The King Of Norway

THE KING OF NORWAY

In 1960 presidential candidate John F. Kennedy visited the Los Angeles area & he actually visited (appeared at) the South Bay shopping center. A few of my classmates went & saw him, but I didn't. I wasn't into politics at ten or eleven so, I didn't care. A couple of years later the King of Norway (Olav V) visited my Elementary school. I still wasn't into politics (& didn't care) but it was at my school so, being there anyway, when he visited my class I couldn't avoid it (no way out - so to speak "Norway out, Norway to hide" we joked as we found out about it. The King gave the usual uplifting, but boring speech talking about his country & how much he loved being here in America & especially(??) here in Torrance. He went on for about twenty or thirty minutes & finally after he finished speaking he asked us if we had any questions. Being that we were a class room full of twelve year old kids you could have heard a pin drop. How many kids ever ask questions in school? In those days, at my school - the answer would be "none, nada, zilch". Nobody wanted to be noticed at all much less come across as a "kiss ass" or "suck up", come on!!! After what seemed a very long silence our teacher finally asked "Your majesty, how did you happen to find your way to our little city of Torrance?" After a short pause the king smiled & replied "ta til venstre ved Island", the class erupted in laughter even our slightly embarrassed teacher.