I went to the Oakland Center in the Fall of ’65 in response to my draft notice. I had received the Kennedy Exemption in 1963 when my girlfriend married me to help me get it. By early ’65 we were separated and divorced. Around September, I was sitting in front of a physician’s desk at the Center in my underwear. I happened to notice the name ‘Zingales’ etched on his stethoscope. I said to him…’Zingales..I had a great Shakespearean Lit. teacher named Tom Zingales.." "That’s my son!’ he said. Turned out that he helped his son correct papers and he remembered the one I did on Hamlet..he told me he had graded it an ‘A’ and handed it to his son who changed it to A+ even though I handed it in 10 days late (as usual). The doc had wonderful and compassionate eyes and asked me what I wanted to do..(I had been offered OCS because I aced the written ‘exam’.) I said I wanted to be alone for awhile and he gave me a permanent 1-Y (‘because you are very near-sighted’) Not Recommended For Reexamination. As I made my way back to my apartment, I felt that I (an avowed atheist) had come as close to god as I was going to get…I am sure the good doctor (and Hamlet) saved my life.
