My Sister

You may think, "why doesn't she write about her sister, Diane?" I've yet to write about her

because her memory, especially about herself, is better than mine. I have decided to go with

a Diane and SEA story and hope I remember it correctly.

St. Elizabeth Academy was located on Arsenal, about 1/2 mile east of Grand Boulevard. There was a diner at the corner of Arsenal and Grand, Tilman's where you could go and buy a coke for about 25 cents. Big spenders and thin girls would sometimes get an order of French Fries. Of course, you could also smoke because at Tilman's it was still a free country. However, the nuns

from SEA told us we could not go there and of course not to "smoke in your uniform."

In addition to Tilman's there was another no fly zone up the street from SEA. If was "the

bakery." I never knew what it's official name was. If you arrived at school a little early,

you could go to the bakery and get three chocolate cookies for 25 cents. Then you could go

through the alley behind the bakery and arrive at the side door of SEA. As long as you were

eating cookies you might as well light up a cigarette. Some girls tried to hide their true

identity by taking off the little red tie on their blouse, pulling their shirt tails out, rolling

up the navy blue skirt at the waist to make it shorter, and of course, not wear your uniform

shoes until you were on the school premises.

All of this information will serve as a primer for the sister story. My sister, not a nun.

Diane was taking chemistry and there was a very strict rule about always wearing your

heavy apron during lab sessions in case you spilled something that might eat away at your skin.

One day, my sister was observed by the instructor, with a small but noticeable hole in her navy

blue gaberdine skirt. The teacher lectured her about not wearing her apron at the time of the

accident and assured her it would be reflected in her lab scores.

You will clearly see my sister's dilemma if I add that this hole was made by a cigarette ash and

not a ferocious chemical substance. Should she tell her it was not chemically induced and

risk being convicted of smoking in her uniform, or should she accept the lower lab score and

keep her mouth shut?

Thousands of readers have demanded, "What did she do?" To the best of my memory, I

think she took the low lab score. You can always bring those up later in the semester.

There would have far too many ramifications if she owned up to smoking in uniform.