JFK

[SCarson <SCARSON%ERIE.BITNET@UBVM.CC.BUFFALO.EDU>]

I remember exactly what I did.  I was in typing class; I was a high school seni
or.  I was so surprised when our School Principal interrupted with an announcem
ent and stunned with his message.  He was telling us the President had been sho
t, and Mr. Ryther started to cry.  He said he would let us know how the Preside
nt was as soon as he knew; we did know it was very serious.  In this class, stu
ents sat two to a table.  Since I was taking the course for only a semester, I
had the misfortune to set next to "Pete Stafford", and that is his real name.
He was a least a grade or two behind me, as business was his major, and I was j
ust learning to type...I didn't like Pete for lots of reasons.  He was disrupti
ve in class, usually in trouble or on the fringe of trouble, and, in those days
considered quite a problem, I suppose.  (Today, he'd be considered "all boy" or
mischievous.)  Well, to make a long story short, Pete thought this was funny, a
nd he laughed.  I was furious, and without thinking, I socked him in the jaw.
his lip bled, and I didn't even realize I'd done it until it was over.  It's th
e only time I have ever done anything like that!  Pete, like most of my small u
p-state New York town, was a Republican.  My Mother was one of 2 registered
Democrats.  (That may be an exaggeration, but it's what I believed at the time,
and I'll bet there weren't more than l0.)  Anyhow, I was furious that anyone co
uld laugh; I just couldn't believe it.  I didn't get into trouble for doing tha
t.  (Pete, the winter before, had thrown a snow ball at our car; my Mother had
her window down, briefly, and, you guessed it--Pete's snowball hit her in the f
ace.  We didn't have an accident, but we could have.  However, there is nothing
 that Pete ever did that compared with his laughing as Kennedy was dying.  Just
thinking about it, and I haven't thought about this for a very long time, bring
s back the whole incident.  I was incensed.  Pete said he was glad, because it
was the "best thing that could happen for the country"...Can you imagine how a
staunch Kennedy fan would feel?