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Christopher Patchel

A no passing zone ...

I'm running late as usual, but yield to the memories: School uniforms, the recess bell, separate lines of boys and girls in order of our heights; black and white habits with the rattle of large rosaries; Sister John Edmond picking me up by my ears; catechism, multiplication tables; desk cubby too small for all my books and supplies; chalk blackboards with long division and sentence diagrams; the second hand on the classroom clock…

in single file behind a parochial school bus