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About 1960 at Martin Behrman High School, I had a literature class with Mr. Olivier in the afternoon. We came into class, and he asked everyone to read a short story by Earnest Hemingway, whom I never heard of, named The Old Man at the Bridge. He said he would have questions afterward. Mr. Olivier was kind of young and the girls thought he was cute. He had one pet thing about himself and that was not to call him Prof. It was Mr. Olivier. After reading the short story he asked the class what was so strange about it. A lot of students including my- self started waving our hands. Well, I wasn't the bright- est Crayon in the box, so he started calling on the smartest girls. They would say things about the author that they thought he meant this or that. Well, they kept getting it wrong and I kept waving harder because I knew what it was about. So, after going through all of his smart girls and the few smart boys in the class, he gave up. He said "OK Ralph" what was the story about. Like he was expecting some dumb answer, what is the answer? Well, I stood up and all of the smart kids were looking and kinda smirking at me knowing I would get it wrong. I said to Mr. Olivier the story was about nothing, nada, zip, zilch. No names of people, places, time, events, year, country or conti- nent. It was totally about nothing, only two names were mentioned, the town of San Carlos, of which there are fifty-one of them in the world and Barcelona of which there are six. Totally NOTHING. There was silence in the room with my classmates waiting for the teacher to ridicule and make fun of me for stating such a foolish answer. Well, Mr. Olivier looked around the room especially at his star pupils and announced that Ralph was the only one who got it right. Yes, I hit it out of the park. After that; I was his star pupil and I was allowed to call him PROF. I never forgot that incident so long ago it made me feel so good about myself. I had a hard time in high school getting the grades to graduate. I had to take English one in the morning and English two in the evening to graduate with my class. Then a year or so ago, I found out that I have a condition known as Dyslexia. Things would have been better if I had known what was wrong with me but you learn how to live around it. It cannot be fixed, you just adapt. I always remembered the story but couldn't remember the name. Lee Ann Baudean Rust put a picture of our Literature book from then on Facebook. I got a copy from Ebay and found the story in it. "The Old Man at the Bridge", that was it. Ralph L. West Jr. 2020 22 SOUTHERN SENIOR MAGAZINE | Summer 2021 Sandwiches Soups Salads Banana Splits Shakes Sundaes Sweet Treats Inside McNeill One Stop 8014 Hwy 11 North Carriere, MS 601-798-3210 113 West Canal Street Picayune, MS 601-798-4993 The Old Man at the Bridge By: Ralph L. West Jr. S