Palmers Channel Public School was divided into two rooms that could be opened to form one if required. All instruction was carried out in the one room. The other was used rarely, although it did house the stage from which the students presented the annual school concert.
One particular day it had a different use. We had a visit from a medical person who had come to check out the students. All the boys were lined up on the stage stripped to the waist waiting our turn. The girls were in the other room undergoing instruction.If the girls had turned around they could see what was happening on the stage as the divider was windowed.
‘Are you wearing underpants?’ the doctor asked the first boy. ‘No,’ he answered. So the boy kept his shorts on for the examination. Next boy, same question. Again, the answer was “No’. And so it continued until it was my turn. I approached the doctor nervously, waiting for the question, but this time it didn't come.
I found out later the kid in front of me, when his turn came, answered ‘no’ when asked, although he was wearing underpants. So by the time the doctor got to me he probably figured that asking was pointless. This was good for me, as I was not looking forward to answering honestly and it had not occurred to me to do anything else.
There is another part to this story. Recently I recounted the experience at a family picnic in Mum’s presence. She recalled the time she was seated next to a friend, Mary, at a school function. The kids, or at least the boys, were seated facing the parents. Mary's son had a little more on display than she cared to see but she noticed I was covered. ‘What's Kenneth wearing?’ Mary asked Mum. ‘Underpants’, replied Mum. ‘Oh’, said Mary. ‘Where do you buy those?’
