THE FOOTNOTES

Now   and  then  an  athlete  being  interviewed  will   say something to the effect   that  the   coach  taught  him/her,    about   how to  live  in  addition  to    sports  skills.    Without  the   interview,  I  think the  same thing   happened   to  me.  Strangely,  I   had   a couple   of  experiences  such as that.  One  in  Junior  High  School  in   a  Latin  class,and another  in  a  Senior  English   class  in  high  school.  I  will  share  those  experiences   with   all  my  eager   readers.

I   loved   my   Latin class  in  Junior  High,  maybe  because    I  really  liked  Miss  Curtin,  the  teacher.  She made   class fun,  and   I  enjoyed  the  atmosphere.   She  had a great  sense of  humor, and  one time  I  wrote  on  the a  Latin  Test,  “Amen!”  She  thought  that  was  hilarious,  particularly  with  the  Latin  reference.    So  I  was a fun  type.   However,  even  she  got a little  sick  of  my  antics  one  day and banished  me to the  classroom  closet so  she could  teach  some  Latin.   That  was  like  throwing  Brer  Rabbit  into  the  briar  patch.   This  closet was no ordinary  closet.  It  was well-lighted  with  a   huge  window   facing  the  street  where   I  could  see  whoever was entering or  leaving  the  school  and  what  was   going on  outside.  There  were things stored  in that  closet, which  did not  escape my  inspection----and  I   wasn’t  bothered  by  having to  translate  all  that  Latin  stuff.  The  hour  passed  quickly,  and  Miss  Curtin,  apparently  caught up in her  schoolteacher  thoughts  forgot  I  was in the  closet.   She  was  forgetting to   release  me  but  was reminded   by   my  classmates   who  were  greatly  amused  by  my   put down.

I  learned   that  life    would  go  on  without me  when  I  was  not  present.     I   even  learned some  Latin.