This is a short recollection of an event from my 7th grade year at Duchesne High School. It's mostly accurate, I think.
“Did you get it?” I asked impatiently while trying to keep a look out for our teacher.
We had less than a minute before she would come back to find
us. Quickly I glanced back at my two
friends, JS and MW. They were attempting
to unlock the bar on the exterior door to the high school auditorium so we
could sneak back in later during our lunch break.
“Got it,” JS said, closing the door quietly.
Turning we ran back down the aisles between the seats and
upon to the stage just as our teacher stepped out from the dressing rooms.
“Come on you guys.
Quit playing around.”
As I followed her I looked back at the long rope hanging
from the rafters at center stage. One
more class period until lunch, then we would be back. The rope held so much potential.
We wolfed down our lunches over at the elementary school and
then hustled back up the sidewalk to the side door of the auditorium. With a quick look around, we ducked through
the door, locking it behind us. The
large room was dark and eerily silent.
Carefully we made our way up onto the stage. Feeling around we found the light switches,
bathing the stage in bright lights for our pending adventure.
MW grabbed the end of the rope. It was thick, maybe three inches with a large
knot tied at the bottom. Rope in hand we
climbed up the ladder at stage left, to the small platform about 20 feet up on
the wall. The platform was small,
crowded with old, abandoned stage props from productions past. There was barely enough room for the three of
us.
The length of the stage lay before us. We were ready to experience it at high
speed. I was anxious for my turn. Since MW pulled the rope up we decided to let
him go first. Holding tightly to the
rope, he carefully climbed over the railing of the platform. With a deep breath and a scream, he jumped.
He flew across the stage with a full-throated yell. As he reached the apex of his swing at stage
right, the backstage door from the hallway opened. In walked Principal JD and another
teacher. They looked up to see MW fall
from the sky right in front of them and then streak away toward the other end
of the stage.
Quickly JS and I ducked behind the props on the platform,
hoping to remain unseen. MW gave one
brief look at us as he came back up toward the platform; his eyes were a cross
between terror and amusement.
Passing back out over center stage, MW offered a weak
greeting to our esteemed principal.
“Hey, JD. What are
you doing in the auditorium?”
The initial look of shock was receding slowly from the
principal’s face as he began to realize what he was seeing. Unfortunately the teacher with him remained
confused for at least a few more swings.
“Well, hello MW! What
are you up to?”
“Not much. Just going
for a swing.”
“Really? Just a
swing? All by yourself?”
JD looked around, expecting to find some
co-conspirators. MW was a very social
person, not likely to be engaged in any mischief alone.
Coming back by again, MW answered: “Yes, I’m alone. Couldn’t get anyone to come over with me.”
I felt JS shaking next to me, trying to keep his breathing
quiet. Neither of us wanted to get
caught, even for something so trivial.
Luckily for us MW was an expert at being in trouble. I hoped he could keep us safe, the same way
he had when we built the clubhouse off campus in elementary school.
As his kinetic energy began to zero out, MW dragged a leg
across the floor to bring him to a full stop.
JD remained unconvinced that MW was swinging by himself on
the stage during the lunch period. MW
was never alone.
“Come on, you’re really in here swinging all by yourself?”
He was squinting his eyes looking around the stage and into
the darkness of the empty auditorium seating.
“Yeah, I like to come here to swing by myself
sometimes. You know, just to clear my
head.”
JS forced out another controlled breathe next to me. I realized I was doing the same thing.
MW compliantly walked over to JD.
“So, I guess we’re going to your office to talk for awhile?”
“Yes. I guess this is
worth a chat.”
As they walked away, MW looked straight ahead, giving no
indication of our hiding place. JD
stopped at the door and turned to look around one more time. As he walked out, he turned the lights out
plunging the stage and auditorium into a deep darkness.
JS and I stayed in place for a few more minutes just in case
JD tried to slip back in to catch us coming out of hiding. Climbing down from the platform was a bit
iffy in near pitch-black darkness. With
a few bangs and a slip or two we made it safely back to the stage and made our
way quickly to the exterior door. We
slipped into the bright sunlight and walked away safely.
It turns out that MW had to sit through a half serious
lecture for about twenty minutes in JD’s office. He talked about the importance of rules and
being safe. He asked him a few more
times about swinging alone on the stage.
He never gave us away.
Looking back on the events of that day, I still think about
that rope. Part of me wishes I had carried
the rope up and taken the first and only swing.
Flying across that stage with a dark auditorium to one side would have
been amazing. Looking down to see JD and
the other teacher standing there would have added to the thrill.
