There was marijuana growing in the school library's Ficus plant.
Kathie Farnell still doesn't know who put it there or how it grew 5 feet high since, as she says, "the old bat librarian didn't let a soul in with water or anything else liquid."
It was just one of the quirky moments of her daily life that became the stuff of legend for generations that came after. Farnell retells those stories in her newest memoir, "Tie Dyed: Avoiding Aquarius."
The book is her second, coming on the heels of "Duck and Cover: A Nuclear Family" which recounted her younger years growing up in Montgomery, Alabama in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
The narrative in "Tie Dyed" follows her through the colorful and politically charged times of her high school and college years.
Integration was law but her Alabama high school was still actively working to force African American students out. Her brother was growing marijuana on the carport roof. And her spacy best friend spent most of the school day stoned, a realization Farnell would not come to until years later.
"There was a lot of weird stuff going on and I was blundering through it," Farnell said.
The memoir is funny and poignant. It gives readers, and Farnell, a chance to look back with fondness and a new understanding.
"Some of it is just me looking back and saying, 'oh, that's why'," she says.
"Tie Dyed" can be read on its own or as a sequel to "Duck and Cover."