CLS Anecdotes by Dr. Jerry Weinstein

On a dark and stormy night in Jan. or Feb. of 1942 I went to visit my friends Tony Wollins and Joel Raphaelson in the infirmary. One of us, probably me as they weren't feeling very well, proposed that we sneak into town that night after lights were out. There was a diner near the end of Brookside Road where we would get hamburgers and cokes and then go back to school and into bed - hopefully without being caught. At the appointed time, maybe 10, I heard rapping on the Boys House dorm window where about 10 of us slept. I had already fallen asleep! I awoke groggily and motioned to them to go back to the infirmary - I had lost interest. They were in no mood to be trifled with, however, and they insisted that I get dressed and come with them into town. It was snowing pretty hard and on our way down Brookside we were confronted by about 6 boys from Darien who seemed about our age(13). They started throwing snowballs at us and Tony and Joel wanted to leave quickly and avoid a fight. My judgement was not so good, however, and I picked up some very wet snow, made an ice ball, and threw it into their midst. One boy clutched his eye, the others gathered round him, and Tony, Joel, and I ran like hell. (I had my mouth washed out with soap by Sam Sandt for saying that word - once). We made it to the diner, had our hamburgers and cokes and then, with some trepidation because they might be laying for us, walked back to school. The boys weren't waiting and neither were the teachers - we had successfully pulled off a prank that has waited over 57 years for the telling!

Submitted 11-September-1999