Memory Lane Friday is a weekly blog hop where you can blog about your memories and link up. All are welcome. This week's suggested theme is 7th Grade, but you can blog about any memory and link up.
When I was in 7th grade I walked to and from school each day - a short 3 block jaunt. Sometimes I'd get slightly side tracked on the way home. Boys. The playground. Swinging on the flagpole. There were plenty of distractions.
One afternoon as I walked down the long, ambling hill of the junior high school with two of my friends, one of them began telling a story. A story of a group of some big bad older girls who had broken bottles on the pitcher's mound of the baseball field. We all looked over at the field as we walked by. It was swept clean now, the bases just lightly dusted with dirt, the bleachers quiet.
I don't remember who suggested we follow in the footsteps of the older girls. But suddenly we were digging glass bottles from the trash. We flung them, one by one, taking turns watching the glass shatter on the hardness of the pitcher's mound. Great joy was to be found in the freedom of destruction, the knowledge of open rebellion. Shards of glass crashed and splattered across the crunchy dirt, splayed over the field.
Finally, we ran out of bottles. Our energy ran down too. But the high over our actions lived on as we ambled back to the road to continue our walk home. And that's when it happened.
The door on a tiny brick house across the street from the baseball field opened. And out walked a lady, toting a trash can and several brooms.
"Well, you girls have had your fun. Now you'd better clean this up before you head on."
Guilt descended on us all like a shroud, cloaking us in darkness. Shame. We each took a broom and a dustpan, and we began cleaning. We knew what we'd done was wrong, and we made every effort to get up each stray shard of glass. Then, and only then, did we go home. And no, I don't think I mentioned this one to my parents!
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Be sure to come back next week - the topic is Cookouts and Barbecues, just in time for July 4th!
What wise lady. She taught you girls quite a lesson that day. Oh the memories of our youth!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like she waited for you to finish before jumping in to have you clean up!
ReplyDeleteThat lady had moxie! What a great way to teach a lesson. And learn one.
ReplyDeleteYay, I love this! I will think about a post for next week. I love your writing here Lisa. I could picture it scene by scene.
ReplyDeletelove that woman! good for her!
ReplyDeleteI participated in a glass breaking event with my neighbors also....felt bad but Dad took care of it?? Never did that again. Glad she helped you learn your lesson :) it is needed
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful lady - she gave you an expensive lesson for free. Truitt Cathy did the same thing for some girls who vandalized.
ReplyDeleteOh youth!
ReplyDeleteA friend and I went on a rampage one night with spray paint-and we did quite a lot of damage. We were never caught, but I still feel really guilty.
This lady was wise-having you clean up and giving you a chance to think about what you had done-more of a lesson than calling the police.
And I wouldn't have told my parents either-at least not for several years:)
I think that was a smart way for that lady to teach you girls a good lesson. I can imagine, though, how guilty you all felt, when she came out.
ReplyDeleteOh no you guys were naughty. I had an episode like that when I was a kid too. I think we all need to act a fool once in a while so that then we can be put into place. :)
ReplyDeleteI love this story!!! It says so much to me, especially about the way the woman handled it! No accusations, yelling, or threatening. It was all natural consequences, she made you clean it up. A lesson in good parenthood, too.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what would happen if that incident occured today. Would the kids feel guilty and clean up the mess? Or laugh at the old woman and go on their way? On second thought, I may not want to know the answer to that.
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy personal stories, good job. Richard from the Amish settlement of Lebanon,Pa
ReplyDeleteOh dear ; ) I lived outside of town & took the bus so I think other than the occasional friday night slumber party TP'ing - there was little opportunity.
ReplyDeleteWe all live and learn. :)
ReplyDeleteI must say that the woman handled that beautifully! I don't think I would have been as kind but I love how she let you have your fun but made sure you cleaned it up on your own conscious. Great story! I wish I remember more about my childhood, I feel like everythings just a big jumble.
ReplyDeleteWhoa! That was bad! I think that if it were to happen in today's times the little old lady would be scared to go out and do that. I also think that the teens wouldn't have cleaned it up either. They would have yelled and cussed out the little old lady. Times are different.
ReplyDeleteHave a Great Weekend!
Angela
A great story with a valuable lesson attached to it.
ReplyDelete