As I walk down the Squadron Line ramp, it’s rare that I don’t think of Meg White. I was a second-grader there when a group of us invented the game of flats. The goal was to step on the back of the person’s shoe who was walking in front of you. If you did it correctly, the person’s heel would pop out of the shoe, necessitating a stop to fix it.
We were coming in from recess– or maybe heading to it from the cafeteria. What matters is I was holding my Barbie lunchbox. (Yes, Barbie was around when I was in second grade!) Lunchboxes at that time were metal. Meg White was behind me on the ramp, and, predictably, she gave me a flat. Except her flat didn’t go so well for me. In addition to losing my shoe, I lost my balance and fell face-first on my metal Barbie lunchbox. Maybe I remember the day so vividly because I’ve spent so many hours since then sitting in a dentist’s chair fixing or replacing the cap on my front tooth.
In any case, when you see me walking down the second ramp and I look distracted, you can bet that Meg White is on my mind. And you can bet that I welcome distractions and conversations that don’t have to do with a chipped front tooth!
This is a great memory. It brought me back to my days walking in the hallway of Stony Hill School listening to Mr. Ruben, the principal, say, "whispa, walk" as he jiggled a pocket full of change. I always wondered why he had so many coins in his pocket? I too had a metal lunchbox, mine was Scooby Doo!
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