I was confused by this concept of a Milk Lunch. Since I despise milk, I thought it might be best to skip it altogether. Milk Lunch was on the schedule every weekday at ten minutes after ten in the morning. This was the part of the day at my high school, the Ethel Walker School for girls, where we were served a mid morning snack of milk and cookies. I skipped the milk. And the cookies felt a bit infantile too. Really? Milk and cookies? Weren’t we supposed to be young ladies by now? Who gets milk and cookies in high school? Kindergarten, maybe, but I felt we were a little old for a mid morning snack of milk and cookies.

The Ethel Walker School for Girls.

Milk Lunch was also an opportunity to check our mail, if we were boarding students, and buy any items from the school bookstore. In addition to books and school supplies, the bookstore also carried personal care products like shampoo, toothpaste, soap, and feminine hygiene products. We’d ask for what we wanted and sign for it.

“I need a box of tampax,” I said pretty much on a monthly basis, signing for my purchase on my account which would be billed to my parents. The household bills were usually paid by my father’s secretary so I rarely heard anything about my monthly bookstore activity.

When I went home the following weekend, my mother was holding my bookstore bill, waving it at me. She did not look happy.

“You’ve been purchasing tampax at school,” she said with disapproval. My mother forbid us to wear tampons. “It’s not natural,” she instructed. “Use a sanitary napkin.”

It was bad enough menstruating, and the sanitary “napkin” was, well, a sanitary “napkin.” I didn’t like it.

“Either you stop purchasing the tampons or I’ll call the school and tell them you are forbidden to buy them,” she said. The thought of having my mother call the school to forbid me from buying tampons at the school store was too humiliating.

“You don’t need to call the school,” I said. “I’ll stop buying them.” Which I did, sort of. I stopped buying tampax from my account, but I was able to arrange a trade with a friend. “If you put my tampax on your account,” I offered, “I’ll buy your shampoo or anything else you need.” The purchases secured, we went back to Milk Lunch.

“Can I get you another cookie?” I asked my friend.

I had to hide my monthly purchase of tampax from my mother.