I visited my old neighborhood in Augusta, GA, this weekend on my way back from visiting relatives in south Georgia. I went by my old elementary school, which hasn’t changed much since 1954. This story alerted me to how much undisclosed danger we faced each day in the cafeteria of Wheeless Road Elementary School.

Each day we got a meat, two vegetables, the best cornbread or yeast rolls known to man, and a dessert, usually banana pudding. All of this was made fresh every morning by the cooks in our cafeteria, and it cost only $1.25 per week, a mere 25 cents per meal.

Those who chose to bring their lunches usually brought peanut butter-and-jelly or bologna sandwiches and an apple. Trading was encouraged. We didn’t give any thought to anyone going into anaphylactic shock due to peanut allergies, or becoming obese due to the bologna or the buttery yeast rolls. Maybe this was because of the daily terror we faced from polio and the constant reminder ? friends we had who were lying in iron lungs ? that we could be next.