It was his freshman year. He followed a group of four others led by two sophomores, Pump and Binky, on a misadventure. They went to the basement, where Pump climbed a couple of rungs affixed to the wall, opened a three by three door, and crawled along the duct on the other side of it, the rest of them following. The "tunnel" ran under both Harvey Hall and Eicher, the girls’ dorm. Fortunately, the floor was covered in sand, which made it easy on their knees. The way was lit by light bulbs affixed to a side wall. In minutes, they made it to the other side and went up to the dark, deserted lobby. Binky whispered urgently to Pump to put his flashlight away. He stuffed it in his back pocket without turning it off and, as he took the first step of the stairway, a large halo appeared on the ceiling. Somehow that spooked them all and they retreated. What had been their aim – a panty raid? In those days such events were restricted to a large group of males rallying outside a girls’ dorm, clapping hands and shouting: “We want pants!” Maybe they were intent on a more intimate, exciting way. Before re-entering the "tunnel," a couple of the boys stole boxes of canned fruit from a storage room. They pushed those along while crawling on hands and knees. The group was in such a hurry to get back that someone inadvertently kept knocking out the light bulbs affixed to the left-hand side wall. As they reached the exit, they heard voices. Fortunately, Pump was in the lead. Whoever was there, no doubt dorm staff, tried to open the door, the opposite knob of which was in the grasp of Pump’s powerful grip. He grew up on a farm in Indiana, pitching hay. He was strong as an ox. Apparently, the escapade had been discovered. The guys on the other side gave up trying to get the door open and went elsewhere, for a key probably. That gave the crew a chance to escape.
Curiouser and curiouser:
My thanks to the kind folks who bought, swapped and donated books on this perfect day temperature-wise. Maria bought a couple of Debbie Macomber romances. A middle aged woman purchased a two-in-one translation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Tender Is the Night in Russian. And a young man came along on his bike while I was packing up and found a Russian sci-fi novel to his liking. Special thanks to the woman who donated about 20 books in Russian, which gives that section much needed variety. And best of luck to the burly young man who has done two prison stints, who passed the test to become a drug counselor.
My Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Vic-Fortezza/e/B002M4NLJE
Read Vic's Stories, free: http://fictionaut.com/users/vic-fortezza
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