“By the time I got to my third year of high school, the principal and I never saw eye-to-eye. If there was any mischief, I was usually around it, or was at least close enough that it was assumed I was involved with it whether I was or not. I never denied it. I was not in good sorts with her [the principal], and we had kind of a go-around. One day, I was walking out of the gym, and she was standing there and got mad because I was talking. She said, ‘You get in my office! I want to talk to you!’ I walked in her office for just a few minutes and she started off on this tirade, and so I just very quietly turned around and walked out. I went upstairs to my locker, emptied all my books and everything and it was all you could do to carry it all down the steps and out the door.

“She hollered at me and I wouldn’t answer; I kept going. ‘Where are you going?’ she yelled, and I said, ‘I’ll tell you where I’m headed. I’m going home and I’m not coming back.’ She said, ‘That’s a good idea, you go home and you tell your mother about this and you have her call and make an appointment with me, and we’re going to have a conference!’

“I said, ‘You got a couple things right. I’m going home and I’m going to tell my mother what happened, but I’m not ever coming back in this building for any reason.’ And to show you how bull-headed and obstinate I am, I am now 73 years old, and that’s back when I was probably 16. I haven’t been back in that building since, for any reason.”