Being a teacher for 36 years I have always enjoyed watching TAGS episodes that have a school related story. I have always wondered how far Opie lived from the school. He must have walked past the courthouse to and from school as he would always stop in and see his pa. It must have been very close to the courthouse too as he would sometimes go see his pa during noonhour. I was alwayas a bit confused (which is not unusual for me ) when Opie was walking home the day he found the purse with all the money. He was on what looked like a country road. Always wondered why he took that way home. In any event, I was so fortunate during my school days to have been able to walk to school every day except for my last two years of high school when we consolidated with the school in the next town which was just four miles away. I walked the same route to school approximately 2000 times during my formative years. I got to know every inch of that route. I recall stopping to pick cattails when the ditch was full of water. I can also remember the dog bites I received from our neighbor's mean dog. I even recall getting butted by an old billy goat that one of our neighbors kept. Those were wonderful slow walks. I also remember mean Tom Younker who was the bully. He was removed from our neighboring parochial school and came to the public school. He made my life miserable on several occasions when I was walking home from school. I don't recall ever fighting with him, so he must have just got tired of picking on me. I also remember with a thump in my chest, those days when I took another route home. It was after pretty little Pat moved to town and I would walk her home and we would stop at the drug store for a coke. One night we were sitting at the back table having our cokes when who should walk it, but our teacher. I thought I would die of embarrassement. But he just smiled. He must have remembered what it was like to be 12 and in love. I was twelve years old at that time. Those were the days when parents would not even think of walking their kids to school or picking them up at the door. We were so independant and living in a very small town certainly had its advantages.
-- Ken Anderson The Mayberry Guru 2906 May Street Eau Claire, Wisconsin 54701 www.mayberryreflections.com _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
