Our Friend Steven

The Summer of 1959 was an eventful one for the three young boys about to enter the sixth grade. All of them were at Jeff Wyman's house enjoying the last day of summer vacation, and all were admiring Jeff's baseball card of Mickey Mantle, the New York Yankees' hot new star. Jeff stood at the side of his bed as his friends, Steven Ellis and David Mahler, continued to look at the small image of the New York Yankee. Steven looked at Jeff and said, "Okay, I'll give you Al Kaline, Norman Cash and Whitey Ford." This was a generous offer, especially since Kaline and Cash were members of the hometown team... the Detroit Tigers. But Jeff couldn't be swayed to trade Mickey Mantle. Steven viewed Jeff's determination and said, "Okay, I know you won't budge." Dave spoke up, "Hey guys, it's the last day of vacation. Let's celebrate." Jeff replied, "Yeah, I'll go see if dad will take us down to the Avon Dairy." Mr. Wyman approved, and drove the kids to downtown Rochester, Michigan, a small rural community about thirty-five miles north of Detroit. The boys sat by Mr. Wyman at the counter of the 1950's ice cream joint with the juke box blasting and the pin ball machines clanking in the background. The boys talked about going back to school the next day and were a bit apprehensive about entering the sixth grade. As the boys continued to talk of tomorrow, Mr. Wyman noticed the counter girl and a few patrons looking at Steven, who was a bi-racial child, half black and half Caucasian. Mr. Wyman returned the stares, as if to say, "Knock it off", but Steven was used to such stares. Growing up a bi-racial child in a small conservative town in the late 50's, it was almost a daily occurrence.

The next morning, on the first day of school, the boys met in front of the Saint Ambrose parking lot, talking about how the day would evolve. Father Garner came out and instructed the students to line up according to the grade they were in, and they were all led to their respective classrooms.

Upon entering their classroom, the boys saw Sister Marie sitting behind the desk and Dave whispered to Steve and Jeff, "Hey! I guess it could be worse... but not by much!" The class was instructed to find temporary seats. The students knew this meant sitting down facing the front of the room without talking, hands folded on the desk. Sister Marie, dressed in Dominican garb, her chubby face and brow protruding from the tight habit around her head, appeared menacing to the young sixth graders. She began to speak. "When you hear your name called and I touch the desk you will be sitting in, come take your seat. The person who is sitting in that seat will go to the back of the room until your name is called." Jeff hoped that, wherever he was seated, Steven or David would be seated close to him. The first row by the windows was filled without any of the three being called then David was seated in the next aisle three desks from the front, and Jeff was seated two seats behind him. Jeff hoped that Steven would be seated next to him in the third row, or, if fate would have it, that seat would be assigned to Susan Martin, the blond, blue-eyed beauty of the sixth grade.