Just as the smoke started to drift away, the grounds keeper came pushing a wheelbarrow up the hill. He had witnessed the spectacle from a mere thirty yards from ground zero. As his path crossed the boys' trek toward the scene of the blast, he said, in a very calm and controlled voice, "I wouldn't do that again if I were you." You think?
At about that moment, the window of the president's office flew up and the glass flew out and fell crashing to the ground. The Man himself poked his head out the window. Ho, boy.
The upshot (so to speak).
It is not known to either of the lads, nor was it ever discussed, how much the fact that the father of one of the boys had been the predecessor to the now sitting president who was prepping for his first academic year in the post had to do with the conclusion to this story. It is not known what discussion took place between the two gentlemen. It is known that the boys were held responsible for replacing the window, notwithstanding that they both ever after believed that they did not cause the breakage, but rather that
The younger boy's father took the lad and the window frame to Madsen's Paints and Wallpaper on North Tejon Street where the window was repaired at a cost of $5.25, which to the boys was a veritable fortune. And they did have to pay it.
Epilogue
The day following the explosion, the two genii (geniuses?) returned to the scene of the "crime." Isn't that always the case? They observed that in the center of the parking lot there was not a pebble of gravel to be found in a circle approximately sixteen feet in diameter. They searched for some time for fragments of the "rocket" and ultimately found it south of the road and about twenty feet up the side of the hill. The can appeared to be intact! That is, it seemed to be of a piece, but it was completely flattened.
The Lord was watching over those idiots.
[The End]
© 2011 David W. Lacy
6 comments:
Yes. But have you tried it again recently?
The Lord was also watching over the guests who came to witness the launch.
John, no. Today it would earn someone at least state-wide notoriety and time in juvey. Different world.
Vee, oh, yeah. Why did I forget to mention that? The Lord is Good!
And they all heaved levelly every hapwards. Or something like that. I used a firecracker mounted in a hole on the top of a small can. This I placed in a larger can filled half-full of water. I could only get about 20 ft of vertical flight, but it was fun until it caught on with other more careless kids.
Chuck, nice technique. We used to stick a firecracker under an inverted can. Pretty good effect.
Hmmm. my requirements were fulfilled by building fires. I didn't seem to need explosives.
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