It was three o'clock. Mr. Jackie Carver, the Principal at Hickerson Station, with his big "Coach" voice, shouted at me, as I ran past him in the hall way at full speed to catch the bus.
"STONE ! I'm gonna bust you tomorrow !"
I never looked up or slowed down. I was in the First Grade.
My sisters are older than me. Melanie, is four years older, and Sheri is two years older. So, I had been all over Hickerson before being a student there. Even as a first grader, there was no fear of the building, the teachers, or, unfortunate for me, Mr. Carver, the Principal.
My earliest memories of Hickerson are of the old cafeteria.
https://hickerson.coffeecountyschools.com/about
Back to the day I got caught running in the hall way... Mr. Carver's promise to "bust me tomorrow," got me to thinking as I rode the bus home. Dadgum it. Maybe he won't be at school tomorrow? Maybe I won't be at school tomorrow? Doing nothing and taking a whipping was not an option. All the way home I was thinking about it. I know! I'll wear three or four pairs of underwear. Then, when I get my licks tomorrow, it won't even hurt.
So the next morning, I got all padded up, and went to school. I was ready, and waited, and waited, and... nothing. Day two, same thing. A week went by, and I'm still wearing extra layers under my blue jeans. Mr. Carver must be looking for me. He's probably asking where I am. Any...time...now...
My sisters and I were no strangers to a good spanking. When mom had enough, she would send all three of us to dad's closet to get a belt. That took awhile, and gave her a chance to regroup. We'd stand there, looking, not wanting to touch one. Finally, Melanie or Sheri picked one out that didn't look lethal. Then about ten thirty at night, when dad got home from work, if mom hadn't changed her mind, we had to line up and take that whipping. We must have been pretty awful for our mom to get to that point.
Melanie and I would go first, to get it over with. Sheri was always last. Sheri is the middle child, and she watched all this. When we got ours, and it was her turn, her whipping was an after thought. She was twisting and squirming, trying to run, and the whole time, negotiating a lesser punishment. Making her wait was worse than the spanking. Melanie and I got ours out of the way, just to watch what would happen next.
So back at school, now my first grade self is thinking, maybe Mr. Carver forgot about me. Maybe he is just messing with me. Somewhere between week one and week two, I stopped wearing extra clothes. Time went by. I forgot about it.
Fast Forward thrity eight years. Karen was 14, and Robin was 12. They were both students at West Middle school. Will was in the first grade at Farrar elementary. With older sisters that had been through Farrar, he knew every door in and out of the building.
He was a mess, all energy, and into things. It was a good funny kind of mess most of the time. About that same time, there was a push for ADHD meds. Adults and kids were getting on them to slow them down. I'm not sure how we avoided that with Will, but we did.
One of Will's teachers, Mrs. Cindy Middleton, loved his energy, and personality.
So, Terri and I, and the kids were at their middle school basketball game. We had heard the girls talk about Coach Carver, their PE teacher. They said he always had a corny joke, and something to funny to say. I thought, there is a good chance that is my old Principal.
Sure enough, I saw him standing in the little hall way that connects the gymnasium and the concession stand. He was talking to some parents. Except for some gray hair, Mr. Carver had not changed a bit. He was still in good shape, fit and lean. He was lifting weights and eating right before it was cool.
He saw me and recognized me. I shook his hand and got a big hug. Then I introduced him to Terri, and told him we are Karen and Robin's parents. He smiled as he connected the dots, and put us all together.
As we talked, five year old Will ran past us at full speed. He never looked up, and never slowed down. That...is our youngest, William. Coach Carver laughed, and we visited and caught up on family and how everyone was doing.
The moment was too much for me, and I said, "Coach Carver, you know you still owe me some licks from when I was his age?" He just laughed. I reminded him of the hallway sprint at Hickerson to catch the bus, and him telling me, "Stone, I'm gonna bust you tomorrow!"
I told Coach Carver, "I was padded up, and ready. And you never mentioned it again. Turns out that was worse than getting a whipping and getting it over with." He smiled and said, "You can quit worrying about that."
I found these pictures online of Mr. Carver. -
Just another day in the Teachers lounge. Is that Jon's older brother, Jackie Bon Jovi?
And this last one, from his teenage years in 1963. Coach Carver was quite a baseball player and athlete.
