Boarding school in the early 1960s was not a very nice place to be. At least, the one I was sent to was not nice. To my mind, it was akin to being in a prison. Being raised on a farm was a great life. I loved it, free and easy, plenty of things to do and no neighbours, I was quite happy.
Until, my mother in her wisdom decided me and my siblings should be sent to boarding school. There was nothing wrong with the local schools, they were good schools, but Mum was adamant. Boarding school would teach us how to become fine young ladies and the boys to be gentlemen.
What a joke that turned out to be.
The time came for me to go to prison. (Oops, boarding school.) I sulked, looked sad and hoped the headmistress would say the I was not a suitable candidate for this prestigious school. No such luck. It was all downhill after that. I absolutely hated the place. We had to wear horrible brown uniforms, hats, gloves and awful brown shoes.
A lot of the girls who attended the school had been there since first grade primary school. They reminded me of the sheep I had left behind on the farm. They walked in single file, as sheep do, said not much, hung their heads as if totally defeated. I think they were totally defeated after being in that place for so many years.
I vowed I would never conform. I was a rebel. The system would not break my spirit. The house mistress at my first dormitory was a terrible old dragon. She was mean and nasty to all but two of the girls. These two could do no wrong. The rest of us hated them. I made friends with a couple of other rebellious girls.
We hatched a plot to escape and go to the movies in town. Easy, I thought. We can get out the kitchen door down under the dormitory. We left it unlocked so as to be able to get back in again. After we climbed the outer wall, we ran freely down the street to the theatre.
What luck. Blue Hawaii starring Elvis was on. What a great movie it was. Some local lads were also at the movies and invited us to go for a walk in the park. They were nice young fellas, well mannered and good fun.
We walked through the park, chatting and laughing. Next minute a police car approached. One of the boys gave us his address and told us to use that if asked where we are from. We duly give the police the address and of course they take us “home”. We thanked them and snuck around the back of the house. As soon as the police were out of sight, we made a run for the boarding house. It was quite a way, like about 3 miles (4.8km).
We made it and went to open the kitchen door, but it was locked. The nightwatchman must have locked it. We threw a rock up at one of the dormitory windows, and a girl woke up and looked out at us. We convinced her to go down and open the kitchen door.
After we were safely in our rooms, we swore her to secrecy. Days went by and not a word spoken. We felt confident our escapade we would not be found out.
However, a few days later our parents turned up. They were furious. We wondered how they found out. When we fronted the headmistress, with out parents in tow, we found out the girl who opened the door for us had told someone else. That was all it had taken. A jealous little thing who would no doubt have come with us if asked.
We all received a three-week suspension from school. I was quite happy, in fact I would have liked a permanent suspension, but sadly I was sent back, for another two years.
I never did conform. In fact, I am still a quiet rebel.
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