Apes Rule. That is all.

apecluboldcabin1965

Squint at it. Can you tell what it is? Yes, it is the crappiest photo of the Old Cabin you have ever seen. Oh, excuse me, it is not the Old Cabin. It is the Ape School, as it was called by yer fav-o-rite blahgger and two of her cuzzints during the wonderful summer of 1965. Do you guys (you know who you are) remember the Ape Club? You do not have to answer that unless you want to [wink].

I won’t say which cuzzint was the creator of the Apes Club. She knows who she is even if she doesn’t remember the Apes Club. She is also the person who taught the other two of us how to climb out of our cribs.

So what was the Apes Club all about? Well, I can’t tell you too much. I could be killed! More likely it’s that I don’t remember all the details. It was a secret little society where the three of us all adopted names that began with Ap. Was I April? I can’t remember! It was all kind of like junior high (which we were one year away from). For one things, we made up a rival group of girls to be our arch-enemies. Shrill mean girls. You know the kind [wink]. Apakiki (spelling?) was one of them and that’s all I will say except that I think she had long fancy ringlets in her hair. We all hated that kind of stuff. I don’t really know why. We earned achievements for doing gymnastic-type stuff on the beach and maybe some swimming. I fergit what else, although I had all kinds of ideas for achievements in all subjects. But I am also the person who read the Campfire Girls handbook from end to end when I was eight or whatever…

apeclub1965

I hadn’t thought about the Apes Club in years until I found myself randomly telling npJane about it on the beach last summer. npJ didn’t remember it, I think she was about three years old at the time. (And it was secret.) When I found this *very* random photo and then turned it over, I made an exclamation when I saw what was on the back. Not sure why this photo was in the archives. I’m sure our mothers, who were beloved sisters and sisters-in-law, knew about our little club and probably giggled about it over beer lunches on the beach. I bet this photo was saved on purpose.

2 Responses to “Apes Rule. That is all.”

  1. Margaret Says:

    Ah, the secret clubs. I remember those days. It wasn’t Ape school in my case, but it was equally as creative. I think it was something super nerdy like a play reading club.

  2. Pooh Says:

    I remember the Ape Club, in fact I was thinking about just a couple of weeks ago. I don’t remember our names, but it seems to me we had secret hiding places where the bracken grew tall, or the saplings were dense. Oh, and special rules about what we could eat. (Probably along the lines of s’mores are holy food and brussel sprouts are evil!)