And then there are the memories that are simpler to pretend were dreams

    Let's see, how to go about this. My siblings were born in 1951, '52, '53, then there was a gap until '59; finally I came along in 1962. The first bunch went to parochial school but when Frank came to school age, he was having none of nuns. So he and I went to Heathwood Hall Episcopal School for a while. Therefore, we also went to CCD (Catholic Sunday school, on Wednesdays of course) also for a while. I made it to third grade, when I found out that goofing off on my own was WAY more fun.
    Because I'm talking about Catholic stuff and childhood memories and am male, you may be thinking that this is about some horrible event. But it's just weird. I did make it as far as First Holy Communion. I remember usually being paired with another boy, and he was the weird part. He had some paste or pastes, or mustard and ketchup, coming from his mouth. Or he was a robot and his fluids were leaking. I remember that it was always there and that it looked like mustard and ketchup, and I seem to remember him sucking it up from time to time. I have no recollection of how long Communion instruction took, nor how much of the time I was actually paired with him. I remember some class room time, mainly because I remember sampling matzoh and grape juice there. I suspect that I was only paired with him for a rehearsal and for the actual communion with the monsignor. So maybe it was as seldom as once and he had had a sandwich and was a very sloppy eater. I've been bewildered about it for 40-odd years now. I still think he was a robot.