And it’s amusing what memories I've retained from that time in my life – completely random. For example, I remember that we both had a crush on a boy in our class, named Matt. One day, we were walking somewhere on campus with the class, in typical single file line fashion, and Matt was walking right in front of us. Jess and I dared each other to run up and kiss him on the back of his jacket, which we both did, without him even noticing. Jessica’s mom noticed though, and I remember both of us getting a talk afterwards.
I moved away when we were about 6 years old – the down side of being in a military family. Luckily, we moved back to California when I was 8, and it was in the same town as Jess. I also remember the night I saw her again for the first time in 2 years. My family was waiting outside her house at night, as they were coming back from Sea World. When they pulled up, I was so excited, I could barely contain myself. But poor Jess was so exhausted and half-asleep, I don’t think she even registered I was there. When she got out of the car, I jumped on her and squeezed her half to death. I love those memories. She was one of the few friends I could be completely myself with – bare the extent of my weirdness with. We used to make up songs when we were a little older, break out in spontaneous lyrical prose at any moment. We came up with hits like “Chickenpox” and “Lint”.
There were also some not-so-fun memories, of course. Always are when you know someone for that long. One of those times was a completely ordinary, typical summer evening. Our parents had gotten together over at my house to play cards, and me, Jess, and my older sister Rebecca were playing in my room. At some point in the evening, we decided to play Truth or Dare. My sister and I being the adventurous ones, we always picked Dares. Jess was a bit more cautious – she usually went with Truth, and so of course my sister and I would always give her a hard time about it.
I think at some point Jess got tired of our mocking, and decided to take the plunge – she chose “Dare”. My sister and I knew we had to come up with something good, since we didn’t get very many chances at this. We put our heads together, and our final suggestion was for Jessica to lap up a bowl of water from the toilet, like a dog. I know, I know…I’m a great friend. It was a fantastic idea, truly. I ran to the kitchen to grab a bowl, and it was at this point that we caught the attention of our parents. They asked what I needed a bowl for, and I told them we were playing Truth or Dare. That should have been enough right there to tip them off something was not right, and it was time to intervene. But I scampered off before they could ask more questions.
We filled the bowl up with water from the toilet, set it on the floor, and watched as Jess got down on the ground to drink it. After a few laps, she sat back up and said she was done, but we would have none of that. That was weak sauce, and we were going to get our full Dare’s worth. We made her drink that entire bowl, to the last drop.
Our maniacal peals of laughter must have finally peaked the interest of the adults, because they came to see what was going on. That’s when all hell really broke loose. My parents were horrified we had made her do something so awful, and Jess’s parents were horrified she had given in to doing something so dumb. With everyone yelling, Jess’s parents grabbed their stuff and left. I had to later apologize for my atrocious behavior, and I would soon learn that it would be terribly difficult for me to ever live this moment down.
Almost a year later, on my birthday, Jess handed me my birthday card and told me she had to get it for me because it was a “special” one. I opened it up and the front said something along the lines of “A poem from the dog: Roses are Red, Violets are Blue…” I opened the card up, and saw the words on the inside – “sometimes I like to drink from the toilet”. Jess and her mom started cracking up, and I had to join them. I guess it’s always good to know you can laugh about things like that later.
Update: Recently I found the actual card...enjoy...
I think at some point Jess got tired of our mocking, and decided to take the plunge – she chose “Dare”. My sister and I knew we had to come up with something good, since we didn’t get very many chances at this. We put our heads together, and our final suggestion was for Jessica to lap up a bowl of water from the toilet, like a dog. I know, I know…I’m a great friend. It was a fantastic idea, truly. I ran to the kitchen to grab a bowl, and it was at this point that we caught the attention of our parents. They asked what I needed a bowl for, and I told them we were playing Truth or Dare. That should have been enough right there to tip them off something was not right, and it was time to intervene. But I scampered off before they could ask more questions.
We filled the bowl up with water from the toilet, set it on the floor, and watched as Jess got down on the ground to drink it. After a few laps, she sat back up and said she was done, but we would have none of that. That was weak sauce, and we were going to get our full Dare’s worth. We made her drink that entire bowl, to the last drop.
Our maniacal peals of laughter must have finally peaked the interest of the adults, because they came to see what was going on. That’s when all hell really broke loose. My parents were horrified we had made her do something so awful, and Jess’s parents were horrified she had given in to doing something so dumb. With everyone yelling, Jess’s parents grabbed their stuff and left. I had to later apologize for my atrocious behavior, and I would soon learn that it would be terribly difficult for me to ever live this moment down.
Almost a year later, on my birthday, Jess handed me my birthday card and told me she had to get it for me because it was a “special” one. I opened it up and the front said something along the lines of “A poem from the dog: Roses are Red, Violets are Blue…” I opened the card up, and saw the words on the inside – “sometimes I like to drink from the toilet”. Jess and her mom started cracking up, and I had to join them. I guess it’s always good to know you can laugh about things like that later.
Update: Recently I found the actual card...enjoy...
No comments:
Post a Comment