Chapter 2.1 The High School Years

The High School Years

Chapter 2.1

Even though Matt and I had made acquaintances, we were pretty much just that, acquaintances. Nothing more than casual friends and of course the ever important Bathroom Buddies. I knew that Matt and I seemed to be hitting it off, but I knew better than to think that he was an actual friend as of yet. Too many other false alarms had already gone off at the high school level and I had come to notice that most of the breathing, living population of the high school were pretty much wastes of space. Still, I kept talking and hanging out with Matt.

We had numerous classes together. Matt and I would constantly joke back and forth with each other. Freshman year came and went and Matt and I continued to increase our friendship style relationship. Matt was the true ladies man and began to date a girl named Karen. Karen ended up being the individual attached to his hip and I saw less and less of Matt during my sophomore and junior years. Again from time to time Matt and I would get a class together or have PE with one another and if Karen was not around, we would have a heck of a time.

Nothing against Karen, because at the time she truly did care about him. It’s just that she was very possessive of him and would not let him have a lick of fun. He had to act a certain way, dress a certain way, even talk a certain way when she was around. But let me tell you, when she was not around, Matt was a different individual entirely! We would carry on and have the time of our lives at high school, basically just doing and saying stupid stuff or making fun of those around us. Some people may criticize me for making such a statement about us making fun of others. My feelings are…if you take the time to make fun of yourself first than you have the right to have fun with others. Matt and I knew that we were not perfect, far from it. We would constantly make fun of each other and ourselves. So you see, we met the qualification just stated. However, Matt and I never did it out meanness or disrespect. We usually used the material the individuals were already using themselves.

By the time senior year rolled around, Matt and I seemed to have a change in relationship. Though we did not spend a great deal of time together, what time we did spend around each other made our relationship stronger. Matt got a job at the McDonalds in Mt. Vernon and me at the Long John Silvers in Mt. Vernon. On several occasions I would work until close at my store, get off just before McDonalds would lock their doors, and then go down to see Matt at his place of employment.

While there, Matt would give me all kinds of free food! This was before the time of closed circuit television cameras to monitor employees at fast food restaurants. Matt would meet me at the counter, take my order, act like he was ringing it in, push a button for the register to open, take my money in one hand, and then hand me the same amount of money back saying it was my change from the purchase. I would then take my Big Macs or Quarter Pounders with fries out to a table. Matt would lock the store doors and then grab some food for himself and sit with me to shoot the breeze.

I remember one occasion that stands out about this illegal contraband of food. Though it really is not all that significant in the scheme of life, it is a fond memory of our fast food days and I have to include it here. I went to visit Matt after work on a Friday night like I always did. By this time he held some sort of managerial position within the store. I had had a long night at Long Johns and really did not feel like any more grease on my stomach so I just asked Matt for a shake.

“What size would you like?”

“I don’t care.” I remember responding. “Whatever size you’ll give me.”

It was during this time that Matt’s supervisor was beginning to cut down on the handing out of free food items and had begun to watch employees like a hawk. Matt had to be more and more creative in supplying me with my free items. On countless occasions I told him that I would gladly pay for the morsels, but he refused to let me pay. Why pay for something when it was going to go into the trash moments later?

“Large then?”

“Sure,” I responded.

That’s when Matt had eyed my monster cup from Long Johns. Long John Silvers had just released one of the largest sodas available in fast food history, the 64 ounce monster drink. Matt saw my cup and snatched it. He shook it and looked at me.

“Are you done with this?” He asked. I nodded. He then took the cup over to the sink and dumped out the remaining ice. That’s when I suddenly realized what he was about to do.

I watched from the other side of the counter as he proceeded to fill the 64 ounce cup with strawberry shake. Now, some of you might be thinking right now that this really is not that big of a deal, but keep in mind that back in the early 90’s, the largest shake that was available at McDonalds was the 12 ounce size.

Matt tried to top the cup off towards the very edge. That is where the trouble hit. Waiting too late to stop the flow of the frozen goodness, the ice cream began to expand over the top of the cup, out onto the spill grate, and onto the red tile floor below. Both Matt and I began to laugh at the pink eruption that was occurring. Our laughter began to cease however as Matt’s manager, who was there for some sort of monthly inventory exercise, yelled from the back. He was on his way up to the front counter!

Matt moved like lightning taking the cup, slamming the lid down upon the paper container sending more pink ice cream onto the floor. He tossed it onto the counter and I snatched it up just in time for the manager to come around the corner and get a visual of Matt, myself, and the shake.

“Hey,” he said to me. The manager knew who I was because of my frequent visits to stop in and see Matt. I nodded in response. His glance fell to my enormous cup now bleeding its pink contents all over the floor. “What is that?” he asked. Stunned, I did not know what to say. Enter Matt who always had all of the answers.

“That is the new shakes they are offering down at Long Johns.”

I held back the urge to laugh.

“No kidding. Those things are huge!” That was all that was said and the manager turned to head back into the direction he came. I looked at Matt, he looked at me and we broke into laughter. Just an example of one of our many times of close calls.