This is a school picture, the type parents buy hundreds of, in all different sizes, ranging from small rectangles for relatives' wallets, to the matinee idol five by eight. The nuns the day before the photo session would send each of us home with a mimeographed letter, which smelled intoxicating when held up to the nostrils, a Catholic kid's high, as was the smell of gasoline, instructing our mothers to make sure our hair was neatly combed for the session. We wore uniforms in school, but were allowed to choose our own tie clasp. In this picture I wore my favorite, one fashioned in the shape of a Pan Am airplane.

Copyright © 2002 by Ralph Robert Moore. All Rights Reserved.

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