Little Boy Lost: Volume One

Chapter Six

     I have one more elementary school memory to share from my days at the Fort Hill Elementary School...unless I remember more, that is. This one was a real humdinger, too. I'm pretty sure that it occurred while I was in Kindergarten, but I know for a fact that it happened in the gymnasium/cafeteria. Our whole class put on a play. And when I say that our whole class put on a play, I mean our WHOLE CLASS put on a play. All of our parents and our entire families were invited to it. And I honestly don't know what the play was or even what it was really about, either. But looking back, I do recall there being a lot of rabbits. Every single kid in the class was a rabbit. And this was still back in the days when mothers either routinely knew how to sew, or they were related to somebody or had a good friend that did. So, in addition to BEING rabbits, we also all LOOKED like rabbits. I so totally remember my mother making that rabbit costume on her old electric sewing machine. It literally covered my entire body, like a big bunny jumpsuit. I mean to say that I had to climb into it and have the back zipped up behind me. Even my HEAD was covered by the costume, leaving only my young little face exposed. And not only did that costume cover my head, but it even had a long pair of rabbit ears on top with bendable wires sewed into them so that they would stand straight up and also be positionable. Come the evening of the play, that gymnasium was jam-packed full of parents and family and lots and lots of rabbits.

     Now it seems like the play involved a mother rabbit, played by the teacher, of course. And this mother rabbit had a whole bunch of little rabbit children, which were played by all of us costumed students. It also seems that somehow the play involved said mother rabbit giving each of us rabbit children our own job to do. If so, however, I no longer have any idea whatsoever regarding what my own particular job might have been. But there is one specific scene in the play that I DO remember. Our teacher was sitting in a large wooden rocking chair in the middle of the small stage and holding the big book open in her lap that she was reading from and which the whole play was based around, while all of us rabbit children excitedly ran around in a circle all about her. And I can also so totally remember when my mother had finished sewing my own rabbit costume, her calling me into the living room to try it on, and how proud I felt when I finally got to don the costume and wear it. I'll always be forever grateful that I was so richly blessed in having had a mother that was willing to get involved with us kids in all the ways that our mother did. There are even a couple of pictures in my father's old collection of slides of me proudly wearing and displaying my new rabbit costume as I tried it on and happily modeled it for the rest of our family.

     I remember already having talked about the TV shows that I enjoyed watching back in those days. I've since remembered a few more, however, so here we go again... I don't think that I could ever complete this writing without having talked about Romper Room. Romper Room was a childhood staple in terms of children's TV shows back in those days. The "star" of the show was a middle-aged churchy kind of looking and talking lady. And in every episode, she had a different set of little kids on there with her. There were never any more than five or six kids on the show with her, if I remember correctly, too. The set that the show was filmed in resembled a small classroom that was pretty much average-looking for back in those days, I guess. And it was a very CALM show. I don't remember anybody within it ever shouting, getting excited, or ever being afraid or nervous. There weren't any plot twists, drama, or clever dialogue. It was just kind of like a regular teacher with an ordinary classroom. And while I can't really remember any of the things that the show's main character did with the kids or taught them on the show well enough to articulate them, I clearly recall always being totally drawn into the show and being completely entranced by it.

     The one singular detailed memory that I do recall about Romper Room was how the teacher and kids would all sit down at a small table toward the end of each episode, and all have a little snack together. But here's the amazing thing, though. Before they would eat their food, their "teacher" would reverently instruct the kids to all hold hands with each other and then lead them in a PRAYER. And it seemed so right and natural that she did so, too. Can you imagine what would happen in today's world if the star of a mainstream children's show led kids on her show in a PRAYER, thanking GOD for their FOOD? We've come so far technologically over the last fifty years, and yet we've lost so much societally. Are we really all that much better off now than we were back then?