Two Idiots Volume V....Hot Dogs, Ketchup & Mint Jelly"

Mohonasen Jr. High, 1961.
Most of us "browned bagged it" for lunch. Many of us were first or second generation Americans
and our mothers were very creative with our lunches. Lou Amoroso brought the greatest Italian "sangwiches"; things like "peppers & eggs", fried moolie, sausage, peppers & onions, mortadella, prositto, of course, all on freshly made Italian bread. On the opposite side of the spectrum, we had Bruce Wheeler....mint jelly on Wonderbread...everyday! Georgie Davis....hot dogs with ketchup...on white....everyday! Jimmy Lucca mother, Mona, made great lunches- most of the time. Mona was a nurse and sometimes would not get home in time to make her three sons lunch. On those days, the boys would make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Naturally, we would all ask each other what we had for lunch. You had to be careful because Jim called them " steak & sauce". Occasionally, he would find someone to trade. One day, Glenn's father made his lunch. Unfortunately, his fathers favorite sandwich was Grandma Browns baked beans, which are a lot like refried beans, with thin slices of Bermuda Onion. Glenn
got no trades that day.
We would also see a lot of "last nights" leftovers. Bobby Godlewski's pork chops, Kathy Kresnewski's glumpkies, Nicks grandmothers pizza, Jeff Kings fish fry and Gary Scholtes meatloaf. First place went to Walter Cuff, a transient from Hawaii, who's daily menu consisted of sardines, onions and cheese, with mustard, on marble rye. The smell was worse than a compost pile.
Lunch was always concluded by blowing up your brown bag and popping it on your knee.It sounded like a firefight in Vietnam.
On to Bishop Gibbons... 1963. The cafeteria here featured "ala carte" items, such as , cheese wedges,pickles, olives, sliced carrots, chickpeas, hard boiled eggs, sliced cucumbers and brownies with frosting. Whatever flew....did, usually launched by Jerry Pompilio and Al Kuhns,then, joined by the masses. It was every man for himself and it was always fun to watch Glenn run around the cafeteria with cheese stuck in his hair. Silverwear was next. Kurt Minersagen achieved the most velocity after he flattened knives, forks and spoons with his size
13 cordovans.He was the biggest man sized boy we ever saw. About 6'5'', 250 lbs., in ninth grade. His voice was bigger than that. The end result after getting caught was cleanup, which usually ended well after the buses departed. We'll tell you about the fish tank episode as Two Idiots continues next week.