It was June or July of 1954 or 1955 when some organization came
to the orphanage to take us to the beach. It was going to be my
first visit to the beach, so I was really excited, as were the rest
of the orphan children. Besides, we were going to get to see what
was outside the fences of the home, something that the other kids
at school talked about all the time and something that we had never
seen. We were going to this wonderful place with thousands of
people all running and playing and laughing--this was going to be
the most wonderful day of my life.
Robert Gillman, Junior Bass, and I had taken an old army blanket
and were pulling each other up and down the long hallway that we
had just waxed. We would stop at the corner where the hallway
turned and hold hands all in a line; then Robert would touch the
light-switch-cover screw. When he touched the screw, it would send
an electrical charge through our bodies. However, it would only
shock the last person in line. That last person was whoever
happened around the corner at that time. Of course, all hell would
break loose if the house parents found out what we were doing, but
we did not care 'cause we were going to the beach.
We arrived at the beach at about 9:00 o'clock in the morning. We
were herded down to the water's edge and given a short talk on
water safety. Then we were each assigned a partner and told to stay
with that person at all times. As usual, the boys were partnered
with the boys and the girls with the girls. But this presented a
problem, as Junior Bass and one of the girls did not have a partner
of the same sex. So Mrs. Winters decided to allow them to swim
alone.
Several hours later, I noticed a commotion at one end of this large
cement wall. I ran back up the beach and asked someone what had
happened; they told me that some kid had drowned. I began to run up
and down the beach, looking for all the kids from the orphanage
because I thought it might be Robert or Emmett Gillman who had
drowned. (They had kept going out into deep water on an
inner-tube.) By now there were hundreds of people everywhere, and I
could not get any closer to the wall because of all the people
around the lifeguards. The people were all pushing and shoving one
another, I guess trying to see who had drowned or if it was their
own kid. People were going crazy, pushing and shoving and cursing
at one another.
As I looked around, I saw one of the women from the orphanage
gathering all the children into a large group. I walked over and
asked one of the boys if he knew who had drowned. He told me he
thought that it was Junior Bass, that Junior had become caught up
in a riptide and was pulled out into the deep water. I immediately
ran back over to the large group of people who surrounded Junior. I
pushed my way through all the people--and saw him lying on the
ground. There was a man sitting on Junior's back, pushing and
pulling on his arms. Junior's arms were totally limp, just sort of
floppy like. I knew that he was dead. I just stood there looking at
his blue face. In a daze, I ran from the large group of people; in
a daze, I just walked around the beach in a circle. I could not
forget what I had seen, especially his open eyes, the floppy arms,
and all the sand in his mouth.
I cannot even remember going back to the orphanage. The next thing
I remember, I was sitting on the outside of the dining room of the
orphanage and everyone was eating watermelon. I guess that would
make it a Sunday, as we always got one sandwich and a slice of
watermelon for Sunday supper. I could not eat because of thinking
about what had happened to Junior. Everyone was talking about the
drowning, and I remember telling Tommy Jerigan that this would not
have happened if Mrs. Winters had allowed Junior to have a girl as
a swim partner. If she had, Junior would be eating watermelon with
the rest of us.
Tommy walked over to the other kids and told them what I had been
saying, and one of the girls went over to Mother Winters and told
her. Mrs. Winters called me over and told me to get back on the
bench and to keep my big mouth shut. When I returned to the bench
and sat down, one of the girls started making a joke about what had
happened to Junior. She ate some of her watermelon and then let
part of it fall from her mouth onto the ground. Then the girls
asked the boys if we knew what it was. I told them that it was
watermelon and watermelon juice. They yelled back at us and said
that it was Junior's blood and guts.
I immediately jumped up and started throwing watermelon rinds at
the girls. They all started running and laughing, and Mrs. Winters
was also laughing. She motioned for me to come over to her; when I
arrived, she slapped me on the back of the head really hard and
told me to go out to the basketball court. I was to place my face
against the goal post and stand there until everyone else was done
eating.
I will never forget how little a life meant to those girls and to
Mrs. Winters, just how insignificant an orphan life was to the
whole world. What if I had drowned? Would anyone be sad for me? Was
there anyone in this world who cared if we orphans lived or died?
Or were there just too many orphan bodies for anyone to care about
any single boy? Though I was only nine years old, I learned a lot
about life that day--and not just because Junior Bass died. He was
my orphan brother, and I will not forget him. No, it did not turn
out to be a wonderful day after all.
Roger Dean Kiser, Sr.
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Roger Dean Kiser, Sr.