We were at a high school assembly, waiting for the program to begin. A classmate, Ruth B., sitting a row ahead, was turned around talking to us in the row behind. Another girl, Lea, was sitting in a chair in our row with her feet propped against the rungs of a chair next to Ruth's, and pulling the back of that chair toward her. Ruth was turned around, and I remember she was laughing, when the back of the chair slipped from Lea's grasp and smashed into Ruth's mouth, neatly (in a sense) snapping off her two front teeth. Chaos ensued.
I'm a freshman in college where gym class is mandatory for at least two years: you could escape the third mandated year if you got an A in gym. (Not me). Gym class was eternal; we had to engage in every sport ever heard of at the time, for a period of time, all in the interest of a well rounded education for the teachers we were all supposed to become. From the main campus we had to walk almost a mile, or so it seemed, to Brubaker Field, the Quad between dorms designated as one of the"athletic venues." The sport of the week was golf: that meant a group of 20 or so female students who'd mostly never held a golf club before practicing their swings in an enclosed area. I think we were even told to keep our heads down. The girl next to me was Prudy, a small intent girl who was on Dean's List. Suddenly,a scream, then several screams, and Prudy fell to the ground with her hands to her mouth. But not before I saw that her whole face was covered in blood. She had been struck square in the face with the full force of another girl's club. Not only did she lose teeth, but her face was split open. I never learned the full extent of her injuries, but she never did return to college. .
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