John Fitzgerald GB 04 Great Bra by Great Brain At the Academy

afraid of anybody stealing the candy. But he was sure that among the ten eighth graders and the other nine seventh graders there had to be at least one tattletale.
    When the kids returned to the dormitory Rory Flynn began giving the seventh graders orders
    “All you little seventh graders line up two by-two in the aisle,” he said
    Tom walked over to Sweyn “What is this all about?” he asked
    “It is called hazing,” Sweyn said “Ail seventh graders have to go through it for a week I did last year.”
    Tom got in line beside Jerry The eighth graders began to inspect the hands, faces, and necks of the seventh graders
    “Shame on you,” Rory said as he looked behind Tom’s ears “You didn’t wash behind your ears “
    “I did so,” Tom said
    “Seventh graders are forbidden to contradict eighth graders during hazing week,” Rory said “Go wash behind your ears “
    The eighth graders made all the seventh graders go to the washroom and stood over them to make sure they all washed up again When they returned to the dormitory they were lined up again
    “Stand at attention and salute the eighth graders,” Rory ordered
    Tom stood at attention with his fellow seventh graders until the supper bell finally rang
     
    58
     
    “At ease,” Rory said. “You may go down to the din-ing room now.”
    The dining room had a long wooden table with benches. There were a tin bow), a tin plate, a tin cup, a napkin, and a knife, fork, and spoon for each student. Father Rodriguez was sitting on a high stool at the head of the table. He waited until all the seventh graders were standing on one side of the table and eighth graders on the other side.
    “You may sit down now,” he said. “But there wit! be no talking. For the benefit of you new boys it is our custom to assign two seventh graders and two eighth graders for kitchen and dining-room duty each week. These four students will be excused from morning prayer and will report to Father Petrie at six thirty each morning. I will now call out the names of the first four boys in alphabetical order:
    Harold Adams, Peter Brennan, John Burton, and Frank Carver. You four boys will remain after supper to help Father Petrie wash and dry the dishes and perform any other duties he may assign to you. For this one meal only Father O’Malley and Father Wegland will serve you.”
    The two priests came out of the kitchen carrying large buckets with ladles in them. Father Wegland was a tall, thin-faced man who walked with a slight limp. Tom learned later that the priest had a club foot. They filled the tin bowls with vegetable soup. Two seventh graders grabbed their spoons and were about to start eating.
    “You will not start to eat until I have said grace,” Father Rodriguez said.
    Tom had to wait until Father O’Malley and Father Wegland filled the tin cups with milk, gave each boy two slices of bread, filled the tin plates with ham hocks and
     
    60
     
    lima beans, and placed two sugar cookies by each boy’s plate. Not until then did Father Rodriguez say Grace Be-fore Meals.
    Tom couldn’t honestly say the food was bad. He was used to Mamma’s and Aunt Bertha’s cooking and com-pared to theirs the food was bad. The soup was almost cold by the time he could eat it. And by the time he’d finished the soup, the ham hocks and lima beans were no longer warm. But he had to admit the sugar cookies were deli-cious.
    When the meal was over Father Rodriguez said Grace After Meals and excused all but the four boys he’d named for kitchen and dining-room duty. The eighth graders had entered the dining room last and were the first to leave-Sweyn was waiting for Tom at the foot of the stairway.
    “That kid Willie Connors who said you lied dropped out of line,” Sweyn said. “He is going to snitch on you so you had better get rid of that candy.”
    “Let him snitch.” Tom said as they started up the stairway. “My great brain is a long way ahead of Willie Connors.” Then he changed the