"School is cancelled." These were the greatest three words we could imagine. That wonderful feeling of exhilaration the day school was cancelled due to it rained 10 inches in 12 hours and everything was flooded and we stamped and stomped around Middle Field in the rain and mud and had a wonderful old time like there was no tomorrow....

Hanging out at the Ching Mah Leong Store: I remember those wax tubes full of colored sugar water we bought at the Ching Mah Leong store (for years nicknamed the "Chink Store") below lower campus (certainly not politically correct to say today but back then we all got along and were so naive and blissfully unaware of these matters) and you would bite into the wax and chew on it as the icky sweet flavored sugar water filled your mouth and probably caused instant cavities but it was so good and then you had to spit out the wax after chewing on it for awhile. Yummm! Good stuff! And we also loaded up on red Ginger, salty Li Hing Mui, candy bars, licorice sticks (red and black), and Manapua with the sweet sauce and pork inside and the so soft white bread on the outside. Just enough sugar, grease and calories to keep the system running until we got more food at home.

Air raid drills in the 3rd and 4th grade (1948-1949 after Russia had exploded their own nuclear bomb) and the country was afraid of nuclear attack via long range bombers. When the special Honolulu air raid siren went off or at the teacher's sudden and unexpected verbal command, we would dive under our desks and hold our arms over our heads to protect ourselves from nuclear attack and falling debris, We had to stay there with our heads covered until the all clear siren. We were told stories of nuclear destruction, blinding white heat and light. But we were tough and thought nothing of it.

"Show and Tell" sessions at school where we got to tell stories about home and our neighborhood and family and our pets and stuff which was really neat and fun and exciting as we all got to share the most intimate matters in our personal and family lives. Stuff like "Our dog Molly had five puppies last night." Or "I went over to John Cassidy's beach house on the north shore and stayed over Saturday night and we camped out in the back yard and we got up early and went shell fishing on the Kawailoa Reef at low tide and we found this great Cowry shell and a dead shark in a tide pool and......" You get the picture.

"Juice Break". At the beginning of the year you specified your favorite kind of juice which was then brought to the classroom at the same time each morning when we took a 10 minute juice break. Most of us liked pineapple the best which we drank out of "Dixie Cups".

Saturday morning clubs at local movie theaters. The Mighty Mouse Club at the Pawaa Theater. My Maunalani Heights crowd all joined the "Porky Pig Club" Saturday morning at the Kaimuki Theater where our mother or father dropped us off, and for nine cents admission we spent a half day in the dark watching Buck Rogers serials, Wincester '76 serials, old black and white Roy Rogers and Trigger movies, and we bought JuJuBee's, Junior Mints, Sour Balls, Raisinettes, Mars and 5th Avenue bars, and Milk Duds which pulled out your fillings if you weren't careful, each for a nickel, and on our birthday we got to stand on the stage, and there were talent contests where you got to sing and play instruments, and I remember the day we smuggled in a strawberry milkshake and popcorn, and we sat in the first row of the balcony and after the lights went out and the movie started Tommy mixed a big mouth full of milkshake and popcorn and hung over the balcony rail pretending to upchuck (while we made appropriate horrible accompanying wretching sounds) which immediately cleared out the entire lower section and there were kids screaming and running in all directions and the usher shining his flashlight, and then they stopped the movie and turned on the lights and ,,,,,,, Boy what an exciting morning that was.

Milk delivered twice each week to our home in glass bottles sealed with milk bottle caps which we cleaned, dried out and saved for games of "Milk Bottle Caps" at school. Your mother saved the 3 inches of heavy cream which settled at the top for pouring on our breakfast cereal. There were only five cereal choices back then; Cheerios -the best, Wheaties -second choice, Corn Flakes, Shredded Wheat (yuk!) which tasted like the cardboard box it came in, and Oatmeal (double yuk!).

1. Blackjack chewing gum

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