An Experiment Gone Awry
How did I get here? That’s a good question. Usually, when I went up on the roof (better known as tar beach), it was with family members to escape the oppressive summer heat in our air-conditionless apartment. You can read more about that here: https://www.hdhstory.net/Storyblog/?p=3175.
However, on this occasion, it was different.
I was at home playing with my friend Ronald when the thunderstorm hit. My parents weren’t home. My dad was at work, and my mother was visiting a friend up the street.
Ronald suggested we try an experiment, as we were rather bored with what we were playing. We had been studying Benjamin Franklin in school, and Ronald suggested we try to do his kite experiment on the roof.
I was very skeptical. Flying a kite on the roof? Rain and thunder? Lightning? It didn’t sound very safe.
Ronald said, “We’ll wear raincoats and rubber boots. That should protect us.”
Before I could reply, he continued, “What could possibly go wrong?”
A voice in my head said, “A LOT!” But do I listen to the voice in my head when it comes to Ronald, and what sounds like a fun thing to do? No. Besides, rubber boots and rainwear seemed safe.
So we gathered a kite that I had, our raingear, and headed for the roof on the 11th floor of my apartment building.
The door was pretty heavy to open, but it opened. We went onto the roof and propped the door open with a brick so it wouldn’t close. Once closed, you could only open the door from the inside.
It was raining lightly, but we could see the lightning off in the distance. Our first problem was figuring out how we would fly a kite in the rain. There certainly was wind, but as the rain started coming down harder, it did not seem that getting a kite airborne was possible. We also forgot a key to tie onto the kite string, which we needed according to the picture of Franklin’s experiment.
I thought we should give up when Ronald had another idea. The roof was already higher than the surrounding trees, and attached to the roof were antennae, which like a key, were both made of metal. He suggested we, meaning me, just tie the kite to the highest antenna and then pretend it was flying in the air.
I was about to explain why that might be difficult when he said, “Wait here. I’ll go down and get a step ladder from your apartment.” The next thing I knew, he darted through the door down the stairs to my apartment.
There were a number of problems that his leaving created. One, he kicked the brick loose we had used to prop the door open on his way through the door. The door slammed shut and locked. I was now trapped on the roof, at least until Ronald returned.
The next problem was I had forgotten to take the key to the apartment with me, which we could have used for the experiment, but it was still in the apartment, which was locked, and Ronald didn’t have the key either. Would he come right back to me? Or would he go to his house, about 10 minutes away, to get a step ladder?
And finally, that lightning was getting closer, and I was surrounded by a number of metal antennae grounded on the roof that I was standing on.
So that’s how I got here.
As luck would have it, my mother was just getting home as Ronald was running down the hall away from my apartment, apparently trying to save me, which he told my mother. I learned later on that he actually was running home to his house, but he didn’t think it was a good idea to tell my mom that. Not telling her that was probably the best idea he’s ever had.
Meanwhile, I was standing in the pouring rain, lightning flashing in the sky overhead, holding a kite in my hand near the door, ready to yell at Ronald for leaving me, as the door opened to the roof.
Unfortunately for me, it was not Ronald standing at the open door. And the only yelling that occurred came from the woman towering over me, pointing a finger toward the stairs that led off the roof and down towards our apartment. I’m not sure what she said with her eyes ablaze and her voice drowned out by the thunder. But I’m pretty sure the entire apartment building heard every word.
The end result was Ronald being sent home and banned from coming to our house whenever I was alone. My punishment was an extended period of time confined to my room, where I had to read and report on a book my father brought home from the library on his way back from work that day about the dangers of playing with electricity.
And that’s the absolute truth. Or if it isn’t, it should be.
