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By early March, Luke and I were staying after school again to play
games as part of the Computer Club. Originally intended to be a
group that would share computer programming knowledge and
occasionally play games, all others had drifted away and Luke and I
just played until the late bus arrived. But this day we'd only been
there a half hour when the library assistant stopped by and said she
had to use the computer for a bit. Leaving my winter coat and school
books behind in the computer room, Luke and I roamed the school
building and chatted as we killed some time. After half an hour, we
checked back and she was still using it and needed more time, so we
drifted to the library area and settled down at one of the tables as
we waited.
When the computer room had first been made over our Sophomore year
Christmas break, it meant the computer was safely locked away when
not in use and in order to access it we'd have to ask for the key
from the math department head, Zack Hatch. Rather than carry it
around with him, he left it hidden at his teachers' work area desk
and told us where it was and we could just take it when we were going
to use the computer. Toward the end of my Sophomore year, Zack was
going to be away for a couple of days and when I returned to his desk
to drop off the key, it occurred to me that I could just... Keep
it over night and return it in the morning and he would never
know. From that point forward, I had my own copy of the key when it
was time to use the computer. And so I had been using it these past
two years.
When Luke and I checked back another half hour later, she was just
letting herself out of the room and told us we couldn't go back in as
she had left something behind for the science teacher to use later
that night. When we protested, she was firm. I could
have asked to at least get my coat and books before she closed the
door behind her but I came up with a 'clever'
idea. Once she had gone, we would let ourselves back into the
room to play games and if anyone asked, we'd say we had only let
ourselves back in to 'retrieve my coat and books'...
This just shows how brain dead I was at the time as I let it happen
and she closed the locked door of the computer room behind her.
While Luke was bummed as she walked away, I told him of my clever
plan and he liked it, we killed another five minutes until we saw her
gather her stuff and leave the school and we went back to the room
where I reached into my pocket to get my keys... Only to realize
they were in my coat... Locked in the computer room.
No problem, we just made our way to the teacher's work area and
Zack's desk to get the official key from his hiding place. It was
gone. Was the key now being hidden somewhere else while Zack was
on sabbatical? It hadn't been a question I had needed to ask
during the year given my own key. In retrospect it could simply have
been a case that the science teacher had already picked it up for his
own visit later that night. Regardless, I was realizing just how
stupid my 'clever' plan was.
Then it dawned on us that the custodian would have a key to the room,
after all he had to clean the room and empty the waste basket. So we
hunted him down as he was cleaning the cafeteria area and asked if he
could let us in. He said he didn't have a key to the room either.
This surprised us as how did the room get cleaned and the waste
basket emptied out? So I told him that it was for a good purpose as
my coat and books were locked in there, but he assured us he really
didn't have any way into the room.
Now I was facing the prospect of having to take the late bus home,
which would drop me off in the center of town, then walk a mile and a
quarter to my home without my coat. While my house key was in my
coat as well, we'd long had a hidden key at the back door of my home
which I could use to get in. But I kept that little news from Luke
as I hatched my new idea. The school used drop down ceiling tiles
and those same tiles went over the computer room as it had been built
after the ceiling tile had been put in place. So my idea was that we
could go to the back of the room where there were storage shelves,
use them as steps to the ceiling and push the tile aside and slip
over the edge of the wall.
While agreeing it could work, Luke wasn't as sure about this idea,
but I pointed out that if there was any fuss we'd have the fact that
we were 'just retrieving my coat and books' as an excuse. To even
better prepare this excuse, we told the custodian we were going to do
it. While he couldn't give us permission, if we were telling him our
alibi in advance, then we could use him as a witness that all we
were going to do was get my coat and books... So when we got to
the shelves behind the room, Luke went first and the idea was solid,
but he realized he could just open the door from the inside once down
and I wouldn't have to follow him through the ceiling void. He did
and we were back and playing games in minutes.
We noticed next to the computer cassette player a spare tape and
concluded that must have been what the librarian assistant had left
behind for the science teacher. When it was time for the late bus, I
decided to take it in revenge. Luke wasn't so sure about this new
idea but I assured him it was just a prank to get back at the
assistant for not letting us use the computer after she was done with
it.
On the way home in the bus, I was feeling jazzed. Not only had I
defied a teacher and gotten back into the computer room when she said
I couldn't, but now I had that item she had felt was so important.
And I debated what to do with it. Sure I could just return it
in the morning, having had my counting coup and be scolded for my
prank, but being thrilled by how much I'd gotten away with so far, I
wanted to continued with this feeling of empowerment and do
more. On the walk home I debated if I should read the tape and see
what was on it, but if it wasn't a program then reading it would be a
major hassle as to read and load data easily you had to know what the
pattern of it was ahead of time. If it was a program, I honestly
didn't care about it. As I got home I concluded I really didn't
care what was on the tape, whatever
it was.
So I decided to destroy it. Yes, that would continue
to make me feel big and powerful! I pulled the tape out of the
cassette, stringing it into the air and tried to pull it into pieces.
It was surprisingly strong. So I just unspooled it all into
the dining room's waste basket and decided I'd light it on fire as
I'd seen on a television show way back when. But then I thought
better of that as, what if the fire flared-up and reached the
ceiling? Or left the waste basket scorched and ruined? But I
couldn't just leave it in the waste basket either, as it could be
rewound and would probably work just fine... I NEEDED TO
DESTROY IT!
So I got my father's deodorant spray from the downstairs bathroom and
sprayed it on the tape and felt truly supreme as I was finally
getting back at the school system for all the years of it apparently
having screwed me.
At the time, I felt this was the best moment of that year for me.
Looking back at it now, I realize it was the most pathetic
moment of my life.
On the bus to school the next morning I reveled in the fact that I
was going to get in trouble. There was a plausible excuse for
everything up until the point I took the tape from the computer room.
Unless the science teacher had changed his mind and not gone to the
school that night, then the staff would know the tape had been stolen
and they'd want to have a talk with me. Sure enough when I got to
the school, I barely had time to say 'Hi' to Luke as I put my stuff
away and our names were called to the office.
Once there, we were sat down in the Principal's office and he looked
more troubled than angry. The Vice Principal was there, arms folded,
and the science teacher was the only one visibly brewing. We were
asked about what had happened that night and we kept to our story
about having to get into the computer room to get my coat and books.
''And the tape?'' the Principal asked.
''I destroyed it,'' I returned feeling a slight smile on my face.
The Principal and the Vice paled with shock at my statement, the
science teacher turned red with checked rage... Then I saw
Luke's face as he realized he had hitched his wagon to my charge over
the cliff.
The Principal began to harden as he asked Luke, ''And you took part
in this?''
While I wanted to crash and burn, I realized I didn't want to take
Luke with me. I interjected: ''He was against me taking the tape and
he didn't know what I was going to do with it.''
''Is this true?'' the Principal asked him. Luke agreed.
We were dismissed from his office while they decided what they were
going to do. Then we were called back in. Luke was asked for an
apology for his part and he gave it. I was asked for one and gave
none. Again, my lack of remorse seemed to confuse the Principal,
but he told us that our punishment would be that we were no longer
allowed the use the school's computers.
That punishment felt a little light to me and, since I had my own
key, I continued to use the computer at school. I tried to rope Luke
into that, but he wisely refused to join me.
A couple weeks later they changed the lock.
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