hooky
The Alberton Papers, Vol. IV, #IV
By Dick Darne 4-8-07
"I guess 1955 is long enough ago that we can use real names and places." I began. "It was a warm spring morning back in ‘good ole virginny.’ We had been picked up by the school bus at the elementary school for a 30 minute ride to the county high school. My cousin, Freddy and I had already decided to replace our stuffy, boring classrooms with a little outdoor adventure commonly known as ‘hooky.’ Simple enough, just get off the bus at the high school, turn right instead of left, a quick step into the bushes, around the back of the school, across old Lee highway, over to the road back to our town. Only one thing was missing, we needed to corrupt someone. All the while we were laying our plans, Lanny was listening. We knew he had never played hooky before, heck, he always did his homework. His hand was always raised, eager to supply the answer in class. He also never failed to alert the teacher if she forgot to give us our holiday weekend assignments. In short, he made us look bad. We just figured we made him look good. We worked on him the entire ride to the high school and finally got him to agree to join us.
"OK, you guys have talked me into it" He exclaimed, as we got off the bus and turned right.
"Left for school, right for the road to perdition." I was thinking as we sneaked through the woods, around the school, across the road and high adventure"
"I wonder if I should have let you all talk me into this" Lanny said as we crossed Lee highway. "We can go back now and we’ll only be a little late."
"Shaddup" said Freddy. "It’s too late now"
Lanny mumbled something. We reached our road, old Chain Bridge Road. "Takes us right home, if the Truant Officer doesn’t catch us" I said.
"I shouldn’t have done this" Lanny moaned.
As we settled in our best hitch-hiker’s pose, walking backwards, right arms pointing into the road and thumbs pointing in the desired direction, worse than meeting the truant lady was the horrifying sight of a black sedan with the big red dome on top. A cherry top. A cop. Going in the direction towards the school, but the traffic was coming to a halt. He would soon be stopped right next to us.
"Oh, no!" cried Lanny.
Freddie and I were much more experienced than Lanny. He looked as if he was about to surrender and throw himself at the mercy of the law. We acted quickly.
"Let’s get outa here" we hollered as we climbed the bank and into an over fallowed pasture, stopping behind a clump of bushes.
"He’s coming after us"
"Run"
"Oooo I never should have done this."
Across the field we did run like the wind, until we came to the woods. Diving into the foliage we peeked back toward the highway. No cop, but he appeared a little rotund, from our brief glimpse, and probably wasn’t about to chase us on foot.
"He’s gone for help. They’re gonna throw a dragnet around us. Hounds and all. I’m done for!" wailed Lanny.
"Shaddup!" Freddie and I exclaimed in unison.
The morning sun was warming things up by now. that included gnats, ticks, chiggers, spiders, snakes and all types of man eating creatures, but we couldn’t show ourselves yet. We decided to stay in the deep woods and circumvent the dragnet. We plodded on, finding an old abandoned railroad track leading to an old abandoned brewery. We could have had more fun except for the constant lament from Lanny.
"Oooooh why did I ever let you guys talk me into this. Oooooh my life is over."
We didn’t have the heart to tell him that we were dead meat the minute we didn’t show up in our first class. Or that the cop was probably on his way to the donut shop and there was no dragnet.
I haven’t heard from Lanny in almost 50 years, but I think he went on to become an activist, encouraging kids to not play hooky. Or to never listen to the likes of us. I do hope he had at least one more fun filled high adventure in his life.
Freddie went on to become a successful electrician, and is retired and lives near our ancestral home place in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
I went on to become a two county famous author in beautiful downtown Alberton.
A final note: Kids, please don’t try this, we were highly trained professionals. When you’re older, you can call in sick at work.
Keep ideating. dd
By Dick Darne 4-8-07
"I guess 1955 is long enough ago that we can use real names and places." I began. "It was a warm spring morning back in ‘good ole virginny.’ We had been picked up by the school bus at the elementary school for a 30 minute ride to the county high school. My cousin, Freddy and I had already decided to replace our stuffy, boring classrooms with a little outdoor adventure commonly known as ‘hooky.’ Simple enough, just get off the bus at the high school, turn right instead of left, a quick step into the bushes, around the back of the school, across old Lee highway, over to the road back to our town. Only one thing was missing, we needed to corrupt someone. All the while we were laying our plans, Lanny was listening. We knew he had never played hooky before, heck, he always did his homework. His hand was always raised, eager to supply the answer in class. He also never failed to alert the teacher if she forgot to give us our holiday weekend assignments. In short, he made us look bad. We just figured we made him look good. We worked on him the entire ride to the high school and finally got him to agree to join us.
"OK, you guys have talked me into it" He exclaimed, as we got off the bus and turned right.
"Left for school, right for the road to perdition." I was thinking as we sneaked through the woods, around the school, across the road and high adventure"
"I wonder if I should have let you all talk me into this" Lanny said as we crossed Lee highway. "We can go back now and we’ll only be a little late."
"Shaddup" said Freddy. "It’s too late now"
Lanny mumbled something. We reached our road, old Chain Bridge Road. "Takes us right home, if the Truant Officer doesn’t catch us" I said.
"I shouldn’t have done this" Lanny moaned.
As we settled in our best hitch-hiker’s pose, walking backwards, right arms pointing into the road and thumbs pointing in the desired direction, worse than meeting the truant lady was the horrifying sight of a black sedan with the big red dome on top. A cherry top. A cop. Going in the direction towards the school, but the traffic was coming to a halt. He would soon be stopped right next to us.
"Oh, no!" cried Lanny.
Freddie and I were much more experienced than Lanny. He looked as if he was about to surrender and throw himself at the mercy of the law. We acted quickly.
"Let’s get outa here" we hollered as we climbed the bank and into an over fallowed pasture, stopping behind a clump of bushes.
"He’s coming after us"
"Run"
"Oooo I never should have done this."
Across the field we did run like the wind, until we came to the woods. Diving into the foliage we peeked back toward the highway. No cop, but he appeared a little rotund, from our brief glimpse, and probably wasn’t about to chase us on foot.
"He’s gone for help. They’re gonna throw a dragnet around us. Hounds and all. I’m done for!" wailed Lanny.
"Shaddup!" Freddie and I exclaimed in unison.
The morning sun was warming things up by now. that included gnats, ticks, chiggers, spiders, snakes and all types of man eating creatures, but we couldn’t show ourselves yet. We decided to stay in the deep woods and circumvent the dragnet. We plodded on, finding an old abandoned railroad track leading to an old abandoned brewery. We could have had more fun except for the constant lament from Lanny.
"Oooooh why did I ever let you guys talk me into this. Oooooh my life is over."
We didn’t have the heart to tell him that we were dead meat the minute we didn’t show up in our first class. Or that the cop was probably on his way to the donut shop and there was no dragnet.
I haven’t heard from Lanny in almost 50 years, but I think he went on to become an activist, encouraging kids to not play hooky. Or to never listen to the likes of us. I do hope he had at least one more fun filled high adventure in his life.
Freddie went on to become a successful electrician, and is retired and lives near our ancestral home place in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
I went on to become a two county famous author in beautiful downtown Alberton.
A final note: Kids, please don’t try this, we were highly trained professionals. When you’re older, you can call in sick at work.
Keep ideating. dd
posted by aldermandarne | 11:49 PM
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