The following is a mixture of fact and fiction. It was originally written during a momentary period of anger. So some language is poignant. All is changed now. A walk with God changes many things. It has been recently edited and hopefully all the original salty words have been expleted or changed. Some portions may have been seen or read in another web page. "Jack's Paratrooper Stories". If so, skip to the unread portions if you wish.
June 18, a day of regard in Jack's life. Who really knew then? Who gave a hang? At seventeen, a high school dropout. City-slick, street-smart with no particular place to go and lots of time to get there. Handsome, dashing and good-natured, fellow students coerced him into attending Stuyvesant, a school, along with Brooklyn Tech and Bronx H.S. of Science prepping dweebs for the greater things in life.
First mistake, wrong answer, an all-boy school, bad news to start with. Shy, but only around girls, he should have chosen a co-ed school but decided on Stuyvesant.
Life at high school wasn't so bad at first. Jack was bright enough to keep up with most things going on. Matter of fact, he did all right, maintaining a B average. Stuyvesant High School majored in science and math. Math was a strong point for him because he tended to do better in visuals as opposed to things he had to imagine. For instance, chemistry was a snap because if you are looking for a blue precipitate after a potassium sulphate that’s what you should get.
Same thing with mathematics, you can see on the paper or blackboard how 10x10= 100, well can’t you? Electricity, for instance was a bug for the opposite reason. A formula shows that there are 50 volts in a certain circuit and it’s not visible so you’ve got to imagine it, unless you touch it. I hope you get my point, despite this, he did okay.
Later though, when things began to toughen and grades started to plummet, Jack began to play hooky and by using his subway money, yeah, the whole twenty-five cents, he began seeing all the flicks on 42nd and Times Square. When confronted because of his truancy he tried desperately to transfer to The High School of Commerce, a school closer to home.
This school with hundreds of resplendent girls was denied Jack by the entrance Dean as just that, having too many girls. Heck, Jack knew about the girls, that was exactly what he wanted. His dad could have forced the issue, and demand the transfer, but didn’t. But that was Dad, always complacent. Jack was therefore, unwittingly, dealt a decisive blow to his future social life.
Elementary School Days * No More Gizzards * No, You Didn't * For The First Time
Life In The Garment Center * Jack's Black Queen * Those Were The Days
New York, New York * Dad * Post Office Blues? * DS or BS?