I could tell Cousin Billy Clyde was praying, and he had lots of things to pray about. First, there was the oppressive heat of that sweltering August afternoon.  We had no air conditioners at the Needmore Elementary School, nor did any other school in our part of the world. For that matter,  none of us had air conditioners at home either. If someone had suggested  that Billy Clyde might someday enjoy such a luxury, I think he would have burst out laughing. The very idea was unthinkable to any of us.
Nowadays, they sometimes close schools because the air conditioners are not working as well as they should. Cousin Billy Clyde wasn't praying for an air conditioner, he might have been praying for afternoon recess to hurry up and come. He played ball at recess, heat or no heat. I am not real sure he even knew what an air conditioner was anyway.
People had to be tough back then. Can any of you remember sleeping out  on the porch at night because of the heat? We just raised the windows at  school and at home and did what people had done for generations in the  summer heat. I want to thank God, right here and now, for air conditioning and indoor plumbing.
I knew for a fact he was bothered up about the possibility of having to  take a polio shot. The nurse lady came around to the schools from time to time. Sometimes she gave each of us a shot, when a new vaccine had been discovered. Word was out that she had visited some of the other schools  with shots to prevent polio. The rumor was that she was coming to our Needmore School that very hot, August afternoon. "Miss Stella, my Mama said for me not to take no polio shot when the  nurse lady comes around," Billy Clyde blurted out right in the middle of arithmetic class.  I didn't think he did that on purpose, he probably didn't even realize we were having arithmetic right then, seeing that he had been  praying so hard, and all. "She said no such thing," responded Miss Stella.
It was a bad thing in many ways for the teacher to be friends with the  parents of the kids they taught. "Mr. Hall, I think I will let you stay inside during afternoon recess for interrupting class and for telling a lie." Billy Clyde looked sick like he might be coming down with something bad.
Or, maybe it would be a good thing today if the parents and teachers knew each other. Has school consolidation, large schools, and impersonal relationships helped or hurt? Call me old fashioned, I think these things have hurt more than they have helped.  Billy Clyde looked to be praying some more.