JUNIOR TODAY

I don't know why, but I'm thinking of Junior today. I'm sure he's not thinking of me.

Junior failed fifth grade. He was pretty non-descript. Not that smart, but not dumb enough to fail in grade school. I guess no one fails today.

But what made me think of him was his name. He was in my high school Spanish I class. I don't recall him sticking around for Spanish II. But I wouldn't blame him.

Our teacher followed one of the greatest high school Spanish teachers anywhere. But I was a year or two too late to have taken my foreign language. My teacher was a dud.

When our Spanish II teacher arrived after Rudy's dismissal, she simply couldn't believe how little we knew. Despite her being a very good teacher, she couldn't catch us up to where we should have been. I figure I had one year and maybe one quarter of high school Spanish.

But Junior. He was treated unmercifully by our teacher. Rudy never even gave us Spanish names. He'd just call on us by pointing. Even "This row go to the board for conjugations." But he hated Junior's name.

"You must be called something else. Otherwise, you'll be a 42 year-old man and people are still calling you 'Junior' ." "It's ridiculous."

Then he'd get this falsetto going, "Junior. Junior." "And people will look around for a little boy, and it will be you with that silly name."

But he just took it. He wouldn't go by any other name. Not even for a lousy Spanish teacher named Rudy Margola. He always had the same reply:"What's wrong with the name Junior?" And that was his only comeback.