The Reunion Assembly
It has been almost sixty years since Connie Boynton, nee Brooks, taught English at Madison High School. Connie discusses old times with her husband and an unlikely friend. To her surprise she is soon invited to a ceremony to celebrate the renovation and expansion of her old school. Will she meet any of her former students?
Chapter One Miss Enright
Our Miss Brooks had taught English at Madison High School. It had not been her dream job . . . well it may very well have been if her superior was not a certain Principal Osgood Conklin. However, it was there she had met the object of her affection, Madison's biology teacher. It was after more than six long years of courtship that she finally caught and married him.
Soon after their marriage, Mr. Boynton was offered a professorship at State U, soon after that the former Miss Brooks had, as was the practice at the time, retired from teaching to raise three children of her own. Over the years, those children had grown up, left, and raised their own children. Her oldest grandson now had two young children of his own. The end result was that Connie Boynton was now a great-grandmother and, well, compared to her, old Mrs. Davis had been a young girl when Connie had boarded with her. Or so said Connie's best friend and former rival, fellow retired English teacher Daisy Leblanc nee Enright.
"Really, Connie" said Daisy, who still spoke in an arrogant self-important manner after all these years, "I am surprised to see how positively ancient you are! You have surely let yourself go these past few months. You were positively radiant at your ninetieth birthday party! Just because you're a great-grandmother is no reason to let yourself go! Of course, you can't compare with me. I am only a grandmother myself and a mere seventy-nine!"
This was of course, an outright lie. Daisy and Connie were both in their nineties, and looked it, although they were still enjoying good health. Phillip Boynton was ninety-two, and although now frequently tired and sleeping through the day, was still in decent shape. Unfortunately, Daisy's husband, retired French teacher Monsieur Leblanc, had passed away some years before.
The two old women were having tea in the Boynton's dining room. Mr. Boynton was napping in his room, and Connie did not want to wake him.
"You're a hundred if you're a day," replied Connie, taking Daisy's insults with a tolerance she would have never displayed in her younger days. "With your granddaughter Rose's impending marriage, you will be expecting a great-grandchild of your one of these days."
"Really, Connie!" said Daisy, "I am sure you don't mean that! Why look at me, not a single crow's foot!"
"Only because you've buried them in an inch of makeup" replied Connie. "You know as well as I do that the crows have tap-danced over both our faces!"
"Speak for yourself!" retorted Daisy, albeit with a smile.
After a moment's pause, she continued.
"I do enjoy these chats with you, Connie. Doesn't it remind you of the old days, when we were both competing for Phil's affections?"
"Yes" said Connie, smiling, ". . . And how I won at long last"
"I thought it was the end of the world" sighed Daisy. "Then I fell in love with, and married Maurice Leblanc. We had more than forty happy years of marriage!"
"How have you been doing since you moved in with your son and his wife?" asked Connie.
"Alright, Connie. It isn't quite so enjoyable living in a big house all by yourself . . . when you are in your late seventies."
Connie rolled her eyes, as Daisy continued;
"It also gives me a chance to be near Rose and her husband Brandon - I hope to be around when that great-grandchild you warned me about arrives!"
"Phil and I love this little cottage" Connie replied. "We wouldn't leave it for anything."
"I know" said Daisy. "You've lived here since you were married . . . why you have chosen such a tiny home is beyond me."
"Why you chose that big mausoleum is beyond me" Connie replied. "Still, as you remember, I used to board with Mrs. Davis in her house across the street. After we were married, Phil's mother lived there to be close to us and the children."
"Dear old Mrs. Davis" said Daisy. "Do you still miss her, after all these years?"
"Yes, although it has been forty years, I still think of her" observed Connie sadly. "So do the children."
Connie looked through the many family portraits on the dining room walls. Among them was that of a short old lady wearing glasses and a kindly expression. The late Mrs. Davis had been like a mother to Miss Brooks, and a grandmother to her children.
Author's Notes
The first and only story in the Our Miss Brooks category! In brief, a fifty-eight-years later reunion story (dating from the 1956 movie, where Miss Brooks finally gets engaged to Mr. Boynton).
In contrast to the show, most people will be referred to by their first names - mostly due to the fact that "Connie" and "Daisy" have long since married.
Maurice Leblanc was a French teacher who appeared occasionally in the program, most notably in the episode "June Bride." Miss Daisy Enright, a fellow English teacher, was Miss Connie Brook's rival for Boynton's affections. She only appeared a few times on the television show, but was a semi-regular on the radio.
Phillip Boynton was considered for a College position "The Wrong Mrs. Boynton" (the T.V. version) and "Professorship at State U" (Radio equivalent). He was turned down as he was not as yet a family man. This impediment was removed by his marriage to Connie, and its reasonable to assume he found an opening soon thereafter.