Senior Citizens!, what was your favourite game you played at school?, mine was dodging the truant officer?...?

K D R F, in other words it means kick door run fast.

You couldn't dodge ours. I'll never forget him. He wore a brown suit and carried a gun. I thought even back then what the heck does he need a gun for. If you missed school he would come to your house to make sure you were there. You never knew when he was going to show up. He was every where, omnipresent and omnipotent. Before April 1st there were certain of us boys out of all the kids in that school who would get called into the assistant principals office. He would say, now boys tomorrow's the opening day of the baseball season, and if any of you aren't in school I'm sending the truant officer to your house, so you had better be dying or else be here. Then he would show us his strap. But if it was the Tiger's opening day, well, the strap would wind up singing the next day. Back then they played in Briggs Stadium in downtown Detroit. That place would be wall to wall with young boys on opening day. I mean we hadn't seen Al Kaline all winter! He was the Man!

In junior school: Hide and seek and hopscotch.

In Grammar school: Bating the teachers and asking 'awkward' questions like, 'What does circumcision mean?' That was in an all-girls school and the teacher, bless her, was only about 23.

There are many other examples. At 17 our form mistress told us she had seen something very disturbing the previous evening. She had seen a 4th former (15 yr. old) holding hands with a boy. There was a chorus from the class; 'It's better to hold his hands. That way you know where they are.'

My favorite occupation throughout grade school was staying out of the way. I was never included in the playground games because I was Irish. I know that sounds stupid,but in those days,the German kids hated the Irish kids. Down the street the Irish kids hated the Polish kids. I had the misfortune to be enrolled in a German Catholic school. The Irish name automatically put me on the out list. I survived.

Pretending I was thinking when I was really looking out the window at the clouds.

I don't think I fooled anyone.

After that I loved Hide and Seek and Kick the Can.

During the football season close down, my school in the UK would play baseball and I loved the game.

I hated sports with a vengence, so whenever our P.E. teacher would let us, my girlfriend and I would clean the locker room for our grade instead of playing whatever sport it was. Volleyball wasn't so bad, though. After that year, I took Chorus instead of P.E. and I liked Chorus and took part in the operettas.

I was the tether ball queen. I could even beat the boys. I was also good at double-dutch jump rope. I tried it a few months ago and it was not pretty.

Mine was whining about gymnastics. Oh, how I hate to be upside down!! And throwing myself on the floor in tumbling.....yikes!!!! I'm the gentle sort, for heaven's sake!! I love to relax and be cuddled, not climbing up some stupid rope for no reason. Bah!!

Teatherball.