TCC: The Third Crumb, Part I

In 1965: my parents moved our home base from the Branson, MO area 30 some miles west to the Shell Knob, MO area. The first stop was in a trailer park near the Campbell Point Boat Dock on Table Rock Lake; and then they bought a small green house directly behind the Skelly Gas Station a stone throw from the Central Crossing Bridge over Table Rock Lake.

Yes, Table Rock is a big lake. For it is around 65 miles from Beaver Dam (around 15 miles west of Eureka Springs, AR) unto Table Rock Dam (around 10 miles southwest of Branson, MO.

No, it is not a "natural" lake. For it is part of a chain of lakes (Beaver, Table Rock, Taneycomo, Bull Shoals, and Norfork) that were formed when several dams were built by the U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers across the White River that naturally flows back and forth across the Arkansas/Missouri border from west to east.

No, our moving had nothing to do with me. Well, not exactly. For it was because of how much our semi-retired neighbors complained about the school bus (yes, I was still welcome to ride it) picking me up early in the morning when we were there during the school year that my parents thought that it would be everyone's best interest for us to just move somewhere else.

Besides: I was not yet back to form. For aside from a parentally-sanctioned fight with a fellow second-grader over a chair at a PTA Meeting of the Shell Knob School: I was still relatively well-behaved.

In fact: one could say that I was on my best behavior. For within just a few weeks of being in attendance at the Shell Knob School: my teacher wanted to promote me to the fourth grade!!!

No, it was not because of her being sick of me already. For my second grade teacher, Mrs. Redding, would also be my fourth grade teacher.

Talk about a blast from the past: Shell Knob was a "two-room" school back then. The "little" room held grades 1 - 4; and the "big" room held grades 5 - 8.

Most of the high-schoolers in the area were bussed around 25 miles unto Cassville, MO. Others were bussed around the same distance unto Blue Eye, MO.

Now, as far as my own feelings on the subject of my grade promotion were concerned: I thought that it was only fair. For I had been held back from graduating from Kindergarten unto the first grade a couple of years before.

No, it was not that I had "flunked" Kindergarten. For it was because of there being different age policies in different school districts back then that prevented me from moving-on to the first grade after I had completed a year of Kindergarten. For I had started Kindergarten somewhere down south when I was 4, turning 5 in November; and then, at the start of the next school year: we were up in Minnesota. Therefore: since I was only 5, not turning 6 until November, I had to enroll in Kindergarten again.

None of that mattered unto my parents when they were approached with the idea of allowing me to be promoted from the second grade unto the fourth. For they did not want me to have to compete with older students; and this is why they said: "NO".

Yes, upon reflection: I am quite sure that physical disadvantages had a lot to do with their negative decision. For aside from being behind in the natural growth process: I had ballooned unto around 130 pounds since contracting Rheumatic Fever; and that excess weight did not appear to be going away anytime soon.

As time would tell: I was apparently too immature to skip any grades, anyway. For I started the second semester of the second grade in Oklahoma City, OK; and I received 3 whippings a day (one at school, one from my mother when I got home from school, and one from my father when he got home from work) until just before the end of the school year.

No, I was not "acting-out" because of being denied the opportunity of rapid academic advancement. For I was just being me at the time; and that should have been taken more into account. For if they really did not want me to check-out all of the stuff that was in those clear-glass gallon jars that were on the top shelf around the classroom up close: they should not have had them out in plain view!!!