I have to share with you my Aunt Judy’s convoluted hooky story because her comment on my blog piqued my interest and I’m sure, probably piqued yours as well.
Here is her comment from my blog: I played hooky only once when I was in high school, but it was something I never intended to do. When I started out for school, I had no clue that this was going to happen.
Here, in the words of my aunt, Judy (Golden) Moore, WHS grad of 1963, is her story.
I only played hooky one time and I was a junior at Bishop Watterson High School (a Catholic school in Columbus, Ohio). I was staying at the home of my brother Jim and his wife Patty, while Mom was there watching their kids. I believe Jim and Patty were on a trip and that’s why Mom and I were staying there.
I could walk to Watterson from their house and one day, as I was trudging through the snow, a friend of mine, Bob O’Shaunessy, saw me. He pulled his car over to ask if I would like a ride to school and of course, I said “yes.”
Bob had another friend with him whom I didn’t know and I can’t remember his name. When I got in the car I realized they were heading north and Watterson was to the south.
On snow days we were allowed to be late for school so they were heading to Jerry’s Drive-In (which is now Tee Jay’s), located on North High Street. They didn’t even ask me so I figured I would just go along and then we would go to school.
While at Jerry’s, the boys decided they were going to go do wheelies (doughnuts) in the snow and I went into panic mode. I didn’t know what to do. I looked around to see if there was anyone else I knew at the restaurant. There were lots of Watterson kids there but I only knew one girl, Carole. I went over to ask her if I could ride with them back to Watterson and she agreed.
In the car there was the driver, a guy, and another girl neither of whom I knew, Carole and me. I got in the car and took a deep breath, relieved knowing I would be in school in about five minutes…until the guy said to all of us, “Hey, let’s not go back (to school). We are way too late already, so let’s just skip the day.”
I didn’t say anything because I was afraid to speak up. So off I went with these kids I didn’t know. I knew I wasn’t in danger because they were all students at Watterson, but somehow, that didn’t make me feel much better.
I was sick to my stomach and wanted to cry, but I just kept my mouth shut.
The driver said he worked at Burger Chef (now defunct) and that we could go there because it was closed. I can’t remember why it was closed but it doesn’t matter; that’s where we ended up. At the time, I thought I must be out of Columbus because we were so far away from any part of town I had been in.
He had a key and we all went in. I couldn’t tell you if we ate burgers and fries, or anything we did because I was so worried about skipping school – which didn’t seem to bother the rest of them.
It was probably around 2:30 pm when they decided to leave Burger Chef. I asked the driver if he could drop me off at Watterson because I needed to get a book so I could study for an upcoming test. He agreed and dropped me off. When I entered the building, I walked right into a nun.
Thankfully, she didn’t know anything about what I had done so I kept walking to my locker, grabbed by book, and headed out the back door. I walked as fast as I could back to my brother’s house.
I told my Mom when I got back to the house, making up some story in case my day off was discovered, but as far as I know, nothing came of it. ✻
Oh my gosh!!! How funny is this?! Thank goodness that was a very different time and you were safe at the end of the day!
Loved hearing about A.J.’s hooky experience!
This is a great story about playing hooky by accident, Aunt Judy. Once in graduate school I told one of my professors that I was feeling sick so I could get an extra day to complete a paper.