Playing truant!

On the South side of the swimming pool stood a row of Apricot trees.  These were wonderful for climbing and playing in.  When spring arrived and the trees burst into blossom, we knew that the fruit would not be far behind. Unfortunately it never reached maturity, as the hard green little globes were either eaten or used as ammunition in the "gang warfare" which ensued from time to time.  

Our Boarder's mother had a cure-all for every ailment. Two tablespoons of Castor oil!  If we were caught eating the green fruit, we were obliged to line up in front of her and take our medicine like a "man."  We were never sure whether  the ensuring results were on account of the unripened apricots, or the foul tasting liquid. 

In one particular year we spent a lot of time sitting in these beautiful leafy trees.  That was the year we were given a new teacher for Latin and Afrikaans.  She happened to be German and had a very thick accent.  None of us could understand a word she said, and so as she walked into the classroom, at least fifteen to twenty of us escaped through the door behind her.

We were a class of forty eight children, but she seemed quite oblivious to the fact that so many were missing each day. Being an order of nuns who wore Wimples, she had no peripheral vision whatsoever, and so slipping through the door behind her back, was a piece of cake.

There seemed to be a real sense of freedom in escaping the boring lessons taught to us in unintelligible words.  Many a war was waged during those stolen periods, and the ground would be littered with half eaten apricots.  Needless to say, none of us passed either one of the aforementioned subjects, but who cared!  We were all sent up on mass to the next standard and thankfully Frau nun was given a whole new class of unsuspecting greenhorns to practice her non existent skills on.