Egg-Drop Blues

by Jacqueline Turner Banks

  Almost as soon as the van went through the big green gates, I knew it was going to be a special day.

  "Feel the electricity in the air," Faye said as her feet touched the ground. She started twirling around like the good witch had just zapped the ruby slippers back on her feet.

  Like I said before, Faye and Angela can be quite dramatic. But I had to agree with her this time. A band from somewhere deep in the campus was playing some marching-type music. Every time the drum beat, I could feel it inside like it was my heart. For some reason, I thought about how athletes must feel during the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. There were all kinds of kids there, wearing all kinds of T-shirts. Angela and Faye had had a big argument last week about Angela going to the student council and getting them to buy matching T-shirts for all the Einstein Rally participants from Faber.

  "We're going to look so lame, so babyish," Faye complained.

  I don't know how Angela was able to call this one—sometimes I think the girl is psychic—but nearly everybody had on matching school T-shirts or hats or both. One school even had matching jackets.

  Most of the kids seemed to be carrying something like cars made from shoe boxes or weird-looking stuff like mobiles made out of vegetables or spools of thread; one kid even had some animals shaped out of what looked like dryer lint.

  "Check out all the babes," Jury thought he whispered. Like I needed him to tell me. Angela and Faye gave him the "you pig" look, but I know they were checking out the dudes—and there were probably twice as many guys.

  Tommy and Jeff, the boys on the question bowl team, had moved ahead of the Faber group. I guess they were acting as our scouts. If the red-and-white T-shirts Angela picked out weren't so visible, they might have gotten lost in the maze of people. They stopped just before they got to the registration table. We caught up to look at something that was so cool I immediately developed a new appreciation for science.

  There was a square section of lawn about as big as half a football field blocked off by yellow plastic police department crime scene tape. It stretched away from the crowd over grass that had been covered with some kind of white stuff that looked like salt. Inside, where the tape was about waist-high and held up by caution signs all the way around, were ten lawn-mower-powered cars being driven by kids who didn't look much older than us.

  "This is my event next year," Tommy said. I didn't have to ask to know that all the guys agreed with him. The kids in the cars wore helmets and some kind of padded suits, but they were on the far end of the square moving faster than I would have expected any lawn mower to go. I could have stood there watching that all day, but the adults caught up and Ms. Hennessey told us we better go register before we got too fascinated by anything else.

  It's a good thing Ms. Hennessey told us to move on. When we got to the registration table, we learned that the question bowl was scheduled for 9:45, less than fifteen minutes away. Our event was at 11:15, just ten minutes after the scheduled end of the question bowl event. That seemed like enough time to get from the LS&A (literature, science, and arts) building to the physical education building. The campus is getting smaller as I get older, but it still seems huge to me. I've taken summer recreation classes in the phys. ed. building and Angela's father's office is in the LS&A building, so I know the campus as well as I know my back yard. When Ms. Hennessey asked, "Does anybody know where the LS&A building is?" all five of the posse members pointed at a building up the hill behind her head.

  "Somebody in group A—that's the sixth-graders—has to wear this and somebody in group B has to wear this," Ms. Hennessey announced as she held up two pins that said "captain" on them. Every hand in the B group shot up. All of us sixth-graders just looked at the B group and shook our heads. You would think that by fourth and fifth grade, they'd know better than to volunteer for something without knowing what they were volunteering for.

  "What does the captain do?" Tommy asked.

  "Yeah, besides wear that stupid pin," Jury mumbled.

  Ms. Hennessey jerked her head around to see who'd said it, but she didn't catch him. I would think by now she'd know who to suspect.

  "I imagine they'll be asked to introduce the members of the team. What else could be involved?" she answered.

  Tommy went behind Faye and forced her arm up. She started laughing, so I guess Ms. Hennessey figured it was okay to hand Faye the pin.

  "I'm going to get you for that," Faye threatened Tommy.

  "Oh, you know it's your deepest fantasy to wear a pin like that every day of your life," Tommy told her.

  Jury gave Tommy a high-five.

  We all started walking up the hill en route to the first event. Everybody was quiet on the walk up; things became serious again. I was hoping the question bowl would go fast so the egg drop would be over sooner. I was actually looking forward to Sunday, even though our mother said we had to go to church again. I looked over at her. She was walking directly behind Jury holding on to his shoulder. She always talks about being out of shape, but she wasn't winded at all and I was.

  We got to the top of the hill. The A team was meeting in the auditorium on the first floor and the B team was in the second floor auditorium. Ms. Hennessey went with the fourth- and fifth-graders. My mother and two other adults went with the rest of us.

  The auditorium was about as large as a small movie theater. There were eight tables on the stage with a button and light bulb in front of each of the chairs behind the tables.

  This part of the rally was between Tully, Kennedy, and Faber from the jump. I think all of the other five teams were able to answer at least one question each, but that was about all. For the next hour and twenty minutes, the Faber team was neck and neck with the other two. The questions were unbelievable. Even if I live to be a hundred, I don't know how I'd ever know some of that stuff. They asked questions like, "What is the largest organ in the body?" Why would anybody but a doctor know that? Faye answered it right when she said the skin. Now if ever I've heard a trick question, that was one. Who would think of the skin being an organ? If I wasn't hyped enough, the intensity of the question bowl left me feeling like my heart was going to exit my chest.

  But I was on the Southwest Teacher's College campus that Saturday morning for the egg drop.

  The last twenty seconds of the question bowl were played in slow motion. I remember Angela screaming and all of a sudden Jury hugging me, then he started running toward the back of the auditorium. Although I started running behind him, at that moment I had no idea why.

  "Jury, wait!" I called out.

  "We've only got seven minutes to get there," he said over his shoulder, but he didn't stop.

  I'd become so wrapped up in Tommy, Angela, and Faye's event that I'd lost track of the time. I followed Jury out of the LS&A building, down the hill, and onto the bike path that led to the phys. ed. building. It was a shortcut we discovered when we were little kids. I only saw one or two bikes on it; I think most of the foot traffic was Einstein Rally kids. I looked back to see if I could see my mother and the rest of them. They were about half a block behind.

  I never would have guessed the setup they'd planned. The phys. ed. building is flat like our multipurpose building, so I figured we'd be on top of the roof, but I soon learned there was more to it than that.

  As soon as we got close to the building I spotted some of the other egg-drop groups waving us over. All day I'd seen college-age kids walking around with neon-orange vests on over whatever they were wearing. I didn't think much of it; I figured they were doing some kind of work. It turned out they were guides. Dan and Randall were talking to a girl wearing one of the vests. Jury was standing next to them.

  "Over here, Brother," he called out.

  For him to call me brother in public, I figured he must really be nervous. I got in line beside him and tried to catch my breath.

  The college girl with the vest was holding a clipboard and making notes on it. She came to Jury just as I got to him.

  "Name a
nd school?" she asked Jury.

  "Yes," he said. That's one of his old tired lines.

  "What is your name?" she asked, never looking up. She was kind of cute. She had long straight blond hair down to her waist.

  "We're Judge and Jury Jenkins from Faber."

  Now she looked up. "What's with you Faber kids? First I get Randy and Danny and now I have Judge and Jury?"

  "Kids?" we both said. She wasn't twenty-one yet either.

  "Come on, guys, what're your names?"

  "We really are Judge and Jury Jenkins from Faber."

  "Well, that's what I'm putting down here. You have less than a minute to get up on the roof. The containers you sent over should be there."

  We followed the rest of the kids and adults into the building and climbed the regular stairs instead of a ladder up to the roof.

  It was even cooler up there than it was from the roof on the multipurpose building. I could see the whole campus. All the different colored T-shirts and flags the schools had brought made the grounds look like a field of wild flowers.

  "May I have your attention, please." The speaker was a young woman with a portable mike. "This is the Division A Egg Drop of the Einstein Rally. If there is anybody here who is supposed to be with the Division B Egg Droppers, please see one of the guides now."

  Of course there were a few kids who made surprised sounds and ran up to one of the guides or made a dash for the stairs. Everybody laughed. I looked down at the posse. Angela and Faye were standing on either side of my mother talking with enough enthusiasm to worry me. Tommy saw me looking at them and he gave me a thumbs-up.

  There were four yellow lines painted on the rooftop about four feet apart, labeled one, two, three, and four. A sign next to lane three listed Faber as one of the schools for that lane.

  Up to that point, it hadn't really interested me to look and see if all seven of our containers made it over intact, because I saw that Jury went right over to them when we got to the roof. Now I went over to where he was standing with Randall and Dan and the rest. When I got close enough, I could see that he and Randall were having another one of their big arguments. Those two are too much alike.

  "Do you have any money?" Jury asked me.

  "A dollar and twenty-three cents. Why?"

  "If you had any money I'd make big-mouth Randall put his money where his mouth is."

  "And you want to use my money to put with your mouth? Forget it. You'll already owe him ten dollars if we don't place better than them. And Mama wouldn't like the idea of you betting."

  "Then it's a good thing she won't be finding out about it, isn't it?" He knew he didn't have to wait for an answer before he went on to something else. "I wonder what those two girls down there are talking to her about."

  "Yeah, so do I. But I'm more worried about what Mama's telling them."

  "Whoa; I hadn't even thought about that angle."

  The next announcement made everybody get quiet.

  "Will the first four teams step forward."

  Faber wasn't in the first four. The announcer asked all students not in the first set to either watch from below or understand that they would not be able to see the drops from the roof. I only saw five or six kids run toward the stairs.

  There were wooden "guides" built on the edge of the roof in front of the four lanes. At about the level of my waist was a sort of armrest that each kid used for the arm that was going to drop the egg, so everybody's egg was released at exactly the same height.

  Being a little taller than the average kid my age, I could see over the crowd as each kid was handed an egg from a large container that was on a small table. I watched as they took the egg and carefully placed it in the container they built. Each team got two tries.

  "At the sound of the bell, drop your first egg," the announcer said.

  The bell sounded and in what felt like seconds, I heard cheers and ohs.

  "With the sound of the bell, drop your second egg."

  Now I was more conscious of the time, and it seemed to take a little longer before I heard the cheers and the ohs.

  Two schools were eliminated because neither one of their eggs survived. One school had one egg survive and the other school had both survive. The school team whose egg survived both drops was told to get out of the lane; they were automatically in the semifinals. The school was Tully.

  The school that had one egg survive stayed where they were and three more schools filled in the remaining lanes. According to the rules, the new schools had two chances, while the other school had just one chance to continue with the next group or be eliminated.

  "At the sound of the bell, drop your eggs."

  This time only one egg survived; it belonged to Morgan, a school from Bowling Green, which was as far east as our rally went.

  On the second try, the Bowling Green school joined Tully on the sidelines and one team got to stay in the lanes. The school that got to stay was in lane three so we had to wait.

  "Are they trying to kill me?" Jury whispered. I knew he was talking about us waiting out another round. I nodded.

  I couldn't see the reaction of the people down below because there were guides all the way around to keep kids from leaning over trying to see the contest. I'm sure it was a safety precaution. But I was thinking about the reaction of the crowd, because I knew that—until they actually saw the contest—most of them would've thought it was easy to build a container that could survive the drop. Until we tried to do it I thought it would've been easy, too.

  It was finally time for the first Faber team; two girls we didn't know. None of them survived the first drop. At the sound of the second bell, all of them survived. Everybody thought that was funny. The next trial, only one survived and it wasn't the Faber team. Everybody crowded around to let them know we felt badly too. Randall and Dan were next, and their first egg didn't make it. Their second egg did, and that slowed it down once again for us.

  "At the sound of the bell, drop your eggs."

  I was surprised when I realized I was holding my breath and crossing my fingers for Randall and Dan. When we heard the cheers and ohs, we had no idea who they were for. I knew when I saw Randall and Dan leave the lane and the sad looks on their faces that their egg didn't make it. Everybody crowded around them, as they had the first team. I wasn't at all surprised when I saw Jury hug Randall and tell him he was sorry, but I'll bet Randall was.

  "Good luck," Randall said as we got in the lane.

  Jury and I had already worked out how we were going to do it. He was going to pack and drop the first egg and I was going to pack and drop the second.

  I was close enough now to see the crowd below. My mother was up front so she could see the whole thing.

  "At the sound of the bell, drop your eggs."

  Our confetti-filled, bubble-wrapped egg container seemed to fall in slow motion. I watched the reaction of my mother as the college students opened the containers. When she started jumping up and down and cheering, I didn't have to wait to see the guide hold up the intact egg. Suddenly my eye caught another woman a little farther back in the crowd. I noticed her for two reasons: she seemed really happy when the eggs went up in the air, and she was African-American. Jury had been the only African-American participant in the four lanes.

  "That's Lilly!" we both said at the same time. Apparently she'd caught his attention, too.

  "There he is!" Jury said as he pointed to our father standing behind and to the right of my mother, which was about two rows ahead of Lilly.

  It was time for me to get in the lane.

  I hadn't been conscious of the band music since we left the registration area, but it seemed like they started playing again to accompany me. Again I heard the drums beating with my heart. I felt awkward, like my left hand had been switched with my right. As I packed the container, I wondered what would happen if I broke the egg trying to get it into the container—would that count?

  "At the sound of the bell, drop your eggs."

&nbs
p; The egg drop was actually more of a letting go than a drop. To me, dropping seems to involve a pushing off, and I didn't push off, I just opened my hand and prayed. Again, I looked at my mother. Jury screamed, "Yes!" into my ear at the same moment I saw my mother jump into the air. She reminded me of Michael Jordan's hang time; she seemed to freeze mid-jump.

  The other Faber teams congratulated us as the guides moved us over to the side with Tully and Bowling Green.

  For the next thirty minutes, we waited while the rest of the schools went through their drops. When it was over, there were five schools who had survived two drops.

  Up until that point, I hadn't paid much attention to the way the wooden guide was built. I was surprised when I saw the college kid pull the guide up another foot or so. Next, they cleared the crowd out of the way to move another wooden platform up next to the first one. I couldn't figure out how it was going to work.

  "Oh," a few students said when one of the officials tested the standing platform and the new height of the armrest. The announcer requested that the first four teams return and stand on the new platform. This time we had two drops each.

  "At the sound of the bell, drop your eggs."

  Jury dropped the egg, and I waited for our mother's reaction. She cheered; I cheered; we all cheered. Two teams had broken eggs.

  Then it was my turn.

  This time, everything went much smoother, even though the new height felt a little strange.

  "At the sound of the bell, drop your eggs."

  I dropped it with my eyes closed. When I opened them, Lilly was the first face I could find. She was cheering. I breathed again.

  Jury and I stepped aside with Kennedy. When it was over, Tully was the only other team that had survived both drops. It was down to the three of us.

  "Now what?" Jury wondered. We didn't have to wait long. The guide was moved up another level, and wooden boxes were added to the platform in the first three lanes.