"Women Behaving Badly"

“Boys, copy this down into your workbook. The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him’ after Eve was created out of Adams rib in Genesis 2:23. ‘The man said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called woman for she was taken out of man.’ Tomorrow you will bring me your essay on original sin and we’ll continue work in Genesis.”The bell rang and nineteen sweaty boys dressed in gray shuffled out of the stuffy classroom. It was the oldest room in the school and hadn’t been painted in decades. It had no ventilation and the rusted dirty windows were locked shut. They’d probably been that way ever since the room was built.

St. Joseph’s Catholic College is well-known for its distinct separation of social groups, each of which has its place in the hierarchy.

Samson and Bella

Giant Samson from Mauterndorf

Samson and Delilah

At the top are the ‘hard-boiled bimbos’ – an exclusive group of tough nuts with more power than the teachers. While I’m not part of any group, I don’t have beef with anyone and am unique in that I can get along with any group at ease and be treated like an insider. On this particular day, I decided to join the hard-boiled guys in their traipsing around town.

I asked the Big Six, Samson, where we were heading.

“We’re gonna drop by the speakeasy and grab some hooch, then meet with the dolls at the juice joint Jimmy’s dad owns.”Once we’d picked up some bootleg from one of Samson’s friends working at the Cock and Bull, we carried the cases of beer to The Ritz where a group of dolled up giggling girls covered in mis-applied make-up waited outside for us. Each...