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Passing the Orange

On Halloween night the new teacher gave a party for the parents. She lined up the women on one side of the schoolroom, the men on the other, and they had a race, passing an orange under their chins along each line. The women giggled like girls and dropped their orange before it got halfway, but it was the men's line that we watched. Who would have thought that anyone could get them to do such a thing? Farmers in flannel shirts, in blue overalls and striped overalls. Stout men embracing one another. Our fathers passing the orange, passing the embrace - the kiss of peace - complaining about each other's whiskers, becoming a team, winning the race.

Leo Dangel