The Story of Andy Kjearsgaard
Arne and I liked school but we also enjoyed pulling pranks. We put frogs and garter snakes in our teachers' desk drawers. In winter, we put our frozen inkwells on top of the furnace, then waited for the geyser to blow. Our idea caught on and soon the ceiling was spattered with ink.
When the prankster was identified, punishment was swift. The worst penalty wasn't getting the strap, it was being ordered to sit beside a girl. That horrifying humiliation would keep me in line for nearly a week––but I guess that was the point.
Playing Hookey
One fine June morning, I was commander of our buggy expedition to school. I don't know whether the Devil tempted me or I lost my mind but partway there I decided we should all play hookey. I stopped, unhitched the buggy and took off May's harness. The girls, worried, chanted You'll be sorry, you'll be sorry.
What did they know? Today I made the decisions. I was an experienced outdoorsman. I could tell the time from the angle of the sun, so I'd decide when it was time to eat lunch, feed May and head for home. I'd never get in trouble because I'd never be found out.
I carefully watched the sun's position, though I might as well have watched a cloud or a tree. When I estimated it was four o'clock, I harnessed May, hitched up the buggy and ordered the girls aboard. Time to go home.
We drove into the farmyard at 11:30 that morning––it wasn't even lunchtime yet. I had no alibi and those girls never could keep a secret. Dad handed me the Bible and sent me to an empty granary to read it. Then he sent me to bed without supper.
I never played hookey again.
Adapted from the 1994 Heritage Book,with permission from the Federation of Danish Associations in Canada
Teaser:
• A bully says Hand over those eggs––or the yolk's on you.
