big old tree next to the building. I just climbed up and got it. It was only a piece of colored plastic. “Frederick, Frederick what are you doing up there, what are you doing up a tree?” I looked down and there was Miss Caducci standing under the tree all shaking and prancing. “I saw something and climbed up to see what it is,” I pulled the piece of plastic out of my pocket and waved it at her. “I am coming down.” I climbed down the tree and she took me by the arm to the Principal’s office. “What is wrong, I just climbed the tree to see what was up there?” I was told to be quiet. Then Mister Mason the Principal told me I could not climb trees at school. I said OK and back to the class room I went because the bell had rung and I did not get to go Miss Caducci said we were going to start studying our numbers so we could learn to count, add and subtract. She walked over to my desk, and shucks I had not done anything , but I just sat there. “Frederick here is your arithmetic work, you see if you can do these problems.” She put the paper in front of me and went back to the front of the class. I looked at the paper and it was just like mom had made for me and what Beck would give me last year at home. So I just sat there and added and then subtracted some numbers; a page of numbers. When I finished I turned the paper over and made up some new ones and did them. When this part of class was done we got to go and to get a drink of water. “Class the last activity of the day is art, do you all like art?” And she passed out crayons and brown paper sheets of paper with a bear on it. “Now we will color the bears, make them as you have seen bears.” My bear looked like Yogi Bear so I made him a circus bear and he was green and blue and yellow and red and every color I had except black or brown. Miss Caducci did not like my coloring, she did not like it at all. The bell rang and I grabbed my dictionary and I ran out of the room and all the way home. I was glad the first day of school was over, but that teacher she did not like me or what I did. ~ © Tom (tomWYO@aol.com) ~ Swamp Art by Swampetta (SWAMPETTA@aol.com) March 2004 BACK If you enjoyed this page, check these out: Yesterdays Tulip Magnolia Think Spring And.......for many others, click the link for HOME. Home: Writers' Early Spring 2004 Index