Senior Prank (9781620957295)

by Bunevich, Tom

  A few of the Westside players apparently began calling Big Bear derogatory names for a homosexual. They were teasing him about his conversation with the governor, which they probably learned from the YouTube posting. The plan was to provoke Bear to fight in hopes Bear would get tossed out of the game. With every tackle or pile up the Westside players would grab Bear’s butt, privates or tease him about his sexuality.

  Eventually Bear lost it. He slugged a few of the Westside players. Smartly they backed off, while pointing at the Bear and hollering, “Toss him out ref, he’s out of control.” After one play, the referee blew the whistle, threw the penalty flag and announced that Big Bear had been ejected from the game.

  “They trapped you, Bear,” Coach Welsh told his star defensive player, now relegated to being a spectator. “You played right into it. You ain’t too smart. You just got played like Charlie Daniels plays a fiddle.”

  “But coach they were calling me fag, queer, stuff like that,” Bear zapped back.

  “Too late now,” coach said disgustingly. “I told you many times, you have to keep your poise.”

  With the Bear out, Westside’s all star running back Barry Cinders had a field day. He ran up and down the field, gaining 145 yards in the second half. However, TJHS still held a 24-23 lead with two minutes left.

  Westside had the ball. Cinders ran the ball five straight times, bowling over tacklers like a man possessed, gaining 60 yards to move the ball to the Thomas Jefferson 15 yard line with six seconds left. A successful field goal gave Westside a 26-24 victory.

  The Westside players took their Warrior spear, lit it afire and planted it at midfield on the TJHS field. One side celebrated, the other cried.

  It had been a rough week for Thomas Jefferson High School. Now it has been kicked when it was down, both figuratively and literally.

  Senior Prank, Chapter Ten

  Winston went home that night and plopped himself down on his couch, just in time to watch his favorite television show, Law and Order. He often thought what it would be like to have been a detective, his second career choice. He could usually figure out who the guilty party was in the show. Tonight, in keeping with his luck for the week, he fell asleep in the last minutes of the show. He never did learn out who committed the murder.

  Saturday morning brought yard work, then an afternoon of peace and quiet watching college football. Many times he would see many of his former students in the game, beaming with a sense of pride like a proud father. He didn’t feel like golf and didn’t answer his phone all day. Peace and quiet were his only goals.

  At church Sunday Winston and his wife appeared to be getting the cold shoulder. Many long time friends simply went the other direction, others avoided the couple. With the disaster of the week and possible firing out in the open it was obvious many church members, most of which had students in the district’s schools, were angry with Winston.

  After the service, one couple cornered Winston and his wife.

  “You ought to be ashamed to show your face,” the wife of one of the church leaders said angrily to Winston. “You had a chance to bring honor and prestige to this area and you let us down. They should fire you.” They then walked away.

  “Guess she missed the pastor’s message about forgiveness,” Winston’s wife said to the beleaguered principal. “Remember you got to let it go. In time, it will all pass.”

  A new week brought new hope. It had been five days since the governor’s visit, but very few leads were coming forth. There were lots of finger pointing from people who didn’t care for one another, most of it fabricated. At the faculty meeting that afternoon, Winston made an offer he hoped could not be refused.

  “I will personally give anybody $500 cash if they have information that leads to the confession of any of the perpetrators of last Wednesday’s misbehavior,” he said to a room of oohs and aahs. He knew the idea of a reward might raise an eyebrow or two with the school board and hierarchy, but he had to start somewhere.

  When word got out about the reward students flocked to Winston’s office wanting to confess. Many had no idea to what, they only wanted the $500. Some wanted to be suspended along with their reward since they found school boring. Winston soon realized this was a bad idea and ended the reward.

  That day he also suspended coach McCarthy and Major Charles for three days for allowing their students to ‘participate in activities that were against school policy and procedure.’ Both pleaded their cases, but Winston knew that by announcing these suspensions they would share in the blame. It would also send a message to his faculty. The announcements, however, didn’t make news in any local media outlet.

  The good news for Winston was that while the governor’s visit might have been a disaster, the behavior of the students improved. There were fewer students sent to his office, less referrals being written and fewer pranks. He often thought it might have been worth the few days of terror for the less chaotic atmosphere he was now enjoying.

  For the next few weeks life was good. One afternoon was interrupted by a call from his friend familiar with the upcoming school board agenda. On the docket was the proposal to dismiss or demote Winston. It wasn’t common knowledge, but thanks to Sonny Pulston soon everyone in the school seemed to know. The officers of the senior class decided that they would take action to head off any possible action.

  The students circulated petitions around the school seeking to ‘Keep Mr. Winston at Thomas Jefferson.’ They would get at least 1500 signatures and bring it to the school board meeting next week. They also sought a speaker to present their case. That speaker, as is board procedure, got three minutes to speak.

  The officers could not decide who to appoint as their speaker. Arguments went back and forth before the group selected Missy Pulston to represent them. Those who didn’t want her warned against her valley girl act and the image that would project.

  Missy promised to let the group read her speech beforehand so it would be as powerful and persuasive as possible.

  Even Elvis, Jose and Lamont were laying low. They knew their limits. They were also busy with other parts of their life. Jose had worked up enough nerve to ask Missy to the upcoming Brad Paisley concert over the Christmas holidays. He knew she was a big Paisley fan who wouldn’t say no. She knew it meant saving $50 for a ticket and figured she could handle the night for that much. Paisley’s music wasn’t his type, but he figured he had to break the ice somehow.

  Jose was also working four days a month on weekends, helping his dad with his masonry jobs. He was making enough to pay his bills and keep his car running.

  He kept his grades near the C level, enough to keep him on track for graduation, but chemistry was a problem. He was struggling with the subject. It didn’t interest him.

  Lamont had run four races in the fall track season. He was now a star of the team on par with G. He also was becoming friends with the Muslim student, who was shunned by many. He was improving his time in the 100 meter dash and entrenched as the anchor on the 4 x 100 relay team. His parents even came out to watch the meets, beaming with pride for their son’s efforts. Finally, they thought to each other ‘the kid may amount to something.’ But Lamont struggled on the SAT and ACT tests, falling short of what was needed to get into a major university. Only a dominating track season, where a coach might be willing to get him an entry waiver for his athletic and not academic abilities, brought hope for that scholarship to a big school.

  “G’s a cool dude,” said Lamont of his fellow runner. “His father came to the United States 25 years ago to go to school. Dad went to the University of Houston and became an engineer. He could have went back to Saudi Arabia, but he stayed here, got married and had a family.

  “But after the Twin Towers fell, the family has had so much hate they wanted to go back home. They didn’t; they decided to stay. Now G wants to become a doctor. It’s a shame people treat them wrong sometimes. He jokes he runs so fast to get away from all the suicide bombers. He’s off the hook whe
n he runs. I say judge him on his character not the color of his skin or nationality.”

  “Tell me about it,” Jose would say. “The Mexicans can give them some lessons in discrimination. You just got to keep hoping someday people will see us an equals. I’ve always thought we were all Americans and human beings.”

  Elvis’s band was becoming well known around the state. They could play all the big country and rock and roll hits. Attorney Tom Borker, who was a brother to one of the band members, was going to town. He hoped to represent them in a recording contract in the future. The attorney’s goal was to get them as many high paying gigs as possible. For a three hour appearance in area nightclubs the band could make as much as $1200 a night. This meant that the agent and each of the five band members would make $200 for the night. For a kid that was still three months from his 18th birthday, this was exceptional money.

  So, Elvis practiced more than ever, devoting himself to be the best guitarist he could be. He was still learning the keyboards so that he could someday improve his value in the musical world. He also wanted to become a songwriter. He knew money in music is in writing the big hits. That leads to lifetime royalties.

  Love still seemed to avoid Elvis, but one day in the cafeteria, one girl new to the school caught his eye. Brenda was a transfer, a long-legged brunette with a tight body. She knew how to dress to excite the boys, and had mastered the art of flirting. Brenda’s parents had divorced three years earlier, and she fell into drugs and poor grades. In an effort to turn her around, she went to live with her strict father in the TJHS district.

  Elvis invited her to one of the band’s performances. She adored the way Elvis played the guitar. During one of the band’s breaks she tried to get Elvis to go out to her car. Word soon got around school that Brenda was an easy touch. That brought on the athletes, thugs, and players for their try. When Elvis learned of her ways, he dropped any dealings with her. He had standards that a girl had to meet if she was to be his only.

  His band was so good the Thomas Jefferson students wanted them to play the school’s prom next spring, but Winston vetoed the idea, saying, “I don’t want that kid anywhere near that prom. It would only mean more clowning and goofing off. No thanks. Keep Elvis out of the building.”

  As for Winston, the day had come for his time on the school board agenda. Over 100 students tried to cram into the hall, but because of size limitations, only 20 would be allowed in the room. The others would have to watch on television from a nearby room.

  The meeting started at 6 p.m. By the time they reached Missy’s chance to speak, it was 10 p.m. Only a handful of students remained in each of the rooms.

  Missy rambled on about Winston, using such words and phrases as the “ideal principal, a man of Christian principles, fair, honest, encouraging, getting the blame for something he had no part it, and a scapegoat.” Winston wasn’t on hand for the action, choosing to stay away. He couldn’t defend himself in that setting, so by staying away he called less attention to himself and his situation.

  After some discussion among members of the board, it was decided that Winston should meet with a few of the board members privately on the matter. Most likely it was the latest of the hour that rescued Winston, at least temporarily.

  The football season had ended for Thomas Jefferson the last week of November. The team finished 11-2, won its first round playoff game, then lost in the second round to Sam Houston High School. In the first playoff game, Big Bear injured a knee late in the game, knocking him out for the year. Kevin Williams and another of the team’s better players were expelled from school two days before the team’s second playoff game after being caught with knives in school. The pair claimed they were arming themselves in case of trouble because of a gang war, but the school’s no tolerance policy trumped any discussion. Coach Welsh filed an injunction to keep them in school, claiming family hardship, but a judge quickly denied that request. That might have been the biggest problem Winston faced since the governor’s visit.

  Then, in the few weeks between the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, which is historically used for semester reviews and final exams, one class brought some seriousness to the forefront. It was a dose of reality for what was usually a fun class.

  It was a mid-week Potts history class and the class was wrapping us its discussion about the Vietnam war. Potts was attending a track coaches’ meeting, leaving a substitute teacher, Mr. Bob McNamara, in charge of the class. The lesson plan was to show a 35 minute movie about war, then have students write a two paragraph summary of the movie.

  Substitute teachers are usually treated as lightning rods. They are easy targets for pranks, goofing off, misbehavior and pushing the limits. Mr. McNamara was a frequent sub for the school, and had a reputation as a no nonsense, little tolerance, quick to act and even mean man. The students had pinned the nickname Sarge on him. He didn’t seem to mind.

  The bell rang for Potts’ class and Sarge immediately went into barking orders.

  “Everyone in their proper seat,” he said. “Now! You got 15 seconds. After that I’m taking roll and if you aren’t in the right seat, you’ll be marked absent.”

  Students quickly hustled to their seats. Sarge studied the chart and proclaimed, “Good, look’s like everyone is here. Now let’s get on with the lesson.” Jose decided to stay in the class, sitting in the seat of the only absent student. He was skipping his other class to take in a class with his Elvis and Lamont.

  “Mr. Potts told me to show this movie about Vietnam and at the end everyone is to write a two paragraph summary of the movie. I don’t want two sentences. I mean two strong paragraphs,” the substitute stated. With that he put on the movie, turned down the lights, and returned to sit in the teacher’s desk chair.

  “I’m Mexican,” Jose told Lamont. “Why do I care about Vietnam?’

  “I agree,” Lamont shot back. “It’s ancient history to me.”

  Elvis decided he’d use the time to think up song titles. Maybe he could pick up a winner. He thought ‘why do I care’ sounded like a good song title.

  After about 10 minutes, Mr. McNamara noticed a few youngsters sleeping at their desks. He saw others working on other school subjects, and others just daydreaming. About 20 minutes into the film, Sarge looked up to see about half the class sleeping. He walked over to the lights, flicked the switch to on, and went over and stopped the movie.

  “ALL RIGHT EVERYONE UP, NOW!” shouted Sarge. “I ain’t going to let this happen. I don’t need this movie to tell you about Vietnam. I was there and I lived it. So, everyone up, listen and listen good.” With that the heads rose and Sarge had everyone’s attention. He snapped his fingers loudly and repeatedly to gain full attention.

  “In 1968 I was drafted while going to the University of Texas,” Sarge started. “They sent me to Vietnam to fight. I spent a year there. I saw men blown apart, shot to death, bleed to death, and heroes who died to save others. Seeing you kids sleep through this movie ain’t going to happen.

  “That was the last place I wanted to be. It was hell. You haven’t been through much until you find yourself praying you don’t get hit. Bullets and bombs are going off all around you. It ain’t fun. You are really scared, praying, but you keep firing.”

  “Mr. McNamara,” one of the students interjected, “why did we go there?”

  “North Vietnam was a Communist country and their leaders wanted to overtake South Vietnam and make it one country,” Sarge explained. “The south didn’t have the balls, pardon my language, to fight, so we sent our troops there. The theory was that if South Vietnam fell, the Domino Theory would happen.

  “That meant that all the other Southeast Asian countries would be fall like dominos to Communist rebellions. We hated the Communists, even though our biggest trading partner and supplier of American labor today is China, a Communist country.

  “Well eventually North Vietnam won,” said Sarge. “It hurts today to say we lost.”

  “My dad had a broth
er that died there,” said one of the students. “We went to Washington, D.C. one time and saw his name on a wall.”

  “That’s the Vietnam War Memorial,” Sarge said. “There are over 56,000 names -the number of Americans killed there - on a granite wall that’s part of the memorial.

  “What really bothers most Vietnam vets is the way we were treated when we came home,” continued the Sarge, this time shaking his head and lowering his voice.

  “We were called killers, baby killers, and there were no parades. No thanks. Shoot, most of us didn’t want to be there in the first place. It still hurts today.”

  With that Sarge noticed one of the students crying, head in her arms on her desk.

  “Young lady is something wrong?” he asked. “Can I do something for you?”

  “My dad’s is at war at this moment.” she sobbed. “He’s got three months left.

  “My mother, brother and I pray every morning and night for his safety. It’s stressing us out not having him around. We miss him big time.”

  “Thank you for your commitment,” Sarge answered. “People forget there are families involved in all this. Now you know why I ain’t lettin’ you sleep.”

  One student, hoping to change the somber mood, asked Sarge, “What do you think is the difference between Vietnam and our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?”

  “I hate to say it but they parallel each other,” Sarge said. “Think about it, foreign land, people won’t fight themselves, we’re paying most of the cost of the war, and it’s dragging on. If you want to see it end establish the draft. When you get the call, you’ll decide it’s not for you. Just remember what they say about history…those that don’t remember it are doomed to repeat it.”

  “What’s the draft?” asked another student.

  “The government calls you into the service. You are drafted into the military. No choice. You go or go to jail. Today it’s all volunteer army. Today you join because you want to. I hope none of you ever see that day when you get a draft notice. It means you’re going to fight, whether you want to or not.”