Retrospect: The unlikely duo

Self-tutoring about people and events from the past: the tutor recalls two of his classmates.

I don’t know who learns more about people – someone who moves around every few years or someone who stays put. I suspect, however, that you learn different things about people if you do one versus the other.

Back in the Annapolis Valley, I observed an interesting phenomenon. I knew at the time it was, but couldn’t have explained why. Decades later, I recall the situation happily as something I got to witness as a kid in school.

That school was near a base, so it had a fair number of people coming and going, since the military people would often move away a few years after arriving. The military kids were different from the locals: they were often better-funded, and likely a little more worldly.

People arriving or moving away not in connection to the military were very rare, but it did happen. Those who arrived generally did so to stay, and typically assimilated more thoroughly than the military kids.

Among the locals, many were farm kids who were larger than life and anarchistic. Often, their family had lived for generations on that same farm. They knew their world better than anyone, from which school was a necessary, temporary distraction.

One of the less charming of those farm kids was in my grade five and grade six classes. However, he wasn’t very noticeable, except when he got the gears from the teacher. Let’s call him Name1.

In grade seven a new kid joined the school who wasn’t military. Let’s call him Name2. He was awkward, but didn’t seem self-conscious about it. He often ended up in situations that made him a target; frequently this happened inadvertently, as he lacked the situational awareness the farm kids all had. However, he never minded being made fun of. Probably because of his innocence, combined with his courage, he soon became a favourite of the farm kids. When the farm kids liked you, you were safe.

Yet, the farm kids were complicated, and tended to love their favourites from afar. Therefore, Name2 didn’t sit with the farm kids at lunch; rather, he sat among the “ordinary” kids. Because of the subtle protection Name2 received from the farm kids (which he may not even have been aware of), the ordinary kids had to accept him. However, they did make fun of him a lot; once again, he never seemed to mind.

Name1 was a farm kid from a good old name, but a bit boring – and a bit mean – among them. However, he and Name2 soon developed chemistry in class. Name1 would make fun of Name2, and Name2 seemed to love it. This happened during September, so that by October, Name1 and Name2 would line up together and so on. It might have been what you’d today call a “bromance”, although that term would only come decades later.

To others looking on, the friendship between Name1 and Name2 was completely mysterious. Yet it definitely worked for them. Eventually, Name1 deserted his farm brethren’s lunch table to sit with Name2 and the “ordinaries.” This never happened except that one case, so far as I know. If there was a class system, the ancient farming families were at the top, regardless of money. No-one ever said so, because they didn’t need to.

The hilarious antics of Name1 and Name2 became a focus of the entire class. Name1, forgettable on his own, was found to be hilarious with the taunts he lavished on Name2. The interaction included slapstick-style punches. Neither ever got injured, and both seemed to enjoy it. The class loved it. Numerous times each day, Name1 and Name2 were the centre of attention.

Though I didn’t know the term then, the combination of Name1 and Name2 might have been my first observation of synergy. Truly, Name1 and Name2 were much greater together than they were separately. Perhaps even more meaningful was the fact that Name1 had gotten into trouble with the teacher more often the years before Name2’s arrival. So, even though Name1 and Name2 were a clear distraction from class work, even the teacher seemed to approve of Name1 more as part of the duo.

God knows what happened to Name1 and Name2. I recall them fondly, even though neither said barely a word to me. One wonders if they yet recall their friendship which was such a focal point of their class.