Johnny's World: The Early Days

By John W. Sangwin

Last year, Tinsley Nathaniel Thomas moved to his new hometown of Appleton and met many new friends. This year, Tinsley, Johnny, Bruce, Walter and Carol are getting into all kinds of fun and mischief together, going to the fair, fishing, to Sunday school, having campfires, and growing into young adults. This second book in the series continues th

• Language: English
• Publisher: Palmetto Publishing Group
• Release date: May 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9781641119573

John W. Sangwin

John W. Sangwin is the author of the Johnny's World series. Now retired from the Port Arthur, Texas I.S.D, he lives in Port Arthur with his wife Pat where he serves as a Bible study teacher at his local church.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

H

i! My name is Nate Thomas. By now, hopefully, you have heard about our family’s move to Appleton, USA. That first summer presented us with both challenges and pleasant thrills. The child Tinsley got to meet new friends, many of whom the adult Nate has kept in touch with today. That first school year in Appleton was an exciting one, as were the days, months, and years that followed. Come with me as we join Johnny and our friends in what I call Johnny’s World.

CHAPTER 1

THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES

L

ife, for me as a child, was often like a Huckleberry Finn adventure. Johnny was Tom Sawyer, and I was becoming Huck Finn. The rest of our circle of friends, at least in my eyes, were the gang Tom wanted to assemble. The only difference was that we weren’t robbers.

The first year of school after moving to Appleton had begun. On day one, I remember learning that my mom—the teacher, Mrs. Thomas—had her classroom across the hall and a couple of doors down from my classroom. My teacher’s name was Miss Chapel. She was very pretty, a fact that none of the boys missed or failed to discuss. In our day, the word chatter meant just that.

Word was that this year was her second year to teach anywhere. I thought she looked a lot like Nurse Chapel from Star Trek. Almost every day after school, I would hurry home hoping to watch the next episode on TV. It was almost as important as brushing my teeth every morning. Being a science guy, I could relate to that show. Nurse Chapel’s first name was Christine, while our Miss Chapel’s name was Montreal. I always thought that was a city in Canada.

I recall the morning of day two. As I approached the front of the school, I heard a voice say, Hey, Tin-Man, did you see our principal, Mr. Farmer, walking into the building with Miss Chapel? They looked quite friendly together, don’t you think?

I knew without a doubt whose voice that was. It was Johnny Sampson. No matter how strange that sounded coming from him, I knew that he was trying to get me upset since the day before, I had told him my thoughts concerning Miss Chapel.

My response was, I’m sure he was just being a gentleman.

As we entered the building, the first bell was ringing. We hurried to class. I could just see my mom closing her door with one of those looks you’d never care to see. Oh, my, just one look—that’s all it takes to get a point across!

Quickly, I took my seat and took out my pen and paper. Miss Chapel was writing our daily assignments on the chalkboard. While she wrote them, there was one of those screech sounds that only chalk can make. The whole class squirmed. One of those assignments was the word science, which sent all sorts of exciting sensations up my spine.

The school day passed quickly as we listened and watched Miss Chapel move back and forth at the head of the class. The bell announced the end of day two. As I got