Beelzebub and friends visit the Nation's Capitol

Our house is only a few miles from where the nation's crazies gathered over the weekend and did their damnedest to destroy downtown DC.  They didn't succeed, but they did do a lot of damage; breaking store windows, knocking over statues, etc.....

I've always thought that the number one benefit of being "elderly," ..of which we are.....is WISDOM.

Rioters at Inauguration

Unfortunately, I must not have been home when the angel of knowledge came by my house to deliver it, because I have absolutely no earthly idea why these gangs of thugs did what they did to 

However, Beelzebub has been around a long time and young people of our generation didn't do anything like that.

Can you imagine anyone destroying property....say, in the Halls of good old Central High back in the 1950's?

Of course not. Something like that was simply unthinkable!

Oh, wait a minute.  I forgot..........That DID happen!

It occurred in broad daylight.... out In the first floor hall......Right in front of John Otts' office! If you had a class that day on the first or second floor....you probably heard the explosion.

It wasn't really an explosion....it was a loud THUMP......like a very large slab of marble falling and shattering. The sound sent chills up my spine! I still remember it to this day.....because I was there when it happened.

In fact, I did it.

Not intentionally...with malice in my heart...but nevertheless...I caused it.

It was during my "study period"....and I decided to take the opportunity to post a few "posters" around the school because I was running for some kind of student council office that was coming up.

I posted a few in the cafeteria...one in the music room....and finally decided to post one on the first floor...high enough for everyone to see as they entered the front door every morning. Not having access to a ladder.....I decided I'd pull out that marble bench leaning against the wall and stand on it...to tape my poster high enough to be seen as our classmates entered the front door each morning.

"The Bench"

I had no idea that the legs of the bench were not attached to the flat top......it was like no bench I had ever seen.....the legs were NOT attached to the long marble slab on top.....but it was simply 3 slabs of marble.

So, when I began to pull the "bench" out from the wall.........BOOM!

John Otts came running out of his office to investigate the noise.....and ......there I was...with the shattered evidence scattered around me.

He stood there.....looking at the broken marble......looking at me....
and finally.....said,   "Well........there goes fifty dollars"

And he went back in his office.be

To this day, I still feel guilty about it. I've often thought that If our old school was still around, I'd gladly buy them a new marble bench.

However, I just looked up "marble benches" on the Internet...and today that $50 bench costs $500!

On second thought, nobody ever sat on it....and besides....who would ever buy a bench without the legs attached?  And, it was kinda ugly.............besides......$500 ?

I think I'll just keep on feeling guilty......

-Ed