No Valentine memory lingers more sweetly than that of petite Fraulein, and the sparkle she acquired for Froggie, which began as a kind gesture, and progressed into so much more.
Mr. Manson's sixth grade George Jay Elementary School class was a million laughs short of a rollicking fun kind of place during February of 1947. But with Valentine's Day approaching, we enjoyed a little relief from our stern teacher who insisted we pronounce "medicine" as "med-cine" and slapped us when we forgot our lessons. It was there I first met my buddy, Earl Tannock, who was at the time being shaken until his eye glasses fell into a trash can, for he had been caught chewing gum. Earl nevertheless maintained a concerted lightness of humor and talent for helping the distressed. "When you give a man a helping hand," he once said. "Subsequently leave him alone to make his way in life. That goes for babes, also."
Picture by Glenn Brucker. Such was the case of Fraulein and Froggy.
Now Froggy sat across from me, was continually enduring a thrashing for incorrect sums, and therefore begged answers from me, a pitiable request I sometimes granted, so sorry did I feel for the little guy, sometimes unkindly referred to as "The Croaker" during music choral class by insensitive louts. "Ya got the one about the farmer and three apples?" he'd ask. "I'll get my face rubbed into the blackboard if he picks on me this time."
Fraulein remained forlorn at the back, a recent arrival from Germany whose accent had not been universally accepted so soon following the Second World War. Much like Froggy, neither was she a fashion beauty, in fact one crass classmate called her, "Homelier than a mud fence."
It was quite obvious that these two would receive few - if any - cards come February 14th. Oh yes, even then we were acutely aware of ongoing classroom intrigues: that Paul Simpson would be courting the charms of adorable Barbara Jones, for example. After all, hadn't he kissed her one morning in the cloakroom? Doreen maintained a crush on Earl. Most certainly, it was pretty clear who liked who at George Jay. Though no one volunteered to admit it. Twelve and thirteen year olds seemed to be a clamming up bunch in those days.
I am sure it was Earl himself who came up with the idea. The afternoon of February 13th - along with his regular cards assembled from a cutout kit - he fashioned a few more. "We gotta get some action among the masses," he exclaimed. "Loan me a modicum of your forgery skill, will ya?" Yep, you guessed it! With a couple of them anonymously signed "from your secret love," the remainder we addressed from Froggy to Fraulein and vice versa.
Next day, while enjoying Valentine's Day Palm Brand strawberry ice cream and McGavin's cake, we watched surreptitiously as the cards were delivered. Snicker snicker.
Just imagine Froggie grinning ear to ear, blushing and daring himself look Fraulein's way. Fraulein, in turn, opening her cards tearfully and shyly lowering those blue eyes toward her desktop. As festivities progressed he watched in wonderment as she rose and sauntered past, then smiled as she strolled back. Nothing much else happened that day.
But from then on, the couple sat chatting all over campus, and more than a few times we'd see him carry her books. She was thrilled to help him with his homework, so he laid off me in that respect. Come spring Froggy carved their names enclosed in a butterfly heart on the craggy Horse Chestnut out back. A fresh life of joy for two lonesome kids began that Valentine's Day, and I still marvel at Earl's incisive insight and intuitive kindness, which he maintains to this very day. He's an incurable romantic indeed.
It must be ten years since I last roamed the old neighborhood. During a sentimental stroll I spied the bare remnant of their Valentine message chiseled in the bark of that stalwart tree by a couple of kids who found mutual bliss thanks to an unknown friend. In the calm of the afternoon I could hear their music still, and envisioned two figures sitting yonder on a nearby rock, wrapped up in each other - two Valentines for whom character, not glamour, became the attracting force.
Froggy no doubt viewed a mud fence rampant with angel harps smothered beneath fragrant bouquets d'amour, while Fraulein bathed in the grand choral of Froggy's tenderness. Sharing dreams, sharing lives so long long ago.
Long ago........
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