Crucial Skills®

A Blog by Crucial Learning

Kerrying On

The Frightening First Days of School

In the fall of 1952, I faced the prospect of attending school for the first time. The whole idea of going to school made me weak in the knees. My older brother had filled my head with bullying stories that gave me second thoughts about ever leaving home, let alone sharing the playground with a bunch of three-and-a-half-foot thugs.

“They better not beat me up,” I muttered under my breath as I started the long, lonely walk toward Larrabee Elementary School. Stupid second graders. They were the ones to watch out for, or so my brother said. Second graders, proud of their recent grade advancement and reeling from the abuse they experienced in the first grade, would be the hard-core bullies. It would be second graders who would steal my Twinkies, tear up my artwork, and give me a wedgie.

“Let’s see, I’ve got my marbles in my pocket,” I reflected. They were for recess, of course, but if I could make it safely to the playground, I could display my maturity by being good at shooting aggies. Then the bullies would leave me alone.

I was wrong. The second graders didn’t take my marbles by force, but they did cheat me out of them. I’d get ready to shoot my second-grade opponent’s aggie, and he would shout, “‘cover-zies’ for me and ‘non-cover-zies’ for you.” What?

Then, he’d cover up his aggie with gravel from the playground and force me to shoot my prize ball bearing at the pile. Next, because I had “non-cover-zies,” I couldn’t cover my ball bearing and he would uncover his shooter, shoot my steel marble, and put it in his pocket. By the end of the afternoon recess I had nothing left.

As much as I worried about the first days of grade school, when I finally graduated from the sixth grade, I worried ten times more about the first days of junior high school. I’d heard eighth graders wantonly stripped you naked during PE and threw you into the girl’s side of the gym. Or they locked you in your locker. Or they burned up your metal-shop project. Plus, there was always their favorite trick—“pantsing” you.

In 1958, wearing pants slung low and loose on your hips was all the rage. For a seventh-grader, it was also dangerous. Particularly if you were riding the city bus home while standing with one hand holding your French and history textbooks and the other hand clinging to an overhead strap. Just when you thought you were safe—wham! An eighth grader would yank your pants down to your ankles. The girls would scream, the boys would laugh, and you would be mortified. Heaven forbid your shorts had a hole in them—you’d have to move to Canada.

Given these hideous possibilities, the prospect of entering junior high school worried me a great deal. I was sure to be bullied the day I stepped onto the grounds of Fairhaven. I could feel it in my bones.

But first came summer. To keep me from fretting myself to a frazzle, my mom signed me up to pick strawberries. The job consisted of riding a berry bus filled with thirty or so twelve- to sixteen-year-olds far out into the country. Then, for eight hours you’d bend over a row of strawberries and pick the ripe ones in the blazing, life-sucking sun. And for all of this effort, if you were lucky, you’d earn five dollars a day.

I didn’t get lucky. I made just under two dollars my first day. At one point during that day, one of the berry bosses said I was suffering from heat exhaustion and forced me sit in the shade for an hour. I made no money during that time. We were being paid by the flat, not by the hour. Today, if you treated a twelve-year-old this way, you’d be charged with callous indifference or the illegal use of fruit. Maybe something worse.

But all wasn’t lost. At the end of the day, and to my total surprise, Hades quickly turned into heaven. The berry boss blew his whistle and we stacked our flats, boarded the bus, and headed home. Within seconds, someone started singing “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt” and we all joined in. Throughout the entire ride home we joyfully belted out every camp song imaginable. Like warriors returning after an exhausting and perilous battle, we celebrated our victory by singing songs about beer bottles on a wall and a girl walking into the water. It was splendid. I’m not sure I’ll ever eclipse the happiness I experienced those glorious days singing in the berry bus as we rode home after an exhausting day of harvesting strawberries.

As the season continued, and we pickers jointly faced chilling rain, the scorching sun, and shrinking berries, we bonded into a team of genuine field hands. Unlike sissy kids who did heaven-knows-what all day long, we pickers earned our way. And we helped each other. Boys helped carry girls’ heavy flats filled with berries. Girls taught boys how to pick faster. We were one in unity and purpose.

Eventually, the season ended and I had to face the dreaded seventh grade. As I read through the class rosters posted on the wall near the school entrance, I finally found my homeroom. Listed were the kids with whom I’d be sharing three classes a day. I knew only one other person on the list. One. It was going to be a lonely, scary year.

And then came the eighth-graders. A pack of four of them started walking menacingly toward me. “Hey #&% face!” one of them taunted. I grabbed the waist of my low-slung pants as the hoods inched forward. And then, just when I was about to be pantsed or worse, I heard someone shout, “Kerry! Aren’t you all cute and dressed up for school.” It was a ninth grader—not just any ninth grader—it was a berry-picking ninth grader. And she was a cheerleader to boot.

Soon a bunch of us pickers from the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades were gathered in the hall and reminiscing as the older students helped the younger ones find their way to their first classroom. It had never occurred to me that the older kids I had met and bonded with in the fields would show up at junior high school and be the star quarterback, or the head of the chess club, or a member of the cheer squad. Nor did I think they would be my advocates. But that’s exactly who they were and that’s exactly what they did.

I wasn’t bullied that year. I was welcomed. The next year as the eighth grade unfolded for me, I too became an advocate and protector. Like our predecessors, my classmates and I wouldn’t dream of bullying kids who had worked alongside us. We shared their dreams and fears; we had fought the berry wars together.

And so it should be everywhere. Building a sense of community helps us humanize others. We recognize ourselves in them, and treat them with the respect and kindness we all deserve. And that makes the world a better place.

Oh yeah, and one more thing. Thank your lucky stars that you never had to pick strawberries in the searing sun. For eight hours a day. Up hill. Both ways.

13 thoughts on “The Frightening First Days of School”

  1. Kristina Kress

    Kerry,

    Thanks for this story. It’s an apt reminder of how strong the bonds can be when people face adversity as a community or team.

    Your story can also remind us of how appreciative we need to be when eating fruits and vegetables and be grateful for those who toil in the fields to sow, tend, and harvest.

    Thanks again!

    Kristina Kress

    1. Kerry Patterson

      As you might guess, I don’t buy strawberries, raspberries, or green beans (I picked all of them) without giving thanks to those who worked so hard to bring them to market.

  2. Theresa Opstrup

    What a great read, Kerry! I had the pleasure of enjoying lunch with you one day during the REACH conference. Since both of us are Pacific Northwesterners (I’m from Marysville) we shared some stories of the local area, berry picking and the beautiful cabins we have here in Washington. It made me hold my head a bit higher that day because I had just bonded with THE Kerry Patterson over lunch. It really added to my feeling of belonging in the VitalSmarts community. Thank you for not only writing about great topics and helping to change this world but, for also walking that talk.

    1. Kerry Patterson

      Thanks for your kind remarks. My mom spent several years of her early childhood in Marysville. My grandpa was a lumber inspector at the time. He would walk into a mill and calculate board footage in his head. He was quite the math wiz. I now live in sunny Utah and I don’t miss the Puget Sound rain, but I do miss the output–rivers, streams, lakes, etc.

  3. Tricia Taylor

    Thank you so much for your wonderfully written stories and for the insightful points behind them. I always look forward to reading your stories. Back-to-school was today for both of my kids and your article couldn’t have been timed better.

    You’re an amazing storyteller. Thank you for sharing!

  4. Grizzly Bear Mom

    In U.S.A.F. (and Army) basic training we sang songs as we marched along. It made long hours on our feet bearable and built commarderie with each other and against our Training Instructor aka Drill Instructor. As in “If I die in San Antone, ship my body air mail home. In my coffin I’ll reside, grounded to inspection side. Sound off? 1-2. Sound off 3-4. Bring it on down 1-2-3-4, 12 34!”

    1. Kerry Patterson

      My boyhood chums and I sang the four service songs as we hiked through the forest–“Off we go into the wild blue yonder. . .”

      I don’t know if any other kids did that, but it came so natural to us that I’ve never even thought about it until now.

  5. Jackie

    Thanks so much for the great story! I felt as though I was sitting and visiting with a friend! The moral at the end, it is something that we don’t think about at the time, but working as a team has so many rewards that we aren’t even aware of and long lasting relationships!

  6. Sue

    I really enjoy reading your stories, Kerry! You have a wonderful way of writing to make the story come alive. Thank you!

  7. Colleen R

    What a great story! I especially love the reference to low slung pants. I wonder if the adults who complain so bitterly about the boys and their low slung pants these days wore theirs that way too? Fashion really does repeat itself! Love your stories!

  8. Kay Hougan-Jones

    Hi, Kerry,

    Enjoyed this story immensely as my father was a strawberry farmer in Whatcom County and yes, I had to pick my quota of berries. All us local kids had a strong bond in school and when Junior High rolled around we immediately sought each other out. I love your stories about your childhood because you always mention places, names, stores and landmarks that I know.

    Kay

  9. cindy

    Hi, Kerry

    Thanks for the great story, and the great message about the importance of team building. I felt like I was walking beside you the whole way. This would make a great basis for a coming-of-age story, or YA novel.

    Thanks for sharing.

  10. Melissa

    Hi Kerry,

    As someone who lives in a town where agriculture (and berry picking especially) is literally down the street from me, this is an intriguing story…to think of young kids picking berries is a little strange! However I’m probably showing my age when I say that I think a lot of young folks–in my generation and others–would have been well served by going through this experience…

    This is a good reminder that everyone is just folks, to coin a phrase. Everyone needs to treat others how they want to be treated. No one above or below anyone, and pulling together in a tough situation (or a difficult task) bonds people tightly. We need to remember that.

Leave a Reply