STOPPING BY WEST HIGH SCHOOL ON A SNOWY DAY

I had two really good friends from the sixth grade all the way through high school. We lived close to each other and saw each other frequently outside of school. Connie lived across the street from me and Carolyn lived about three blocks away. All of us actually lived closer to West High School (a city school), but we attended Hillsboro (a county school) because we lived just outside the city limits. Invariably, when it snowed in Nashville, the county schools were closed because of the hazardous outlying roads, while the city schools remained open.

I attended church with many West students, and in fact, when I was a sophomore, we three girls had our eye on some boys we knew at that school. Somehow, one of these boys learned we would be out for a snow holiday and phoned me the night before. I forget the exact details, but we devised a plan whereby the three of us would walk to West High School and meet up with the boys. Carolyn, always the sensible one and follower of rules, was skeptical about the whole scheme, but Connie and I, who lived more on the edge, convinced her that it would be OK.

So the next morning we set out in our warm clothes. We actually had on jeans which were not allowed to be worn to Nashville schools, but somehow we got away with it. I don’t remember what Connie and Carolyn did after we sashayed into the school about 10:00, but I do recall that I attended English class with Mike, the boy I was interested in.

He had already told his teacher some cock and bull story about his cousin visiting him and his family, and that I might drop in. I was welcomed to class and I had the privilege of sitting through class taught by the famous Mrs. Bowen, a revered teacher in Nashville. (I wish I could remember what lesson she taught, but alas, I don’t --- I’m sure I could have learned a lot from her if I had been in the right frame of mind.)

Afterwards, we went to lunch in the cafeteria and ate with some of our friends we knew. At the time, we thought we had really put one over on the teachers and principal, but how naïve was that? I feel certain today that they knew and just tolerated our being there as long as we behaved. And we did, of course. We would only push the rules so far.

We left after lunch because we had not miles to go, but at least one mile. (My apologies to Robert Frost)