Medea

So, I frequently ride the M20 bus. It travels to most places I go.  Early one morning I was sitting near the back of the bus reading the NY Times on my phone.  Two high school boys were talking. They looked to be about 15 or 16 years old.  From their conversation I could tell they didn’t go to the same school but they were amiable and their banter was easy.  My guess is that they rode the same bus at the same time and became friendly that way.  

One of the kids was telling a story, I will call him Ethan.  I was really trying to focus on my news story but got caught up in Ethan’s story.  Which is here:

On Saturday, Ethan went to take his AP History exam.  AP means advanced placement and high schoolers take the class to earn college credit.  It’s a national test given at the same time throughout the country so that no one can share the questions.  The exam was scheduled to start at 8:00 AM.  The Proctor who seemed like Madea from Tyler Perry’s movies did not arrive until 8:45 AM.   

Madea told the students to take the student sticker and put it on the examiner spot and the examiner sticker in the student spot.  Ethan raised his hand and said that didn’t make any sense.  Madea called the Vice Principal, who agreed with Ethan.  

Madea told the students that they had 1 hour to take the exam.  Ethan raised his hand again and said they had an 1 hour 1/2.  Madea called the Vice Principal who agreed with Ethan.  Madea said, she wasn’t very good at math.  Ignoring the fact that she was late by 45 minutes.

Then as they were taking the exam Madea went up to Ethan and asked if he was a football player.  He said, no I’m not.  She asked another student if he liked football, he said not especially.  Madea’s husband is crazy about the sport.  She attempted to make conversation with the students while they were taking the exam. 

I was giggling to myself as I left the bus.  And thought, somehow people like Madea manage to live their lives and get by.  

A few days later I saw Ethan on the bus and debated whether I should say anything to him.  I did. I told him I overheard his story and it was hilarious.  He told me he sometimes performed comedy in a club but hadn’t done it in a several weeks and was rusty.  I told him to tell that story just as is.  I don’t know if he did it or not but I thought I’m going to tell this story.  Et voila.

Naughty Kids

Innocent moment

So, when I was young I was quite mischievous. My brother and I joined forces and created havoc. Sometimes he was the elder one and sometimes I was. We were good bad but we weren’t evil.

It was early morning, and it had snowed overnight. Everything was layered with clean white snow.  A neighbor drinking his early morning coffee, looked out the window.  He saw the pristine white and then noticed something moving.  He called to his wife and said, “I didn’t know Betty (my Mom) let the kids play in the snow in their pajamas.”  His wife said, “What!!!”  Obviously, Betty didn’t let the kids play in the snow in their pajamas.  We had escaped.

We lived on a side street that had a fair share of traffic.  It was a snowy day and my Grandfather was babysitting us. We were probably around 5 at the time.  There was a car accident just in front of the house.  My Grandfather went outside to see what happened.  He left without a coat thinking he would be out for a few moments. My brother and I had other ideas.  We did something quite special — we locked the front door.  Grandpa came back and was a little startled when we wouldn’t let him in. He banged on the door, “Let me in Annie and Chuckie, let me in.”  We didn’t.  He knocked on the window, we waved to him. “Hi, Grandpa!”

Fortunately for Grandpa, we had a vestibule.  He stayed there for a for while and then a neighbor took him in.  

My brother did something so audacious it shocked and impressed me.  He came home one day with a new toy, a periscope.  He said, Eric, his friend had given it to him.  My Mom called Eric’s Mom to say thank you.  Eric never had a periscope.  After some investigative work, my Mom realized that Chuck had stolen the money from her wallet, crossed the busy street by himself and bought the toy. He had left the packaging on the periscope, which helped her investigation.  I was most impressed that he crossed the street by himself.  I wouldn’t have dared.

When my brother mentions something naughty that my nephew had done, I remind him that it doesn’t come close to our exploits.  Somehow we both survived and became valuable members of our communities.