SUNSHINE

SUNSHINE

Short Story by James Strauss

In the nineteen sixties, the existence of a co-ed military high school, where air force uniforms were worn and military representatives came regularly to the school to advise and the lecture was uncommon. Such a school, however, existed on the island of Oahu, and it was called Maryknoll Military Academy.

During my senior year at the school, every day was begun, first by attending a Catholic mass in the school chapel before seven a.m. and then going to the first class of the day, which was called homeroom. Homeroom was all about getting organized for the rest of the school day, announcements, scheduling, and also the teaching of civics and lectures on family behavior. Sister Anna Doloritas was my homeroom teacher, and she was a Maryknoll nun of such strictness and discipline that it would not be until I eventually went to Marine Corps Basic Training that I would encounter such harsh, brutal and pain-inducing communications, along with a bit of physical encouragement.

My final year at Maryknoll, before graduating, was one of constant difficulty in getting along with Sister Anna Doloritas, and the rest of the school’s rigid military code and the applications fo that code. In that year of troubles I was expelled three times but then brought back by the school’s principal, another nun, who’d been my fifth grade…