More High School Memories

The very little positive feedback I get for my blog is usually saved for when I write about some mis-adventure from my past. A lot of the stories or experiences I had in my youth tend to get lost as I get older. However running into an old, old friend the other day, revived one of those memories.

I needed to get my driveway seal-coated, so I started calling around and getting estimates. My friend Chuck then called me and told me an old friend Paul, who we went to high school with is running a company that does that. So, I called the place and got an estimate. Sure enough, he gave me the best deal so on Sunday I went over to his office and gave him the signed contract. I hadn’t seen Paul in over ten years and seeing him and talking to him reminded me of a story from my senior year of high school.

It was December of 1986. I remember it was a Friday. The day before, the student body had demonstrated a walkout to protest some budget cutbacks that were very unpopular. There were rumors we would do it again the next day. So, as I went to school on Friday I was not in the correct mindset to attend classes. As I got to school I learned that the day’s walkout had been cancelled. I was bummed as I was on my way to my first class. I ran into Mike Doyle and Paul in the hall and we were bemoaning our having to actually have to go to class, when Paul had an idea. He suggested we ditch and go downtown.

It was like music to my ears. I was not someone who cut school often. I mean I was no angel but, cutting for the whole day was not something I did often. Mike and I agreed with Paul and we hurried to find Dell and Zar to tell them that we were leaving. We were forming our own semi-protest and heading into the big bad Loop. So, we piled into Paul’s brown 1970’s Ford Torino and were off to explore the city.

Of course with such poor planning came pitfalls. We had like ten bucks between the lot of us. We could barely afford to park the car in a garage. We had no money for anything, which when you are seventeen and downtown can be a big hurdle. Paul had an ATM card for an account which had $5 dollars in it. He went to an ATM in the Loop and promptly somehow was able to withdraw $200 dollars. This was in the days before banks could talk to each other instantly and the ATM he went to allowed him to withdraw up to $200 which is what he did.

Mind you, again not a one of us was older then seventeen and fiscal responsibility was something we had not learned as of yet. So, instantly we went from stinking poor to being dirty rich. Our first stop was Burger King. Now, I know you are asking, why would you go to a Burger King in the Loop when you could have gone to one on 79^th and Harlem? The answer is we were seventeen. We ate a semi-breakfast and were off to the Sears Tower. We went to the observatory and killed some time there. We then wandered the streets having a ball and cracking each other up.

I will never forget the look of glee on Paul’s face as he crossed the street with a wad full of bills in his hand. He was so ecstatic that he crossed a busy loop intersection without even looking causing a taxi to come to a screeching halt, barely missing hitting him. Then there was the scene of Doyle philosophizing with a homeless man outside the Burger King about the world. I am sure a lot more went on but my memory tends to fade.

Eventually we made our way home. We stopped at Paradise restaurant and had ourselves a dinner made for a king spending the last amounts of the two hundred. It was one of those days that gets burned into your memory and is what being young is all about. Of course eventually we would all have to pay the piper.

We would all receive a Saturday detention for cutting. Meaning we had to get up the next Saturday at eight o’clock and be in school for four hours. I would usually buy the Saturday Sun-Times and read it front to back. I mean I read every classified ad and obituary that was in the paper trying to kill time. The bank would eventually catch up with Paul and thanks to a generous loan from his mother, was paid back in full. Still, it was all worth it. I had a fun day and learned more about life and friendship that day then I could have ever learned in a classroom.