Previous Challenge Entry
Topic: Breaking the Rules (08/16/04)
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TITLE: The Wickedest Kid in Town By Erwin Robledo 08/23/04 |
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A smile crept in my father’s face as he studied the candy, pinched it, smelled it, and recognized it as genuine. It was the same old bubble gum he’d enjoyed when he was as old as me he says. A hard chew that, if drained of its sweetness and properly softened by a recurring bombardment of teeth, produces a bubble that not just pops, but explodes, loud as a firecracker.
“Don’t bring this to school,” he warns, getting a box of BoomGum and opening it before remembering to pay for it. “Because of this, I became known as the, ‘Wickedest Kid in Town’.”
“Really?” I looked at him, unbelievingly. “But it’s just gum.”
“It’s not the gum, it’s what you do with it. When I was your age, getting gums like these were luxuries, since we were all poor kids in a public school. I was on my way to school one morning when I saw a piece of BoomGum lying on the pavement. I took it and showed it to everybody in school.”
“Wow,” I said, then wondered what was so awesome about getting gum off the roadside.
My father continued, “Then one of the kids said, ‘I dare you to eat it before the class bell rings.’ Naturally I said no – that was a major offense when you got caught.”
“Chewing gum is a major offense?” I asked.
“Why, yes, among other things like running in the hallway and throwing bits of paper around…the teachers nowadays are too lenient, letting you do all sorts of stuff. And look at what comes out – low-grade wannabees who try to do away with the system, acting as if they could do any better but have so far made things worse with their idiotic protests and lust-satisfying entertainment.”
“Le-ni-ent,” I repeated, stressing each syllable as I pronounced it. It was a new word, and I have to ask dad what it means when he finished his story.
Dad looked at me and realized he still had a young audience to please. “Anyway, I said no since it was against the rules. But the other kids were teasing me now, calling me names, telling me to give the gum to them if I had no plan of eating it. I was young then, so I gave in. I took the gum out of the wrapper and chewed it.”
“Did the teachers catch you?” I asked.
“Almost. One of the teachers, the meanest teacher of them all, Mrs. Eathon, walked directly at us! I dunno…I think she had a radar for students who managed to break school rules. We all scrambled away from her, running as fast as we could, especially me, since I’m the one with the BoomGum in my mouth.”
I noticed that I had my own BoomGum in my mouth, but haven’t chewed it just yet.
My father continued. I was really scared then, with Mrs. Eathon running after me. I thought, if I dumped the gum I’d at least get away with running down the hallway. Running down the hallway and chewing gum was like, evil. ‘Synonymous with the devil himself. But I couldn’t find any trash cans. Where were the trash cans? Without thinking I spit the gum in the middle of the hall and ran home.”
“You ran home?” I looked at him, trying to figure out how he, my dad, could have been so scared that he didn’t go to class.
“Yup. The next morning I went back and found the west wing of the school in ruins.”
“Ruins? What happened?”
“Well, the west wing was still in construction then. The kids told me that as I ran I knocked out a couple of supports and, well, the whole structure collapsed.”
“And then you became the wickedest kid in town?”
“For the whole fourth grade, yes. Boy, I’ll never forget that one.”
I tried to munch on the bubble gum. It was hard, but sweet. I thought about how my dad had a lot of trouble with that gum. I won't chew this one in school, that's for sure.