Standing in line at the bank this morning several of us were talking about Ocracokers and the pranks they like to play on each other. Kay said she couldn't remember if it was Ronnie Van or James Barrie (it happened about 50 years ago), but one of them hid a frog in Mrs. Rondthaler's desk drawer. It frightened her so bad when it jumped out of the drawer that she lost her composure and ran home. Kay was still laughing about it after all these years.
Mr. Rondthaler (he was the principal) made the entire class walk down to their home and apologize.
"Mrs. Rondthaler forgave y'all, didn't she?" I asked Kay.
"Of course," she said. "She even treated us with candy."
Perhaps schoolchildren (even on Ocracoke) no longer hide frogs in teachers' desks, but at least here the stories still live on and the perpetrators are remembered & can be called by name. Let's hope that innocent play continues and that teachers & students know each other well enough that practical jokes can be forgiven and long-term friendships can develop across generations.
[Our current monthly Ocracoke Newsletter is the story of Kunigunde Guth Howard, published June 30, 2005. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news061505.htm.]
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