Benefits

East-side kids went to Pine Street School. West-side kids went to Cedar Street School. Some Catholic kids went to St. Michael's and others went to The Christian Schools. I don't remember exactly what year Daisy Brook came into the picture but for those of us who managed to pass through the 5th grade, Daisy Brook is where we all landed for 6th grade. It served as a pre-cursor to junior high school. We had a homeroom that we started out and ended the day in. In between, we were instructed to shuffle to another classroom with a different teacher every hour or so in order to help us adjust to the trauma of switching classes. Which also introduced us to the mood changes in hungover teachers who, come Monday morning, didn't always have the patience for my smart-aleck sense of humor.

By the time we reached 7th grade pretty much all of us were funneled into junior high. Except for the christian school kids, who were not allowed to set foot on public floors until they had built up a tougher immune system.

I forgot where I was going with this...OH! In the 3 years of junior high you start the process of fraternizing with kids that you may have had maybe one or two things in common. But found myself hanging with Gary and Ken once in a while. Ken I knew from before because I bought my mini-bike from him. That led me to Gary and his fraternal twin Terry. Gary's folks owned what seems like 2 or 3 of the towns restaurants, Jane's and I think J&J, I think. One of the biggest benefits and cool factors to knowing Gary was that, after school, if you played your cards right and were hanging out at just the right time (timing was everything), he would stop by Jane's to get an ice cold coke free because of course his folks owned the place. And by having that slight association, I would get one too. And if you were really really lucky, a cheese burger might be in the picture.

It's sad that when some of us turned 18 during our senior year, which at that time was the legal drinking age, I hadn't become friends with anybody who's folks owned Chuck & Ralph's.