Jody Skolds, GPC Student

Boys Night Out

Whenever we get together for family gatherings or special holidays, Dad always seems to reminisce about the same old story. With a scandalous look on his face and a rebelling tone in his voice, he shares the details of being unceremoniously hauled down to the police station with his friends Phil, Henry, Tom, and Ed where they had to pay for an evening of poor judgment, trespassing, and attempting to flee a crime scene.

It all began during the early sixties, in a small town near Chicago, right after the start of summer vacation with Dad and his twelve year old buddies eager for a harmless diversion that offered daring excitement and spine tingling thrills. The public school gymnasium in the neighborhood was the tallest building for miles and it presented them with the best opportunity to have some innocent excitement. Thinking it was “really cool,” and knowing they would never get caught, the decision was unanimously made to climb to the top of the gymnasium roof, utilizing the window frames as footholds, and then carefully hoisting themselves up to the rooftop.

Daylight slowly faded to dusk as Phil, Henry, Tom, Ed, and Jim anxiously decided to make their creative, clever move. With the adrenaline exploding through their veins, Phil, Henry, Tom, and Ed took the long awaited run to the designated window; however, the window frames were much higher than they appeared. Because of the full, green bushes growing under the frames, they appeared closer to the ground. Constructed seven feet up from the foundation, the boys were unable to reach the window ledge. While the anxious boys waited patiently, Phil quietly sneaked a ladder from home to prop against the building so they could approach the window. With increased excitement, Phil, Henry, Tom, and Ed quickly scurried up the ladder, clenched their small, sweaty fingers around the top of the concrete sill, forcefully pushed their feet from the frame, and carefully grabbed the roof’s edge to heroically pull themselves up to the hot roof top.

Dad, being the last ambitious youngster on the ground, was always a husky boy and knew he couldn’t scurry up the window. Not wanting to look like a hopeless sissy, he tried. “I just couldn’t get my rear end to cooperate with my top end,” he said. It was tragically decided that he would stay behind and be the lookout in case things went drastically wrong. The boys proceeded to sneak quietly around the roof, anxiously seeking a secret passage into the building. Unfortunately, they didn’t realize the principal was in the gym.

Dad cautiously secured a lookout point, and waited patiently for an update on their progress. All of a sudden, the air exploded with the sound of blazing sirens, bright flashing lights, pandemonium, and squad cars. Dad, being a loyal member of the clever team, and the only one on the ground, started to flee the scene as fast as he could. “ After I got far enough away, I ventured a look back and all I could see was policemen, flashing lights, and my best friends being led away in handcuffs,” he said. While nervously crossing the street, and almost home, one of the squad cars pulled him over. Henry, who was handcuffed in the car, nervously yelled out, “ Hey, Jimmy, we got caught.” In an instant, a huge, heavy hand was on Dad’s shoulder. Crying uncontrollably, he found himself thrown mercilessly in the back seat of a terrifying squad car with Henry and they were on their way down to the station.

The hardened criminals were all released to angry parents. Dad, being the only one of eight children to have a “criminal record,” loves to tell his story. Each time I hear it, the recital sounds a little more daring than the last.