The Mud Puddle

THE MUD PUDDLE

During the 1955-56 school years at Garrett HS., Dal Wolf decided to take Speech class because he thought bloviating would be easier than actually having to study.  With a name like Wolf, he was, as usual, seated in the last row.  This was blatant segregation but he did not know that at the time.

  There was a girl in the class named Jo (whose last name shall remain a mystery) but she did not show up on the first day of class.  When she did appear the next day the only seat available was next to, uggg, Dal Wolf.  OMG, no one wanted to sit next to Wolf, a fate worse than death.  He was known to associate with other low-life creatures of a similar bent.  Jo reluctantly sat next to Wolf but kept a wary eye on him.

During the course of the year, Dal and Jo got to know each other a bit better and Jo decided that Dal wasn’t such a bad creature after all.  He was a bit better than pond scum, but not by much.

                                                                Then it happened!!!

Dal and Jo were having an active conversation about (God knows what) when Dal innocently started to rub Jo’s arm.  Jo gave Dal a look that said, “hey fellow, what rock did you crawl out from under?”  Needless to say, Dal was embarrassed so he did the only possible thing.  He crawled back under his rock.

As fortune would have it, Dal was able to redeem himself a few days later.  On her way to class Jo stumbled into a mud puddle and got her shoes and socks wet.  Dal, seeing a damsel in distress rode up on his white charger and---(oops, wrong story line).  Dal being a perfect gentleman of sterling character, (I like that line better but it is still too heroic).   Dal, slogging along, looking for stray nickels on the ground as was his custom (more the truth) offered to take Jo home so that she could change her socks.  This action raised his status two or three notches above pond scum.  Such an elevation in high school is not to be taken lightly!!!

The trip to and from Jo’s house took some time and as a result both She and Dal were late for class.  Since Jo’s dad was on the school board, she was immediately given a pass to go to class.  Dal, having incurred the wrath of the administration on several other occasions, was held for further investigation and later an interrogation. Thumb screws, among other methods of torture, were used to extract an admission of guilt of some nefarious action.  Dal was finally able to convince the administration (using mostly lies) that he did not push Jo into the mud puddle nor did he create the puddle. Proving his innocence was a hard sell.  Nevertheless Dal pulled it off.

All ended well.  Dal was not put into detention nor was he expelled from school.  His car was not impounded and he was finally given a pass to go back to class.

With tongue in cheek, Dal