I GOT chicken pox at the square dance jamboree last Saturday. Some of us dancers went there to perform. We do that to earn money for service clubs or church committees.
There’s forty of us, from grade one to twelve. Sister Theo teaches us the folk dances. Sister Theo and Sister Superior come from Ireland. Sister Superior teaches us to sing Irish songs. We learn these songs and folk dances for the Irish concert, and also the music festival. That’s what we were doing at the square dance jamboree, performing.
I usually do the Sailor’s Hornpipe and the Highland Fling and Irish Jig. Sister makes us smile all the time we are dancing. If we don’t she punches us on the back or hits us with the shilayley. That’s an Irish walking stick, and I don’t know how to spell it. Once she threw an apple at one of the dancers and she missed. We all felt like laughing but we didn’t dare. She got really mad then and somebody got a licking. Dorothy told me once that one of the senior girls got tired of being punched so she grabbed Sister’s arms and held them down. Sister told her to kneel but she wouldn’t. Finally Sister told her she was a good girl, and then she let go. Sister didn’t pick on her anymore after that. The way Sister Theo yells at us reminds me of my dad when he’s drinking. It scares me.
Sometimes I hate being a dancer. Sister Theo just called me one day and told me I was to be a dancer. We have no play time. The other girls hate us because they say we are Sister’s pets. The worst thing is that the audience can see our bloomers when we dance because Sister makes us lift our legs high. One of the boys told Edna that after we performed for the whole school. Edna said all the boys were laughing at us.
We left for the jamboree right after school. We didn’t get to eat until after the performance. When we got back to the school at midnight we changed into our smocks and went down to the kitchen for cookies and powdered milk. We call those cookies dog biscuits because they have no sugar in them.
I was just standing there feeling dizzy when Sister Superior came in. She said, “What’s the matter with Martha? Her cheeks look flushed.” She stood behind me looking down my back and said, “Look, there are red bumps popping out all over her back.” She laughed as she watched them pop out. Then Sister Theo sent me right to bed.
I’m glad Sister Superior was there. That time I caught the flu Sister Theo yelled at me and kept punching me on the back until I almost fell. Once she punched me and I got a boil on my back. I was scared to tell her, so I didn’t.
I like Sister Nurse, though. She looks after the first-aid room. She is old. Her eyebrows are white and her eyes are shiny. When she talks her i’s sound like ee’s. She’s French, that’s why. She tells us about Juneau, Alaska. She was there before. I’m the only intermediate who got chicken pox. Three junior girls got it too.