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JMJ

A Story
Charles C. Hesse (Class of 1/47)
July 1, 1999

A loud bang in the outside darkness. Lightening! Joanne O’Brien jumped. I watched the hard rain beat straight down outside our 6th grade classroom. A slight cool breeze came under the windows past Sr.  Benedicta’s geraniums. School lights flickered. It was wartime. England secretly powered up the first tube computer that shaped my life for the next 54 years. Under the Chicago Stadium the Atomic Age was born. I was unaware. I saw the red and gold stars in the neighborhood windows. It didn’t hit me. That was outside, God was inside.

It was 4/4/44 -- the day the revolution began. I did not take part. I knotted my tie the right way. Not in a fancy "Windsor."

John DeLury told me. A boy in the 8th grade came to school in long pants. Peter Didier said the boy’s mother couldn’t find knickers for him because his legs were too long. No! It wasn’t Willie Morrow.

Sister sent him home. Long pants and all.

Kids in the playground were saying they would like to wear long pants! It was contagious. It seemed sinful to me. Windsor, long pants... what will be next? It was wrong. What will I do when I go to Jackson in a couple of years? Forget it, that’s a long time away. Sister is looking at me. Pay attention to Tommy Irving reading his report.

In 1944 the rain was outside. Geraniums bloomed inside. The radiator gave off a warm heat. Sister knew God. We were saving China’s babies. Didn’t know of a place called Korea. Nothing really changed. We were learning an old song for Mary. May is next month. Farther Kinsella will be proud. Boys on Sister’s right, girls on the left.

Father made them all wear their knickers that year and everything remained.

It started!

Note:
I remember writing 4/4/44 in class and saying to myself: "Remember this day in 5/5/55." Was that the day the first boy wore long pants? No! It was around that time. John, Pete, Tommy, Willie, Joan, are real, but placed in the story as they fit in a 11 year old mind. Did everyone feel the same way about change? I don’t know. That’s the way I felt. On 5/5/55 I was in the North Atlantic in a Submarine. On 6/6/66 an Engineering Manager for Chicago IBM. On 9/9/99 working the Internet in Wisconsin. On 01/01/01 planning to be writing in Orlando Florida.  Change never stopped since 4/4/44. Fun Stuff!

Charlie