It’s the spring of ’57 and we are headed to Camp Lejeune. “We” are the Washington High School barbershop quartet.

We had been invited to sing at the hospital there. This would be a bit different from most of the other venues where we had performed. (That was also the spring when we sang at one of the Azalea Festival events. We “shared” the stage with Dale Robertson. Remember him?)

Back to my story. The members of our quartet were Will Jenkins, Ward Marslender, Charlie Mike Smith and me.

That particular day, Charlie Mike was driving. We passed through the gate and drove on, looking for signs that would lead us to the hospital.

Only … only, we were, evidently, traveling at a rate above the posted speed limit. We were all surprised when the lights began blinking and the siren sounded behind us. Not good.

So, we pulled over. The stern MP questioned us briefly, then he instructed us to follow his vehicle. He led us to the provost marshal’s office.

Once inside, our driver č Charlie Mike č was taken into another room, by himself. We three were left waiting.

So. Even though we were now without the benefit of our bass singer, we felt the situation called for a song.

We positioned ourselves just outside the door where Charlie Mike had been taken, and began singing č now, this is the absolute truth č “Daddy get your baby out of jail; come and get someone to go my bail. They’ve been treating me so mean.”

Well, shortly thereafter, Charlie Mike emerged. While the look on his face suggested he wasn’t exactly pleased with our serenade, he quickly told us everything was okay.

After a bit of an admonition about driving within the posted speed limits, we were then provided with a lead vehicle escort over to the hospital.

We sang in a number of different areas while there. We all felt we were most appreciated in the psych ward.

In truth, we really had a wonderful experience, and we felt like the patients appreciated our coming there to sing for them.

The quartet’s tenor, Will Jenkins, retired a while back from the faculty at Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg, Va. Ward Marslender, our baritone, is an investment counselor in Raleigh.

The Rev. Dr. Charles M. Smith is a retired Methodist minister, who is one of the most multi-talented people I know, and he lives here now.

We really had some pleasant times together back then … that is, when we managed not to run afoul of the law.