Where in the world is David?
When David became a junior in high school, he already had enough credits to graduate but the school would not allow him to do so because he needed economics and government, in which they only allowed seniors to enroll. So school became a challenge for David to escape from. Senior students, however, were allowed to participate in OJT and most of that group left the school at noon. When they left at noon David decided he would just leave also. He always said to get away with something, do it openly. On the first day of school, a teacher typically passed a seating chart for everyone to sign. David did not sign the sheet of paper, but instead, passed it on. His seat was left blank as if no one was setting there. The next day he left with the seniors to "OJT". This went on for more than six weeks.
And then, the inevitable....a female came into the picture. It seems the school received a long distance call from Germany. It was--tah dah, boom boom... for David Dove.
Since it was from Germany, and, it was the United States Air Force calling, they made a decision to break the rules and let David take the call. They rang "his scheduled class." The teacher insisted he was not in the class. Then the teacher insisted that he was not absent, he was not in the class. After a short discussion, the school secretary took a message from the long-distance caller.
It seemed a girl had been visiting her grandmother in Michigan for the previous summer, but her family lived in Germany where the father was a colonel? in the military, She was inviting her summer love (David) to join her family for Christmas in Germany. Her father was giving her that visit and the transportation as her gift (or so I remember it).
Gift be damned, David's father was really mad about the six weeks or so missed afternoons from school. Did I fail to mention David's father was the district's superintendent of schools? What an embarrassment for him! He yelled and ranted and, of course, a trip to Germany was out of the picture. (Sorry Sweetie, it wasn't you, David's Dad would not allow the visit)
The call seemed a harbinger of things to come. Every time there was a big deal in David's life, it inevitably involved a female. Some things were good, some were bad. All certainly were memorable.
Ah, David, I do wish you could have gone to Germany, but you did deserve the punishment. And you were always willing to take the correct blame for whatever you were involved in.The incident left me with a big "what-if?"