Alternate Worlds

Second Grade would be over soon. Summer vacation was fast approaching, and I'd be saying goodbye to Mrs. Lamson, relieved that my tenure with her was over. I'd be saying goodbye to my classmates Richie, Tommy, Joyce, Ann and Don and all the others until September rolled around. But would I really see them again, or would I be put into the "other" third grade class? There were two classes of every grade at school. You would kinda know the other kids, but not really. I knew their faces and their names, but not THEM. We weren't sharing the same teacher or the same learning experiences in the same room each and every day. We were alternate worlds in one building, strangers to our very own neighbors.
How was it decided? Who put me in with Paul LaPann and Patsy Mulin instead of with Billy Reim and Nancy Carl? Was I smarter than them or were my manners better? Why were some kids shuttled back and forth, like Sheron Wakley and Max Reihmann? It was weird out on the playground too. You tended to stick with the kids in your own class, you segregated yourselves without thinking. You might have a game of kickball or dodge ball against that "other" grade, and we teased and cajoled each other like we were enemy tribes from opposite ends of the world. When we played dodge ball against them, you threw a little harder, a little stronger so the hit would sting a little more.
I went to Sunday School with Billy Reim, and I liked him; I wished I had known him better. Sheron Wakley was such a happy person, and I didn't like her being in the "enemy camp".
There were some kids you didn't mind getting separated from. Billy Hill, the class bully was one. He was bigger and rougher than the rest of us, and he liked to push people around. Mark Lightcap was another one who seemed to take a particular delight in making others feel uncomfortable. Never get on the see-saw with him. He would jump off and make you come crashing down hard, shaking your spine and shattering your nerves.
I didn't want to be separated from the kids I had gotten to know these last few years; I wanted to be with them and have Third Grade with Mrs. Lee. We had all heard about Mrs. Lee. Mrs. Thelma Lee was a Woodbury Heights legend. She had a reputation that the other teachers must have envied. She was considered strict but fair, and a very pleasant lady. She inspired her students to do well, and they were eager to please her. Every kid wanted to be in the Third Grade with Mrs. Lee.
I would spend the summer hoping and praying that I wouldn't be condemned to that "other" grade, the bizarro Third Grade. I looked forward to getting back with Jimmy Matsuk, even Lora Carter, rather than try and survive in a world dominated by Billy Hill.
I'd be worried that summer.
I'd worry that the Russians would drop an H bomb on us, and I'd worry that I wouldn't be chosen to have Third Grade with Mrs. Lee.
Somehow that creature in my bedroom closet wasn't as scary as it used to be.