Albright, Geoff

Butte, Montana, 1955

Friday nights were tough.  I had to decide whether to go to the eighth grade dance or watch Walt Disney on TV.

Watching Disney was my preferred choice because he featured progress on the construction of his new Disneyland and Mickey Mouse cartoons were pretty good, too.

If I went to the mixer at school, I would be with all my friends. Mostly we boys just gathered in the corner talking about hunting deer and watching the girls on the other side of the gym. Some guys had the guts to ask a girl to dance. I never did. But just being with the guys was fun.

Actually, I had a deeper fear: Claudia Albright. She had no problem asking me to dance. Then all the guys would give me a hard time.

"Geoff 's got a girlfriend; Claudia loves Geoff."

Half the time I went to the dances; the other times I watched Walt Disney.

Claudia Albrigt chasing me around the gym was embarrasing enough, but what happened at school in Mr. Foley's history class was the most mortifying. I asked Mr. Foley permission to get a reference book.

"Albright, Geoff,"  he said with a smile.

The entire class erupted in laughter which has never stopped.

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Almost fifty years later, we had an Emerson School reunion. Claudia Albright was there. We all told stories about all the silly things that happened in eighth grade.

I told the story about Mr. Foley saying, "Albright, Geoff." Everyone laughed (again), but as is with most traumas in our lives, I was the only one who remembered the event.

Free at last.