Postcard to Mom: Puppy Love
An Excerpt from “The Adventures of Tom and Jim” by Thomas F. Todd
Jim and Tom were separated for nine months during the time that Tom attended a private boarding academy in the mountains. His parents felt that the new school environment would benefit Tom by improving his school grades. Also, the school requires students to work on the campus several hours each week.
Every day at 5 pm, the campus bell is rung by the campus bell ringer signaling the start of dinner time. Students and faculty members gather in the dining hall for dinner served family-style. Students are permanently assigned to one of the eight-seat tables. Most tables seat four girls and four boys. As teen boys will do, they try hard to get the girls' dessert. Bread pudding with raisins is often the dessert that the girls pass over because the boys describe, in gross terms, its ingredients and how it is made. Boys will be boys.
After dinner, students head to the canteen for ice cream and other snacks. Then, it is courting time. The school sets strict rules for student behavior in relationships between girls and boys. A girl and a boy who want to pair up for conversation look for a place to sit, usually on a bench or on the low concrete wall next to the chapel. A strict rule is to be observed: twelve inches separation must be maintained between the two.
Sundays are to be spent in rest and attending worship services. The horseshoe pits in front of their dormitory are off-limits on Sunday, as are other sports. But young boys are full of energy and are driven to burn up that energy, even if it means breaking school rules. On a clear and warm Sunday, Tom says, “Hey guys, let’s go swimming.” Weather permitting, Tom sneaks off campus with other guys to go swimming at the Camp Fire Girls camp located near the school. During the school year, the camp is inactive and is supervised by a caretaker who allows the boys to use the pool.
In cool weather, with a football concealed under his jacket, Tom hikes with other boys to a nearby pasture to play football. Another time, they hike to a railway trestle just for the hike and to walk across the trestle. It is said to be one of the highest in the eastern USA. Walking across the trestle is flirting with danger. There is no way to avoid an oncoming train on the trestle other than jumping off and falling 100 feet to the ground and probable death. Boys can be foolhardy.
In retrospect, their flaunting of the Sunday rules was probably just their way to rebel against authority – a test to see what they could get away with.
Ninth-grade students look forward to their scheduled monthly social activities. Sometimes it is an ice cream social or a movie shown in the gymnasium. Evening hikes are a popular activity when weather permits. One such hike follows a path that terminates near the top of a waterfall. It is a rather steep trail going up the mountain. Rest stops are taken as needed. Beverages and snacks are available to the hikers.
Adult chaperones, spaced within the hike, accompany the students. If they are lucky, a girl and her boyfriend are positioned close to each other in the hike. When the chaperone is not looking, they steal a kiss. It must be a quick one. Hormones in 14-year-olds are almost impossible to control.
During Tom’s year at the school, he fell in love several times, but one girl stood out more than the others. Her name was Bernice, from Pooler, GA, near Savannah. Years later, in his deceased mother's papers, Tom found a post card he sent to his mother in which he wrote, "Mom, I have found the girl I'm going to marry. She is so cute and wonderful. Her name is Bernice." They were steady friends but when he returned to public school a year later, they lost touch with each other. The saying, “absence makes the heart grow fonder” did not apply to them as their lives followed different paths.
Tom’s and Bernice’s teen romance was a brief interlude on the path to adulthood. One to be enjoyed, savored, and remembered. It is called puppy love.
More about the author: Thomas F. Todd is a writer from southwest Atlanta. He attended Toccoa Falls Institute for one year in 1948. He completed his school studies at Joseph E. Brown Jr. High School and Smith High School in Atlanta, Ga. He graduated from Georgia Tech and worked as an engineer. Today, he is retired and lives in Marietta, Ga., with his wife, Lucy. He has published many books and short stories over the years which can be purchased on Amazon.com.