A friend recently posted on Facebook that she got into the wrong car after dropping her child off at school. This reminded me of something that happened to me when I was in 9th grade. Let's go back in time. Picture it: Sicily. 1927. Actually, Western Pennsylvania. 1989. I was close to a straight A student for much of junior high*, but 9th grade was different. I struggled picking up French, but the biggest challenge was Biology. The teacher (we'll call him Butch for his high school nickname that I'm sure he regretted revealing) was tough. Not a mean tough, but a challenging tough. By the end of the year, you were going to learn a lot about biology**, but you were going to have to work hard. This was probably the first time where I truly had to work hard in school.
At some point during the year, I missed several days of class, and the teacher allowed me to stay after school to catch up. I don't remember the exact project, but basically, you put two fruit flies in a test tube, wait for the magic to happen, and then see how many fruit flies were in the test tube each day. They multiply quickly. Anyway, it must have been a Friday and Butch asked me to put the fruit flies in his car (how trusting!) since the school may have turned the heat off over the weekend. I guess the fruit flies could only live at a certain temperature. I put the box of fruit flies in the trunk of the car, quickly made copies of all of his keys for a later heist and returned the keys.
On Monday, my teacher approached me to see where I put the fruit flies. I told him that I exchanged them for Penguins tickets. (I did not say this.) I learned later that I actually put the flies in one of the English teacher's trunk. The cars were completely different colors and models, but I guess that I wasn't listening closely when he told me the type of car. The keys he gave me opened the trunk, so I figured that I had the right car.
Meanwhile, I think the box of fruit flies stayed in the puzzled English teacher's car all weekend. I don't know if any of them survived.
* Since I don't have my report cards in front of me, I'm sticking with this story.
** I'll always remember that the DNA bonds are A & T and G & C or "At Gold Circle." Does anyone remember Gold Circle? They had an amazing toy section.
Posts
2 comments:
That is pretty awesome. My grandfather did something similar. He actually got into a car, drove it home from the grocery store. He kept thinking that it was weird that the seat was not where he set it.
Once he got home, he realized that something was off (he saw a cigarette in the ashtray I believe). He took the car back to the store, found his car and left.
I have no clue if the other person ever knew their car was moved. He said he did not park it in the same spot either. That would have been a funny moment when the person came out.
This was in the 1960s though, so...this was probably a normal occurrence.
There are only so many keys. Found that out in an office environment long ago...
Post a Comment