My First Brush with the Law~Malicious J-Walking

     The smart alec above never, ever rode the school bus, even in first and second grade.  Kindergarten had not been available to me.  Not riding made sense with the bus stop a mile away from my house and the school just a mile further.  I know my Facebook profile says that I'm from Kent, but actually I was born in Renton, Washington and spent half of my academic career there, such as it was.  Highland Courts was a bunch of WWII army barracks moved onto lots after the war.  Each building was a duplex, housing two families.  Anyway, I would sometimes pause briefly at the bus stop, but always continued on through a sand and gravel place, then into another neighborhood, using every inventable shortcut.  This brought me to Highland Park Grade School at the middle of the block with crosswalks on each end.
     "Stop, young man.  Are you j-walking?"  Always quick with the inappropriate line, I responded "No, I'm k-walking!"  Not bad for a second grader, but not good enough to not be pulled by the ear by a teacher to the principal's office.   I carefully avoided that last shortcut for the rest of my time at Highland Park, staying strictly within the white lines of the crosswalk.  No need to risk prison time just to save a few seconds.
     Getting to school a bit early had benefits in those days.  You could get a softball and bat from the janitor's closet and hone your fly-up skills.  Fly-up is where you throw a ball up in the air in front of you and try to hit it over the heads of a bunch of kids.   If they realize you're a power hitter and back up, you try to hit ground balls so there's nothing to catch.  Whoever catches your fly takes over as hitter. 

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