Chapter IV of "Me and the Girls" (Joyce)

(Undated Letter)


Dear Mr. Hunt,

Hi, My name is Joyce. I am fourteen years old. I'm in the ninth grade. This is my first year here at Lanier High. I like it a lot.

Before I came to the high school, I went to Holy Trinity School from third to eighth grade. Before that, I was in different schools. Where did you go for grammar school? I live on Summit Street. The city hall is on the same street.

Do you remember where the fire station is? Well, it's not a fire station anymore, it's an auto shop. The post office, which was across the street from the fire station, burned down, and a Dunkin Donuts was built there. That street used to be called Ayers' Street, but is now Sacred Heart Avenue. Paisley Park is almost in my backyard. It has changed a lot since you were here. Everything is spray painted (graffiti), and falling apart. It looks old but they are slowly trying to fix things. They put in new swings sets for little kids and made a new sign.

How is it in Georgia? The farthest I've been is Ohio. I've never been to Georgia.

I have a brother and a sister, both younger than me.

In the future, I plan to work at my own day care. Where do/did you work?

Please write back and I will gladly write back to you.


Yours truly,

Joyce




Dear Joyce,

I believe I have addressed all your questions about me that you have in your letter in the correspondence I've written and which I hope is being shared in the classroom. If not, it should be shortly. If it isn't, write once more as an individual and not as a class project. I will answer you directly.

I see you, too, are interested in Day Care work as are a number of your classmates. I assume that has something to do with the kindergarten classes being held at Lanier High School. I understand some students are helping out on a daily basis. It can be a rewarding experience, knowing that you have helped/are helping a youngster to learn new skills. Stick with it if you like it young lady; lots of luck.

You know, when I originally started this letter writing, I wrote to the principal, Mr. Malcolm, in hopes he would be able to put me in touch with some of my old teachers or classmates. I had no idea I would end up writing to the whole ninth grade class. It is a very fortunate happenstance indeed that Mr. Powers was contacted and started this letter writing campaign between us. I now have new ideas for a format of several books I can write. In addition, I hope I have made many more new friends.

One of my old friends, Mr. Ed Arabas, was indeed contacted and although he hasn't written yet, he did pass on the information to Mr. James Panello, another old friend who has written. Both of these men have been and are active on the CYO programs for the kids in Lanier during the summer months. You may know of them. Mr. Arabas teaches also but it's not clear to me where he does that. It is about Ed that I wish to expound upon during this letter. Please bear with me, I'm sure you'll find something of interest here.

Ed's reluctance to write may stem from an incident which occurred when we were boys playing in Paisley Park together some 31 years ago. He was always the consummate athlete and excelled at every sport. I, on the other hand, was average. The one thing I did pride myself on was my wrestling ability. I had never been beaten. This was mainly due to the fact that I had tremendous strength of shoulders and biceps and my forearms had strong bones that were close to the surface. My most devastating hold was a headlock which I would then proceed to grind my forearm into my opponent’s neck until he hollered "uncle." Most of my adversaries gave up once I got that hold on them. Ed however, was different.

We had agreed that punching was out, but other than that, it was no holds barred wrestling. Ed, by the way, stood a good head taller than me. It didn't take me long to get my headlock on him but try as I might, I could not get him to give up. He had the strongest neck of anyone I'd ever wrestled. Eventually, I had to shift to another hold because I tired with that one and it wasn't successful in achieving my goal. I went to a scissors around his waist but he had me down on my back on the ground. I squeezed a little bit and he grimaced with pain. I had found his Achilles' heel! At one point, he raised his fist as if to hit me in the face and make me let go. Our friends were watching though and were quick to point out that this action had been agreed upon to be not fair. He didn't strike and with a final squeeze of the scissors, he gave in.

I don't know if Ed is/has been holding animosity against me all these years for that little episode. I certainly hope not. As far as I know, that was the only chink in his armor. He and Bill Plocinski were always admired by me as being the greatest athletes of the school in those days.

I hope you have found something of interest in this narrative Joyce. I know it's mostly about what boys do but after all, that's what I am and that's what we did for amusement sometime. It was all part of growing up in Lanier.

Do write to me again Joyce. You should have some background history on me by now and can pinpoint your questions to areas which you might want to hear more about. I'm always happy to get mail and will answer all letters as soon as I can.

I remain,

Your new friend,

John E. Hunt




January 3, 1989

Dear Mr. Hunt,

Hi! How are you?

I have a different teacher for child care, so I don't get to help the kindergarten classes learn new skills.

Well, maybe your friend Mr. Arabas forgot or was/is very busy, so he hasn't written yet. Who is Bill Plocinski?

What else did you do for fun at age fifteen or sixteen?

From some of the letters, I heard that you were in the army. What did you do, and how did it feel being in the army?

Can you tell me a little more about this book you're going to be writing? What's it going to be about? When you were living here at Lanier, where did you work or do for a living?

I won't make this too long because I know you have others to write to and you'll probably get writers cramp. Well, hope to hear from you soon.

Your friend,

Joyce




9 January 1989


Dear Joyce,

Your 3 January letter arrived safe and sound and once again, I thank you for writing. From the letter I can tell some of my letters to your friends are being read in class so you are getting some background history on me and that's good. It will save me a lot of duplicate explanations when answering letters. I hope you are enjoying the letters.

To answer your first question about Bill Plocinski, he is in the picture of the 1959 basketball team that I sent to Mr. Powers and which I thought he had posted in his classroom. At any rate, Bill was just the greatest athlete that Lanier High School had at the time (my opinion only). Actually, it was a toss up between him and Ed Arabas. They were both great. I guess you would call them super jocks today.

Yes, I was in both the Navy and Army and you should have heard some of the beginning stories of that part of my career in the military already. My career field in both branches of service was in radio teletype communications. I found it to be a very satisfying field because you become the ears for the commander and, generally, you know more about what is happening in your unit because you see the message traffic, in many cases, even before the commander does. Not only that, but it has lucrative opportunities for advancement in the civilian job market once you leave the service.

When I was in Lanier, I worked at the Swift Meat Packing Plant and for W.T. Grant, on Broad Street. I did elaborate on those jobs in previous letters and I hope you have heard that by now.

The book I am writing may turn out to be several books. I've already finished the first one and submitted a synopsis to three different publishers. I haven't heard from them yet but when I do, I will let your class know through a letter to Mr. Powers.

The book is about my life (an autobiography) from birth to present and through the letters you all have been getting, you have a fair start on what it will be like. In all fairness to you and your classmates, your letters prompted me to write the book(s) and some of your letters are included in the book. Because of redundancy, I wasn't able to include all your letters, but I did include all the answers to your letters. If it is published as is, you should be able to see my answer to you in the book.

To give you a supplement on my military history in the Army, I will now take you back to 1965-66 and Korea. Every so often, it is necessary for a soldier to re- qualify with his weapon, which is military terminology for saying he must fire his rifle on a rifle range, at various targets, at different distances, to determine if he/she is a marksman, sharpshooter or expert rifleman. During this particular tour of duty in Korea, I had to re-qualify.

Every soldier in Korea knows where the "Nightmare Range" is because sometime during his tour, he will have to shoot on that range. It is located near a town called Tong Du Chon and is situated literally between two mountains. Part of the range runs up one side of the mountain on the left, and the other side of the range is up the mountain on the right. The Range Control Officer sits in a tower in the center and blares instructions through loudspeakers all up and down the range.

Generally, whole units (battalions) of three to five hundred men will fire during the course of a day in order to qualify. It is a real bummer if you are a low ranking enlisted man and draw the ammo detail. Not only do you have to qualify at various positions up and down both sides of the mountain, but when not firing, must hump ammo (which is heavy!) up and down those same mountains. This happened to me on my first tour of duty. I don't know how I did it, but I managed to fire expert that day and so maintained my proficiency with the M-14 rifle. On a subsequent tour of duty in Korea, I had occasion to fire on that range again. I was a NonCom (non commissioned officer) though, so did not have to hump the ammo. It still wasn't easy!

It has been nice chatting with you Joyce but I will say goodbye for now. I expect I will get a whole bunch of mail from your classmates today.

Your friend,

John




August 11, 1989

Dear Mr. Hunt,

Hi, I'm sorry that I haven't written in over seven months, but it's been pretty busy around here. I got a summer job; it's a program with the school. You go to school at 9:00 A.M. until 12:00 P.M. At school we do sixth grade math and different other things. That's fairly easy. Then from 1:00 P.M. until 4:00 P.M. you go to the job that you were assigned.

I was recommended by a place called Channel One. If you don't know what this is, I'll tell you. It's a drug intervention place, where we do different things for the city and people. Right now, we are doing a mural on the Harlie Avenue Park shed. We are going to have on one side, a big football and around it, it's gonna say "athletes, say no to drugs." The other side is going to say "Harlie Avenue, Home of the Lady Pacers" and I think there's going to be a basketball. We also made T-shirts for the Lanier Recreation Staff.

Today is my last day of work. Monday we don't work because it's VJ Day and then from Tuesday, I have to make up ten hours because our boss, Juan Rivera, lets us go home early, so we have to make up the hours. This job was pretty easy. One time we went out for ice cream, came back, and we could go home.

My cousin writes to you too, her name is Kathy, and she told me about the memory thing your making. That's a great idea. She's having a tough time finding black and white film, but tomorrow, her and I are going to a camera shop where they, hopefully, have it. I'm sure they will, so don't worry.

The last time I wrote to you, you were in the process of having your first book published. Is it published, and have you written any more?

Today is a rainy day. I hope your day is nice and sunny. My birthday is coming up next month on September 21. I’m going to be fifteen. I can't wait to be sixteen so I can get my license.

Well, I can't think of anything else and I don't want to bore you with nonsense. I will be waiting for your letter.

Your friend,

Joyce




16 August 1989

Dear Joyce,

Well, talk about voices (letters) from out of the past! I had given up on hearing from you again, so relegated your correspondence to the back shelf with all the other letters of those who were too busy to answer me. Naturally, I'm happy to be able to reactivate a tête-à-tête with you.

Surprise, surprise, I did not know that you and Kathy were cousins! She has been a regular correspondent all along and I rely on her to keep me abreast of the happenings in Lanier. As you know, I've asked her to take some pictures of areas in Lanier so that I may include them in my book.

Speaking of my book, the publisher has had it for over three weeks now and should soon be finished proof reading it. Hopefully I will get a contract to sign this month or early next month. That is when I will need the pictures back from Kathy. I'll sign the contract and send it and the pictures back to the publisher for inclusion in the book. Though this book is nearing publication, it hasn't been published yet. Its title is "My Life in Your Hands," and yes, I am working on its sequel already.

I'm not completely sure I understand the summer job program that the school offers. Some questions that come to mind are: Why do you do sixth grade math from nine to noon? Are you acting as teachers to others taking summer school because they failed during the regular year? I assume the hours of one to four are
devoted to community activity which enhances the opportunity for kids to learn a trade or at least keep out of trouble. Is this program affiliated with the CYO (City Youth Organization), which was active in my day and I understand is still functional?

Tranh had mentioned Channel One and a summer jobs program, but her parents wanted her to help at their store instead. I've seen her drawings and they're good! She had mentioned some of her art work being accepted for T-shirts also. Was this some of the same type work you were doing? As a drug intervention program, it sounds like just the thing to keep area teens busy and out of trouble. It also sounds like fun.

In Mexico, they have what is called a quinceanera, which is a traditional celebration of a girl's fifteenth birthday. I suppose it is similar to a coming out party, where the girls dress up in formal gowns and attend a formal dance and party. I learned about this in this month's National Geographic Magazine, page 194 and 195. I thought of this when you mentioned your fifteenth birthday on 21 September. In case our correspondence once again lapses, I will wish you a happy birthday here and now. May you have many more birthdays, and may they all be happy ones.

I have a question which I've asked before, but as of yet, have not received a satisfactory answer. It has to do with your expressed wish to turn sixteen so you can get a drivers license. When I went to Lanier High School, a Mr. Ed Corrigan taught driver training in a dual control car. I've since learned that Mr. Corrigan has joined the ranks of the departed from this Earth. However, the program was a very good one. Here is my question to you: Does the school still offer a drivers training course for sixteen year olds? If so, are you going to take advantage of it or are you going to learn on your own? Insurance companies look favorably upon anybody (including students) who has had formal drivers training, so it would help lower insurance costs if you take that training.

My daughter Jean will finish a summer semester at college this week. She starts the fall semester on 5 September. She is struggling to keep her head above water but we disagree as to why. I think she is letting her love life interfere with her studying but she blames it all on her teachers. Sounds like passing the buck to me. We shall see!

You too, should be starting back to school in September, n'est pas? How do you feel about that?

Don't let so much time elapse before answering this letter Joyce; I will forget what I have asked you. We wouldn't want that to happen, would we?

Your friend,

John



31 August, 1989

Dear Joyce,

Sorry for the delay in answering your letter of 19 August. I've had some difficulty with the WordPerfect program (a word processing program) on my computer, and I've only just got the problem ironed out. I could have written you in long hand, but I don't believe you would have liked that. The medicines I take make my hands twitch, and when I write, it looks like chicken scratches on the paper. Please forgive the delay.

I would really appreciate it if you would stop addressing me as "Mr. Hunt" in your salutation. I know it is probably ingrained in you to address your elders as Mr. or Mrs. or Madam or Sir. My folks brought me up that way too. If, however, an adult gives you permission to call them by their familiar name, it is quite okay to do so. You not only have my permission to call me John, but my encouragement as well. I would feel so much better about it. After all, I don't address you as Miss ________ do I?

Thank you so much for answering all my questions. You would be surprised how many people forget to re-read a letter before answering it so that they can refresh their memories as to the questions asked.

Crystal had mentioned to me earlier about the taxes being raised because the city was going broke. She also told me about the incinerator, but not where it was going to be built. You say Harlie Avenue, near the park. Are you talking about Paisley Park? That would be disastrous if that is the case. If memory serves me correctly, Paisley Park is near the center of the city, and it used to be quite nice to stroll through the park. If an incinerator is built there, that, and the resultant traffic of trash trucks coming and going, will surely be the death knell of the city. I hope saner heads prevail, and a spot somewhere on the outskirts of the city is chosen for construction.

Yes, Carlos Rohas was a year behind me in school, but we did play basketball and baseball together from time to time and some stoop ball in the wading pool at Paisley Park (yes, I know it's been filled in and is now a flower garden). I was aware that he has been the Mayor for the last six years and a new election is due in September. From what I've been hearing about the situation in the city, it isn't very likely that he will be reelected. I should like to know who is elected the next mayor. Perhaps you will be good enough to tell me when that event occurs, huh?

You must be a very popular girl! At least you must be staying busy. Most summer vacations seemed to drag when I was your age. By the time school was due to open after summer vacation, I was ready to get back to school and see all my friends. A lot of them seemed to disappear during the summer. Of course, if I had been going to school on a jobs program all summer, I guess it would have seemed like a short vacation too.

I got a card from your cousin, Kathy, last week also. She seems to be enjoying herself at Sand Hill Cove. She went there when school let out also. It must be a favorite vacation spot for her family. I hope she hasn't forgotten about the pictures I asked her to take for me. I thought you said you were both going to go shopping for the film? She must have got side tracked to Sand Hill Cove in the interim. I hope she remembers to do that now that she has returned.

I've taken the liberty to install our correspondence on a computer diskette. That makes it much easier for me to refresh my memory by re-reading our correspondence prior to answering a letter. I usually do that if I'm going to write regularly to someone. Since you have written several letters already, I won't have to go digging through my old paper files to find them anymore. That's what is great about this modern technology! I used to be scared to death of computers, but since I started working with them, I find it makes writing sooo much easier.

We are in the summer doldrums here, brought on, no doubt, by the incessant heat we are having. We did have a cool spell during July that was unusual, so I guess I cannot complain about the heat now. It isn't really the heat that gets to me anyway, it's the humidity; today, it is 96%! Sweat (excuse me, perspiration) will not evaporate when the humidity is that high, so one must either stew in his own juices or stay inside with the air conditioner set at a comfortable level. I do the latter!

I should expect you will have started back to school when next I hear from you. Do write and tell me about those adventurous times and how you are faring. What's that you say? Those aren't adventurous times! Ah hah, that's what you think! Wait
until years go by, and you then reflect on your memories. I think you will be surprised.

Until next time then,

Your friend,

John




September 5, 1989

Dear John,

Hi! Its okay for the delay in answering my letter, I delayed yours longer before. Oh, from now on, when I address you, I'll write John, as you wished, before I was going to ask you if I could call you John because it seemed weird to keep on calling you Mr. Hunt.

About the incinerator, I'm not talking about Paisley Park, I'm talking about Harlie Avenue Park, it’s on Lonsdale Avenue. It's the park that has 2 baseball diamonds, a basketball court, a tennis court, and I think a football field.

You mentioned playing stoop ball at Paisley Park, what is stoop ball?

When the election occurs, I'll tell you who the new mayor is. Carlos Rohas isn't running again. I think he should though, because he's a nice guy. Tom Lazieh, John Gilgun, and Peter DeMeule are running. If I could vote, I would vote for Tom Lazieh, he seems he'd make a good mayor.

I was going to stay with Kathy for the week that she was on vacation but the men decided not to. I stayed the year before. It was fun. I don't know if she took the pictures for you yet. She said something about going to an art store with her friend Carl and after that she was going to take the pictures.

School starts tomorrow. I only have to go in for 11:00.

It's not that hot here today. It was only 76 degrees when I woke up this morning it was 52 degrees. I was cold.

Well, I'll let you go now.

Your friend,

Joyce



09 September 1989

Hi Joyce,

Glad to get your letter so soon, and thanks for clearing that up, the location of the incinerator, that is. Now that you mentioned Lonsdale Avenue in conjunction with Harlie, I believe I remember where that is. If I'm not mistaken, we used to play baseball there when I was a boy. There was only one ball field at the time, and no basketball, or tennis court or football field. It was located at the far edge of town also. Maybe that is the only place that is suitably far out of the mainstream of city life, to allow a commercial incinerator installation? At any rate, it sounds to me like it has already been firmed up as a "done deal." I hope it generates enough funds for the city so that they don't have to levy additional taxes upon the citizens.

Perhaps I was a bit hasty in writing to Kathy and admonishing her for not sending the pictures before now. I just got a letter from her today, and she explained the delay to my satisfaction. I didn't know it would be so hard for her to get black and white film. As I told her, color film can be used, but most publishers prefer black and white. She did get color film and has taken the pictures and says they will be ready in a week, give or take four days, and she will send them to me right away. She says she and her dad drove around and took the pictures but unfortunately, were not able to locate my old home at 391 Dexter.
Seems as though there is no longer a house with that address at the location I specified. Surprise, surprise!!

How's your imagination Joyce? To explain what "stoop ball" is, you will have to imagine the old wading pool at Paisley Park being empty...no dirt and flowers and no water. It was shallow at one end, the end toward Washington Street, and about three feet deep at the other end, the end near the gazebo on the hill. The drainage and intake were at this end, and the edge of this drain/intake had a cement border which formed a corner similar to a stair (or stoop). Actually, the word stoop stands for the stairs leading to a tenement, and was where the game was originally played. We played in the wading pool. The batter threw the ball (a hard rubber ball, slightly smaller than a tennis ball and a little larger than a golf ball) at the stoop, trying to hit the corner on the edge for flies, otherwise he hit grounders or pop-ups. The only thing that counted was flies which got past the fielders. Grounders were strikes (allowed three), and if the pop-ups were caught, you were out (allowed three). Generally, there were no more that three fielders. The one who got the most runs (flies not caught), won the game. There, now aren't you sorry you asked?

I heard from another old friend of mine from Lanier, Frank Jacusa, who is now a banker in Cranston. He informs me that Carlos (Chick) Rohas is ineligible to run again for mayor, so I knew he would not continue in that post. I will probably mail Carlos a book after it is published. I don't know any of the gentlemen you mentioned, who will be running for Carlos' vacant seat, but do keep me informed.

Kathy seems to have quite a nice time at Sand Hill Cove. It's a shame you were not able to go with her again. When she went last time, I believe she mentioned finding jelly fish and horseshoe crabs on the beach. She said she likes to lift up rocks underwater and look under them for sea life. She also said her cousin (you?) was with her and didn't like that. This time, she seems to have had a rather nice run-in with a swan and some sand pipers. I'll let her tell you about it. She says she took pictures, so she should be able to show you also.

The name of Carl, in conjunction with Kathy, does not ring any bells. She has never mentioned him. Is this a new love life blossoming? I must answer her letter next and apologize for the abruptness of my last letter. I think I'll ask her about him at the same time.

Well Joyce, have you gotten over the shock of your first week back at school? You will be in the middle of the second week when you get this letter. You should be adjusting nicely by now, and know where all your classes are. Are there many new faces this year? See anybody exciting you want to talk about? How's the homework caseload? What subjects are you taking this year and what are your short, and long term goals? Nosey, aren't I? Disregard any of the aforementioned questions if it would upset you to answer them.

If nobody has told you, I jump all over the place in my letters. That's just my style and if you continue to write me, you will get used to it. It bothers some people, I know, but it is a habit of mine which is difficult to break. Sometimes, I even hit upon something which is interesting. Not knowing if this is one of those cases, I'll say good bye for now.

Your friend,

John




Sept 13, 1989

John,

Hi! I have some good news for you. The tower clock is soon to be working in Paisley Park. It should be working sometime in October. The park is closed so they can fix it.

Tonight I'm baby sitting Rick and Larry Moncrief, they live upstairs from me. Rick is one year old, Larry is three. They're so cute. I love to baby sit them.

Kathy was mad when she got that letter from you. She said that after she sent you the pictures, she wasn't going to write to you anymore. I think she overreacted, because she did take a long time and I would have written to her too, asking what happened.

She sometimes says things to me or about me that I never did or said, like this thing about saying that I didn't like to look for sea life under rocks. Well, I do like to, and we never looked under rocks before, well, we did once, the first year, and I loved it. We had lots of fun. I don't know why she said that. I'm not going to say anything about it to her.

Kathy doesn't like Carl. In fact, a long time ago, they used to hate each other. When Carl would go in the beach house, Kathy would go out and both their fathers always teased them that they liked each other. Now they're just good friends, I think.

There aren't many new faces this year. The, somebody exciting, is Jules. I've liked him since last year. I don't really have any chance though, because we don't talk to each other. Last year, I sort of talked to him and someone told him I liked him.

I haven't had too much homework, yet. This year I'm taking Biology B, sort of interesting, Type I, which is the same thing I took last year, only it was personal type & I didn't know it was the same, General Math II, easy, Accounting I, a little tough, & English 10B.

The first time I wrote to you, I told you I wanted to be a Day Care owner. Since then, my plans changed a little. I think I want to be a social worker.

You aren't nosy! It gives me something to talk about. I always have trouble finding something to write about. Well that's it.

Your friend,

Joyce




20 September, 1989

Dear Joyce,

Your letter of 13 Sept. arrived today, and I was glad that you were still on friendly terms anyway. I had thought that Kathy might have turned you against writing to me. I'm glad that hasn't happened.

I did get the pictures that Kathy took. They arrived yesterday. I'm well pleased with them and have written to Kathy to tell her so. She only wrote me a one sentence note with the pictures, so I fear your assessment of her intentions not to write to me further, is correct. I certainly hope not though, because I do enjoy her letters.

I do not hold any animosity towards her, even if she did call me rude and obnoxious. I apologized to her not once, but twice. One sign of a person's maturity, I think, is to admit they are wrong when they realize it (I did that), and another sign is how well an apology is accepted. It can be done graciously or grudgingly. Enough said about that subject!

It's just great that the clock tower is being fixed. The picture Kathy sent is lacking hands on the dial, but otherwise, it hasn't changed all that much. The filled in wading pool appears much smaller than I remember it, but that too, can be attributed to the passage of time since I saw it last. There doesn't appear to be a great deal of change from what I remembered. The picture of Sacred Heart (used to be Ayers') playground, has a tennis court that wasn't there in my time, nor were there that many trees. I'm real happy with the pictures and will treasure the memories they evoke. I've told Kathy this also.

It's good that you like to baby-sit with children. Should you become a Social Worker in later life, you will undoubtedly be working with families that have children. The more you know about how their little minds work, the better prepared you will be. Of course, you will have to bone up on a lot of psychology courses also. I always found that rather dry, but some people take to it like ducks to water.

And then again, you know, you are subject to change your mind about a profession many more times before you make that final decision. At least you're thinking along the lines of getting a skill which would make you viable in the work force. That is good! Many women of my generation or older, never gave it much thought while growing up. Consequently, when they got older and their husbands died or they got a divorce, they had no skills for finding a job to support themselves, and had to start learning a new skill. That can be difficult.

I've always stressed the importance of a good education to my daughter Jean, and for the very reasons I've outlined above. I've tried to put her through college, but you know what they say, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." Unfortunately, she got her second academic suspension for not maintaining a high enough grade point average. She is now looking for a part time job and will try to go to Augusta Technical School at night to learn a trade (she's only had service orientated jobs before now). I've also enrolled her in Modeling classes one night a week. She's very excited about the latter, and will go to Atlanta to pose for pictures for the "Elite Modeling Agency" next month.

How do you "sort of" talk to a person? I had to laugh when I read that. Don't be upset Joyce, I wasn't laughing at you, and I think I know what you meant. You had an intermediary pass along the word that you were interested, huh? Well, Jules _____ puts on his pants one leg at a time, like every other boy! Don't be afraid to speak to him! Who knows, you could be passing up a good opportunity. When I was your age, I too, was shy when it came to talking to girls. I probably missed out on a lot of great friendships with the opposite sex. By the way, how old is this guy anyway? I wouldn't want you to get in over your head on my recommendation!

My book has an interesting revelation about a happening which took place in my biology class at Lanier. When it is finally published, get a copy and read it. I'm sure you will find lots of things to relate to, and besides, you will be able to see many of the letters your classmates (and you) wrote to me.

Last week, my wife Mija brought home a mockingbird. She says she spotted it fighting with another bird as she was driving down the road (personally, I don't think they were fighting). She stopped the car and got out and picked the bird up and brought it home. We put it in an old bird cage we had in our shed, and she fed it some bread, grapes and parakeet seed. Later that day, I too, spotted an animal in the middle of the road; a box turtle. To save its life, and not to be outdone by my wife, I also brought it home. Both animals were released the next morning in the woods behind my house. They appeared none the worse for our ministrations, and we wish them well.

Gotta run for now Joyce. My stomach keeps saying "feed me."

You write a nice letter, please keep doing it.

Your friend,

John




Sept. 25, 1989

Dear John,

Hi! I just finished my Biology homework. We had to write a summary from pages 19-24. It was a lot of writing.

I'm surprised that you don't know Jules. He was in one of the English classes last year that wrote to you, so he must have written to you once. "This guy" is 16. His birthday was in June or July. It's not that I'm shy and don't talk to him, it's just that he doesn't really talk to me. This year he hasn't said one word to me. Last year he kind of talked to me. My friend Carol told him that I liked him last year. So maybe now he's shy, I don't know.

you get the hurricane? We just got a tropical storm. I wanted to get it though.

Today in biology the class looked in microscopes at a letter "e" from a newspaper clipping. It looks weird; it's just a million dots.

Recently, at our school a five year old boy died of bacterial meningitis (a boy at the kindergarten). All the kindergarten kids went home early that day. They couldn't come back until they got some shots.

Are you having the ninth grade class of this year write to you?

Thanks for the birthday card. I got it right on the day of my Birthday.

For English this year I have Mr. Morgan. We have a certain thing to do on a certain day. For example, Monday and Tuesday, we do writing, Wednesday and Thursday we do literature, and on Friday, we do vocabulary. For this writing class, we have to write stories, songs, poems etc… I have an idea. I am writing a story about me and a friend going on a ten day cruise. There is this book I read from a series called baby sitters club and one of the books is about that. I'm going to use it as a reference to guide me as I go along. It's going to be good. Well that's all for this time.

Your friend,

Joyce




29 September, 1989


Dear Joyce,

Your welcome for the birthday card, I'm happy it got to you in time.

In regards to Jules, he may have been in last years English class with Mr. Powers, but he certainly didn't write to me. The only Jules who wrote to me was a Jules Farington, and when he wrote, he was planning on moving to Lincoln. It's not surprising that your Jules didn't write though. I know of others it that class who also didn't write to me.

I'm not planning to write to the ninth graders at Lanier High School this year unless asked to do so. Last year's writing stint wasn't planned either. I had written to the principle, Mr. Malcolm, asking to be put in touch with any of the teachers or my old classmates from my era at Lanier High School, and he gave the letter to Mr. Powers, who promptly turned it into a letter-writing campaign for his English students. It was a surprise to me also. As it turned out, I found I enjoyed the experience and was able to recall much of my past, and relate those memories to the students. In the process, I found I had enough material for a book. That's how all this correspondence came about. Naturally, I will be glad to write to anyone who wants to write to me.

Hurricane Hugo had been heading right for the Georgia coastline up until about three hours before landfall. Fortunately for us, it veered North just enough that we only caught the tail end of it. As you no doubt know by now, if you've been
watching the nightly news, it came ashore at Charleston, South Carolina, and did massive damage as much as two hundred miles inland at Charlotte, North Carolina. Of course, the barrier islands along the coastline were hit hardest. Some people, especially those too poor to pay for insurance, will never recover. They have their lives, but will be added to the list of homeless people in the U.S. It's sad!

The outbreak of meningitis you mentioned, has hit Georgia also. There have been five cases reported since school started. That's scary when it hits close to home isn't it? As you know, it strikes children mostly, and had been thought to be under control. I guess too many parents became complacent about it and failed to have their children immunized against it prior to starting school. That is usually where it is first contracted.

Most writers get their ideas from reading other's material, so it's okay to use that other story for a reference. Just don't copy it because you can get into trouble that way. Good luck with the story, and let me know how it comes out.

This morning Angel, my female parakeet, knocked loose the water and feed bin, which was attached to the cage. She made a mess all over the kitchen floor. My wife left the bins off in hopes that this would teach her not to do it again. She snuck out through the opening left by their absence. My cat, Misty, saw the bird, grabbed her and would have made a meal of her, but the commotion caused my wife to notice it in time to save her. She's pretty well shaken up, and minus a few tail feathers, but I think she will survive. She is still in good voice (she talks to her mate, Harry). I hope the event has given her second thoughts about knocking out the bin and escaping. That can be very dangerous around this house. I have two inside cats and three outside cats, but there are times when all of them are in the house. A bird's got to mind its Ps and Qs around here!

I've enjoyed talking with you Joyce, let's do it again soon.

Your friend,

John





October 6, 1989

Dear John,

Hi! As you noticed, there are two newspaper clippings enclosed in this letter. I thought you might like them. One is Paisley Park tower getting stonework and landscaping done, the second one is Tom Lazieh. I thought you might like to see who the candidates for mayor look like.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the other two, Gilgun or DeMule. My father is working at Lazieh headquarters. Lazieh and Gilgun won the primary election. Lazieh got 1,118 votes and Gilgun got 886 votes; a difference of 226 votes. I hope Lazieh wins, Gilgun's a real fag.

How much is your book going to be? I want to buy it.

We had two parakeets, now we only have one. The first bird was a female named Diana and one day we had both birds outside in their cage and my father opened the cage and she flew into Paisley Park and across Washington Street (in a tree). I climbed the tree and saved her. Then another day, my father opened the cage (outside) a crack to fix something and that's the end of her. The other bird is Charles, we still have him.

Kathy might be sleeping over tonight, if she wants to. Yep, she's sleeping over. She just called and said she could.

Well, I guess that's it for this time.

Your friend,

Joyce




15 October, 1989

Dear Joyce,

Thanks so much for the newspaper clippings and your letter of 6 October. That's a great shot of the tower in Paisley Park! I see they finally have the hands on the dial face. The picture that Kathy sent, they hadn't installed them yet. It was still in the process of being fixed.

Lazieh looks like a nice, clean-cut, handsome young man. Going on looks alone, it's easy to see why you like him. It seems as if he has most of the people voting in his favor too. You don't mention if he's a Democrat or Republican. Whichever party he's from, how does his opponent of the opposite party stack up?

I'm sorry I cannot tell you the price of the book I wrote. I haven't yet found a publisher to print it. I have two copies in circulation at the moment, and should be getting a decision from one publishing house soon. It's been almost two months since I sent them a copy. One subsidy publisher wanted to publish it, but I would have had to pay them 12,000 dollars to share the cost. They would have asked $17.95 per copy and I would have gotten 40 percent of that.

I couldn't afford the initial cash outlay, so I sent it to a royalty publisher. They rejected it, so I sent it to another publisher. While waiting for their decision, I made another copy and sent it out to another publisher last week.

It is very difficult for a neophyte writer to break into print when most established publishing houses accept only proven author's work. It isn't impossible though, so I'm going to keep on trying. I don't discourage easily. Most established writers get rejection slips when they first start out anyway.

I like your choice of bird's names. Who picked the names of Charles and Diana out? I don't know if the British royalty would appreciate it though. They might think you were trying to say that they are "for the birds."

My birds went to the vets the other day to get their beaks and talons trimmed. I was given quite a shock when we walked in. The lady there said I've misnamed Angel! Seems that she is a he, and it would have been more appropriate to name them Harry and Larry, or something to that effect. We got her/him at a very young age, and apparently the sales person thought he was a her. Oh well, they get along good together, and we weren't planning on mating them anyway. Take care now!


Your friend,

John





October 20, 1989

Dear John,

Hi! I am freezing. It is now 4th period in school. I work in Mr. Powers's book room every day, fifth period. Today, I had fourth period study so I'm up here and it's cold.

What we (Kieth and me) do up here, is we have a book list and the books are boxed. We have to put them on the shelves, but the shelves are all filled up and there's nothing to do. I don't have any homework to do either.

This week was school spirit week. Monday was formal day, Tuesday was punk rock day, Wednesday was mix-n-match day, Thursday was Hawaiian day and today is the traditional red and blue day. We're having a big pep rally!

You're now going to know what I look like, since I'm sending you an extra copy of the Summer Job program.

I don't really like Jules anymore, because he never talks to me and he thinks he's sooo popular. I think he's snobby this year, but he's still cute.

The bell is about to ring. Write more later.

I'm back. Today is Sunday. It took me two whole days to get back to this letter. Sorry but I was busy this weekend. I was going to answer your questions, but right now I can't find your letter.

See ya,

Joyce




25 October, 1989

Dear Joyce,

I Got your 20 October letter today, and the clipping about the Channel One Summer Jobs program. That helped clear up a lot of vague notions I had about what the program was about. It sounds like a very worthwhile program for the community. It seems a shame that someone stole the video equipment and tapes you all had made. Was any of it ever recovered? Were you able to remake the video tape of the drug abuse skit? I think it's great that you kids think enough about your community to try to help solve some of the problems. Hang in there Joyce!

I really can't make out what the T-shirt you are wearing says. Is it San Francisco or Saint Francis? It looks like there may be a picture of a biblical persona in the center.

Yeah, the cold has moved in down here in Georgia also. Thing is, the mean cold temperature here is never as bad as it gets in New England. That's one reason why I settled here, even though my roots are in that neck of the woods.

Sounds like you started your school spirit week early. That seems to have caught on all over the country. The themes may vary from day to day, but they have a school spirit week here in Augusta every year also. That's something we didn't have in my day. I would imagine that it kind of perks up the day some for the students. I can't imagine what it does for the teachers though!

Kathy is remaining true to her word of not writing to me. I suppose she thinks she is punishing me. That's too bad, because I had thought our friendship went deeper than petty bickering. I hold no animosity towards her, and regret she does towards me.

You say you were busy this past weekend Joyce, but you don't say what you were doing. I noticed on the weather on television, that New England got some snow this past week. Did Lanier get any of it? Do you help man the snow shovel at times like that?

Keep me informed of your activities, I'm always interested.

Your friend,

John




October 30, 1989

Dear John,

Hi! About the skit, we never got to do another one that summer job is now a winter job, only it runs a little differently. I work at the library from 3:00 to 5:00 every day except Sat & Sun. The T-Shirt says Franciscan University. It's a college in Ohio. It's catholic.

It's been so warm, yesterday it was 78 degrees. We didn't get any snow in Lanier. As you know, tomorrow is Halloween. I'm just going to a party. In the Paisley Park Tower, there is going to be a Haunted Tower.

Nothing's really been going on lately, but now I have a job. My first day will be tomorrow. Today we got introduced to the boss and he showed us around.

This weekend there is a bazaar at a nearby church, Notre Dame. I love going to that. It's too bad about Kathy. She's changed a lot. She is really being a pain. One day I was sitting at lunch with her and she said to me "does Adrian hate me?" I said "I don't think so." Then she said "Well, she's always giving me dirty looks." (she never did). Then after school, my friend comes up to me and said "big mouth." I said what she said. Kathy told me that you told her that she hates me. Then Adrian said Kathy wrote me a note and it said Joyce told me you hate me. I told Adrian just what I told you. Then I wrote Kathy a note asking her why she lied and she never wrote back or even talked to me about it. She ignored the whole subject. She does things like that to me a lot. When she lies I can tell though. It gets me mad. I don't usually write on the back side of my letters but I forgot. Until then,


Your friend,

Joyce





21 November, 1989

Dear Joyce,

I'm so sorry for the delay in answering your letter Joyce. I know you will forgive me when you learn why. You see, my wife had to bring me your letter to read while I was in the hospital. I had to have another heart operation on 9 November, and I just got home on the 16th. I've been trying to catch-up on my correspondence, but as of yet, haven't worked up enough stamina to stick with it for very long. I had a triple bypass, and though I'm still weak, I've managed to catch-up on most of my writing.

Your letter of 30 October saddens me so much. I never meant to bring about discord among any of my friends, especially among cousins like you and Kathy. I've not gone behind anyone's back telling stories out of school. What I say to my friends and what they say to me is our business, and nobody else's. I really don't understand this "she said this, and he said that" type of backbiting. I also don't want to get into the middle of something that has been blown all out of proportion.

I still hold no animosity towards Kathy, and as a matter of fact, I told her that she did a great job with the pictures. It's true that I had earlier thought she might have put off taking the pictures unduly long, and spent the money I sent her on something else. I apologized to her for that assumption. I cannot help it if she chose not to accept my apology. I will not grovel for her though, and if she expects that, she better not hold her breath. If, as you say, she is saying things to you and others which I haven't said, I cannot do anything about that. Perhaps she was hurt deeper than I thought by my callousness, and is doing that as a form of revenge. I refuse to speculate on that, however, and would be just as happy to resume writing to her if she ever decides to resume our communications. Enough said on that subject! Let's put it to bed and let sleeping dogs lie.

Working at the library is cool! I did that also when I was in training at the USN Radioman Training School, at Bainbridge, Maryland back in 1960. It was during a lull in scheduling. I really enjoyed it and hope you do to.

How did your party at Paisley Park Tower turn out? I would guess that it is now back in good running order. The pictures you and Kathy sent really brought back a lot of fond memories for me.

I heard from an old friend and former classmate of yours also, upon my return from the hospital. She is Susana ______, now living in Portugal with her dad. She was quite saddened at leaving Lanier and her friends and had some difficulty adjusting to school life again (the language difficulty after a long absence was hard to assimilate). She says she will have to take the school year over again but now that she has made some new friends, and the language is becoming easier to understand, she is beginning to enjoy it. I think she's going to be okay now.

I'm still plugging the book to new publishers. I have two copies in circulation to various publishers at all times. Sooner or later, some publishing house will be willing to take the risk by publishing a neophyte writer.

All the leaves have turned color and fallen to the ground during my hospitalization. It's about the time of year when everyone is raking leaves and pine needles for burning. I love that smell, but one has to be careful when burning. We use the ashes in our garden every year. The temperature today was unseasonably warm at 73 F. Usually this time of the year it is in the 50 or 60 degree range. I'm not going to complain about it though.

Write again soon Joyce, but please try to patch up this rift which has developed between you and Kathy. I'd hate to think I was the cause of that.

Your friend,

John