At recess on the fields of Academie Cloches a surly young Gass-Boy crumpled up his maths test (of which he failed). He tossed the ball of paper to young Stoddard, who, in turn, threw it to young Dom. The friend backed away, taunting, “Come an’ get it,” as he took off running. They began pursuit and a few others joined in on the chase.
What was developing was a common Seppo game basically known as “Keep Away,” or more commonly (and not-so-correctly) known as “Monkey in the Middle” or “Smear the Queer.” The boy with the paper wad threw it in the air and another caught it and all changed their direction towards him.
From afar, grumpy lunchlady Mrs. Junck squinted at the mass of young boys tearing across the field. Twenty, thirty, forty young men were swarming after whoever held the ball of paper.
This became known as the “Gritz Game,” named after a sitcom misnomer heard at the time. Competition, camaraderie, the pursuit of a vision, persistence — all worthy virtues — were learned that day under mere blue skies and green grass.
Life lessons, one could argue.
And, as ‘life lessons’ implies lifelong importance, every young man learning those assets of character earned an ‘A’ that afternoon, even if poor old Gass-Boy got an ‘F’ on a measly exam.
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