the “permission slip”

if you leave the classroom

you have to have a “permission slip”––

a pre-printed 10"x 8" sheet of paper

which will travel with you.

for example:

“this allows (blank) permission to use the restroom.”

(blank) is filled-in with your name.

your very own, personalized “permission slip.”

there were 23 kids in the classroom.

there were 6 kids in the hallway carrying “permission slips”

and another 8 standing at the urinals.

at the time there were 151,325,798 million people in the United States.

there are billions of us in the world and

near half-a-trillion stars in the home galaxy, although

they told us "Andromeda" is bigger.

as a 12 year resident on Earth, I took that as an insult.

estimated wait-time for an open urinal was anybody’s guess.

also, It was required that the “permission slip” be returned

to the classroom "Unadulterated and without Creases";

quite an accomplishment while standing at a urinal.

(imagine 8 schoolboys standing in a horizontal row at the urinals.

now imagine them with 10"x 8" slips of paper protruding from

their rigidly closed lips.

the archives: Hugo A. Dubuque School.