An Eventful Night
It was our last day of junior high school. All that was left was the commencement. It was the afternoon of the day before graduation and I was over at Ronald’s house with my friends, Dave and Jude. We were trying to decide how we should celebrate this momentous occasion. Only Jude was going to the high school that I was going to attend in September. Ronald and Dave were each going to different schools.
Jude didn’t see it as such a momentous deal. He and I were just continuing to another school together. He did come up with an idea. It was to write a tontine. We would each put some money in a bank account under all of our names and let it sit there and grow interest until all but one of us was left alive and that person would get to cash in on all the money in the account. Since none of us had jobs, we didn’t think the amount of money that we could put in or would accrue would be worth it.
Dave, ever the practical one, suggested that we go to our local luncheonette and celebrate with some chocolate egg creams. For those of you that are unfamiliar with a chocolate egg cream, it is a cold fountain drink consisting of milk, carbonated water, and chocolate-flavored syrup. Why it was called an egg cream is unknown to me as it does not contain either eggs nor cream. But it was definitely a special drink to have back in the Bronx. Being 14 years old, that was about the closest we would get to go out drinking at least for the next 4 years.
Then there was Ronald. You might remember him from some of my other stories. Ronald and I had also been in the same class since back in kindergarten (as was Dave) and even though Ronald wasn’t going to my high school, we would remain friends. He had a plan. His thought was to leave an indelible mark on our junior high school before we left it.
We eventually decided to go to the luncheonette for the egg creams, after which Jude and Dave went home. However, Ronald could not give up the idea of leaving something behind at our school. Though I was somewhat reticent about his idea, I decided to go along with him early that evening.
Our junior high school was within walking distance of both our houses. This being the end of June, it stayed light outside pretty late and my parents were comfortable with me staying out late. Of course, they were unaware that I was going with Ronald.
We arranged to meet under the overhang in the courtyard of our school. There was no one around.
I have no idea how the window to the science lab got open, and I tried to convince Ronald that breaking into the school was not a wise choice, but somehow reason and logic were not going to be part of our evening’s activities, which tends to be the case whenever I’m involved in activities with Ronald.
We got into the lab and Ronald told me to check the hall to see if there was anyone around. I cracked open the door and peeked, there wasn’t anyone as far as I could see, but I did hear a janitor working down another hall.
As I carefully closed the door and turned back to Ronald he wasn’t there. But I could see a bunch of beakers and an assortment of chemicals sitting by the sink. Just then Ronald came out of the back closet and with some brushes. His plan was to create an indelible ink so that we could paint a message somewhere in the school that would live in perpetuity in the building.
The only problem was that we didn’t have a recipe for the ink. My thoughts were water and food coloring. Ronald said not to worry, “How hard could it be to put together some ink?”
“Umm?” We were about to find out.
I’m not sure what exactly Ronald put into the beaker but considering it included acid and a base and some powder that was purple, it certainly wasn’t something that we could write with. As a matter of fact, as soon as it started to erupt our only thought was to get out of there.
Unfortunately for me, one of my sneakers fell off inside the lab as I was climbing out of the window. I would have gone back to get it, but between the eruption, the smell, and the door opening with the janitor rushing into the room, I chose not to.
Explaining to my parents why I only came home with one shoe wasn’t going to be easy. Luckily for me, Ronald was willing to take the blame. Here’s the story we came up with:
Ronald and I were play-roughhousing when he got hold of my sneakers, tied them together, and threw them up over a telephone pole wire, where they hung. I’m sure you’ve all seen a pair of sneakers in such a predicament at some point in your life. Anyway, I chased Ronald to force him to get my sneakers down. When we both finally returned to the spot where he had thrown the sneakers to our surprise, they were no longer hanging from the wire, only one sneaker was found on the ground and the other one was gone.
My parents, knowing Ronald, believed our story, I guess because nothing more was ever said about it. I had to work off the cost of a new pair of sneakers, and Ronald as usual got away scot-free. And of course, I was reminded again, that I needed to be more astute at picking friends. Quite an eventful night.
As to our graduation, it went off without a hitch. Nothing was mentioned about the Science Lab incident at school that day. We had to dress nicely for graduation, so any detective walking around looking for a student with only one sneaker on would have been disappointed. Since it would be the last time we were to be in our junior high school, I have no idea what became of my sneaker or if they ever figured out what really happened. Who knows, maybe my sneaker was the impetus for schools to install alarm systems.
I think I’ll leave that off of my resumé.
