Jimmy wiped the sweat from his neck as he looked around the small classroom, the drone the a fan rotating in the corner offering little more than noise. There weren't many of them left. Nearly half of the twenty-four people who used to learn in this room came out today, the others, well Jimmy could probably guess.
"Dad, why is Grandpa and a bunch of old people at school?"
Jimmy let out a chuckle as he patted the boy's head.
"Well Simon, all these people used to go to school here a long time ago."
"Including Grandpa?" Simon shifted his head back and forth wide-eyed.
Both Jimmy and Paul shared a laugh at the child's utter wonder at that fact.
"Yes," Paul picked up his son and placed him on his knee as they all waited for the principal to come in, "including Grandpa."
Jimmy pushed his rolled sleeves up and loosened his tie. Despite being somewhat important, Jimmy hated waiting in such an awful heat just as much as he hated waiting as they buried the damn thing fifty years ago. At least his grandson has his new animal game on that Nintendo phone to distract himself.
Jimmy looked around the room seeing if he could remember any of his old classmates. He spotted Carol fanning herself at the front of the room. God, queen mean looked as pompous as before, Jimmy thought, and somehow age made her look more of a self-entitled brat. Jimmy continued scanning through the desks as nostalgia hit him hard.
There was John talking with his wife Mary, those two hated each other until high school. He saw Jimmy two standing by the door. It's been awhile since the last time they talked. Jimmy looked around, trying to see if he could spot anyone else from his old group of friends.
He knew both Eddie and John died. Brian was in the back with some great-grand kids, poor guy. Looks like Franklin couldn't make it. There was Bobby holding his newest grand-kid, his others buried deep in their phones like Simon. It was weird seeing kids these days inside all day always staring at some kind of screen.
Times really have changed.
"Thank you for waiting everyone!" the principal strolled in smiling as she clapped her hands, "we're bringing the box in now, and while we're waiting, I'd just like to thank you all for coming as we open your Golden Jubilee Time Capsule!
Jimmy shook his head. He never much cared for how schools have turned out, and teachers these days coddling these kids. She's probably going to make some speech.
"For you Saint Mary's Elementary Alumni, I'm sure its wonderful to be able to relive those nostalgic memories of your time here with us way back in the sixties, and I just want to say-- Ahhh!"
The principal jumped as the workers slammed the metal box on the desk before walking out, eliciting a small laugh from Jimmy.
"Ahem- I apologize. Well, without further ado~"
As she opened the box and started pulling out objects, she called out names.
"William White?"
Jimmy watched as Billy, he used to call him, walked up to the desk and grabbed his item.
"Carol Smith?"
"Oh, that's me! It's Carol Adams now"
"Like we needed to know." Paul whispered into Jimmy's ear.
"Ya know, despite looking and taking after your mother, you've always reminded me of one of my best friends. We used to play baseball together."
"Oh yeah, did he go here?"
"Naw, he attended a different school."
"Rowdy... Yates?" The principal said smiling as she scanned the room for a Rowdy Yates.
"Yeah, that's me! Ram-rod of this outfit, Rowdy Yates." Jimmy said jumping out of his seat as his peers were snickering like they were kids again.
"Here you go Mr. Yates." The principal said handing him a small, rolled up brown paper bag.
"Thank you, ma'am." Jimmy grabbed the bag and headed straight back for his seat.
"Rowdy Yates, dad?"
"What? It was my favorite T.V. show."
"What's in the bag Grandpa?"
Simon was reaching for the bag.
"Something that'll make me incredibly rich!" Jimmy said moving his grandson onto his lap.
Simon nearly tore apart the bag as he went through it, pulling out a signed baseball and a picture of two boys with their arms around each other. Paul took the picture and baseball from Simon reading the signature.
"Whose Paulie?"
"That best friend you remind me of and named after."
"How're you going to get rich off of this dad?"
"It's rich full of memories, though we both did plan on becoming famous baseball players and selling that when we retired. My chicken scratch is on the back."
"So did he ever make it to the big leagues?" Paul said, handing both items to his dad.
"Nope, he died of AIDS back when they first discovered it in the eighty's." Jimmy said nonchalantly as he looked at the picture.
"I'm so sorry..."
"I'm not," Jimmy said as he stuffed the baseball into his pocket, "Even though he died young, we both lived full lives, travelling the states and even a little backpacking across Europe together. Luckily for us the draft ended before we turned eighteen."
"Wow, he must've been like a brother to you."
"More than that," Jimmy stared at the young faces smiling back at him, that innocence of the sixties, "I loved him, and he loved me."
"I'm glad that we came, dad."
"Me too..." Jimmy looked at his grandson who interest had already shifted to his game, "Hey Simon, you up for some ice cream after me and these old folks here talk?"
"YES!" Simon said jumping out of his seat pushing at his grandfather's leg, "Hurry up and talk already, I wanna get a Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream!"
"How about we all go to the store, and Nana will make us Sundaes?"
Jimmy wiped some sweat from the back of his neck and laughed at his grandson's determination to get out of here. Jimmy looked back at the picture and smiled. Love ya Paulie, he thought as he slipped the photo into his chest pocket.