This would, or at least could have been the prime time of Jack's life, unfortunately it was probably the worst. At P.S.69 he was extremely popular, a real joker and life of the party. Jack learned then and instilled in his children later that teachers generally tolerate a smart kid who is a bit of a clown not so with a slower child. Even so, Jack found himself many times sitting alone in the school auditorium. But not for long. Fun for him consisted of whatever came to mind. He was the class joker and told jokes to make everybody laugh.
One thing he often did was long after the joke was over, repeat the punch line. This he'd heard on one of his favorite radio shows, " It pays to be Ignorant". The teacher herself would get so caught up in the insanity that she would forget the subject they were supposed to be covering. Mrs. Holton, very sweet and probably a bit like Archie Bunker's wife, Edith may have been reliving her childhood. Mrs. Groad, the principal, on the other hand was short, fat and grumpy.
This school was an old school and was scheduled for future condemnation. But for now they occupied the top floor and no other classrooms were situated on this floor. Other Board of Education offices occupied various areas of this old building.
A very good friend Jack met here was George Gasselin. Georgie, of French extraction, always had Jack at his fine apartment to do homework together. He also joined Jack with high marks passing the special Stuyvesant entrance exam. His parents however, decided to move to California and Jack never saw George again. The other boy was Shelby Jackson. When Jack first heard this name, he automatically imagined Shelby to be black, Shelby was however, a white boy. They quickly became close because of his down to earth attitude. In a small way it almost became us against them.
Meaning our Hell's Kitchen boys versus the ritzy boys from the Eastern side of town. There wasn't really any outward competition just that they felt that with few exceptions these were wealthier kids. No resentments mind you, just a natural awareness. One day Shirley Nixon, whom Jack knew had a crush on him, was excused from the room to go to the little girl's room. Shirley who had been in classes with him since first grade, stopped to talk to him. Somehow they ended up on an unused stairwell. Ms.Nixon was maybe a year older than himself and was, for a thin girl, rather developed topside. Jack constantly told her that they, her breasts, weren't real. This girl liked him so much that every time he said they weren't, she had to prove that they were. Jack feasted his eyes.
These were the first times being this close to breasts since infancy and he didn’t recall that too vividly. The soft, billowy mounds that Jack fondled, always made his temperature rise. The temperature wasn’t the only thing rising either.To be able to do this delightful thing Jack had to improvise a way to get booted from class every day. Their teacher, Mrs. Holton, kindly and in her last years of teaching didn't seem to mind too much, but Mrs.Groad frowned mightily.
Before long Jack had a reputation of being smart and of being a class screw-up. He could not have cared less as this was quickly becoming his only sexual experiences. Every time he told Shirley "I don’t believe they're real" she, with his help, would take them out and show him. She wore bras trimmed in frilly lace but Jack never seem to notice, he would fondle and caress until there was nothing else to do. Jack had these great lips, but had not yet learned to use them. Jack would cup these beauties in both hands and roll the taut nipples between his forefinger and thumb. Soon the nipples would stand alone and be as hard and erect as the shaft in his jeans.
Shirley must have told June Fussell because she and Shirley started getting kicked out into the auditorium. June also liked Jack, and he would lie across both their laps in the auditorium. Both girls would rub and play with his piston, giggling childishly, measuring and approving but nothing further ever developed. Now, the auditorium was on the sixth floor and with no elevators so Groad didn't bring her fat ass up stairs too often. Besides, they were the senior class and got to remain alone on this top floor. June didn't join in their breast show and boy was Jack ever sorry! June was heavier and even better endowed.
They had a nicely well knit class. Carlo Peterson was the blond, blue-eyed all-America boy. As popular as Bobby Jones was, he didn't get invited to many nightly social events. Bones, as they called him did however get in the fellow's homes during daylight hours. Jack would sometimes meet Bobby there at Richard Barnett's house to discuss baseball plans. Bobby played all sports very well. The only other thing he and Jackhad in common was their blackness. They weren't invited to parties. June Williams liked to be called Penny.
She was Bobby's number one squeeze and June Fussell's first cousin. Penny was very popular, spoke well, bubbled with charisma, but Jack didn’t think she was invited to these parties either . Most of these parties were given by Caren Levine. Caren was popular, extremely so. Could it have been those 38 DD bazookas that played a large role in keeping the guys from properly looking Caren in her face? Caren lived with her parents in the ritzy Essex House hotel. As the story goes, during the ending days of the Second World War the neon E and the s had burned out and GI s from all over Manhattan came to see if what the sign said was true. Imagine seeing a sign forty stories above the street " sex House". Maybe Caren's advanced sexual prowess had to do with her family keeping up with traditions.
One day a young man came to join the class. In those days anyone coming from Southern schools or from Puerto Rican schools were automatically put into lower grades than they had attained. Thus, Hezekiah was a least fifteen. Mr. Bell was to have a profound effect on Jack. Hez, as Jack affectionately called him, inadvertently taught him more about sexually maturation than anyone else. Hez liked girls and had a healthy sexual childhood. Let 's hear it for the South. When Hez first took a leak in the company of others in the boy's toilet, Carlo, Michael and all of them exclaimed with amazement "Damn, Hez what the heck is that?"
Rightfully so, what they witnessed him holding was a long black roll of tar-paper. Looking very much like an ebony two cell flashlight. Jack feigned like he'd seen others of that ilk but he was lying through his hat. Nothing that humongous belonged attached to any man, much less a fifteen-year-old. One day Jack saw Hezekiah run and catch Shirley after school, Shirley offered only token resistance as his hand flashed up her dress. Later when he explained to Jack what he had done, Jack knew he must try it! Stink-finger and Jack had been introduced. Many times after school Hez and Jack caught Shirley, who never made the chase very difficult. The odoriferous aroma that was Shirley's gift to Jack’s finger stayed long and strong. Both, his refusal to wash his hands and the pungent strength of this scent was Jack’s own badge of conquest. He would cling to it even after washing. He would smell his finger, think of Shirley and get hard again. Shirley was that funky!.
When Shirley sat behind him in class he would reach behind and feel her hairy legs. Must of been some sort of fetish. Another thing Jack learned with the other boys, after watching Hez grab and feel some girl classmate's ass. They of course, knew who would allow it and who would not. It got so that Jack could tell blindfolded exactly whose ass he was holding. In the caverns they were visiting as a class in the Museum of Natural History.
This particular ass he had yet to feel, so Jack’s hand somehow slithered through the maze of bodies to find Patsy Murtha's little tush. Being one of the few who didn't play that stuff. Patsy turned and slapped Thomas Schultz senseless and to this day nobody knows, and unless Ms.Murtha reads this book, Jack ain't telling. Could Jack blame Hez for that? Heck yeah, he taught him everything he knew. Patricia wanted to tell her brother about Schultz but Jack, being in a Quixotic mood offered to fight him in her stead.
Actually though, Shultz didn't need further chastisement, went Jack returned sheepishly to the suddenly warmed innards of the cave, (the side of Shultz's face was still giving off heat), so hard was the slap. Schultz, because Jack had soldered a star washer with points on his ring, refused to indulge in the fisticuffs. His refusal did two things, it made Jack look good in the girls' eyes, and since Thomas was nobody's chump, sort of made Jack feel all right too. Hey, didn't Jack start this thing to begin with? Schultz started taking a cab home from school. It was all of eight blocks but Jack reluctantly accepted the ride (remember Shirley) every day. Why he chose him, Jack really never knew.
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?