Slickster's Game

Slickster had posted a blog asking us to share a personal story that was known only to us. It sounded like fun, and although it's not something that I alone know as I had an accomplice with me, and although it's not something that has altered my life or strengthened my character as a human being, it is still a story from my past that is little known and a memorable part of my past. Here's it:


My best friend and I used to ride our bikes around the neighborhood when we were kids. It was something to do, and we limited our travelings between her house and mine which was about a 1/2 mile radius on the Chicago's southeast side.

We usually did nothing more than ride around, stop at each other's houses and hang out, eat, goof off and ride some more before the daylight ran out. But one day we decided to travel just a bit further down her block and see what was there, against our parent's wishes. We traveled down and came across a junkyard that held about 30 cars or so. We stopped and looked to make sure no dogs were standing guard about the place, then proceeded to squeeze in between the gates that were held loosely shut by a length of chain and a padlock.

We found great fun in going through each car, sitting behind the wheel and looking in the glove compartments and in the seats to see if we found any "treasures". Our favorite was the Volkswagen van, which was the type that was done up in an RV fashion complete with the little sink and fridge. It was way cool! On the back of the van on the outside window was a rainbow sticker, and right then I made it my business to peel that sticker off and put it on my bike which I did.

Once we got bored with that, we were going to ride off when we noticed that there was a warehouse across the street from the junkyard that to us looked abandoned. (We later found out that it was NOT abandoned completely, the company was merely in the process of moving to a new location).

Feeling brave from our junkyard tresspassing, we got off our bikes and squeezed through the gates of the warehouse (similar gates held with a similar chain). Once inside, we spent roughly a half an hour whipping empty beer bottles against the side of the building, discussing who our latest crushes were and other girly conversation.

Once there were no more bottles to be had, we decided to check out the inside. Now, how we got into the warehouse remains fuzzy in my mind, but we did get into the factory...somehow.

We giggled our way through the interior of the warehouse which, to us, the size of an airplane hangar. We left no stone unturned, checking every drawer to the desk that was there, delighting in the little items that we found inside and stashed in our pockets. We ran from end to end, screaming like two hooligans. My friend then saw a set of stairs that were missing (at about 20 feet off the ground) some steps but she decided to take it on anyway. It really was a stupid move as we were the only ones that knew we were in there and had she fallen....

But she made it to the top floor and as I stood safely on the ground level, I laughed at her little whoops of excitement and joy and she told me of what she found.

By then it was beginning to get late, and the fear of getting caught began to creep up on us more and more strongly with each tick of our Swatch watches, so we made our hasty exit. But before we left, we came across a Mack truck that was minus it's trailer. Well...we couldn't resist checking it out, too!

As was the case both doors were unlocked, so we each took a side and checked it out, with our backsides sticking out of either side of the truck, legs flailing as we tried to shimmy further inside the truck too satisfy our curiosity.

My friend tried to get the CB working while I rummaged through the truck to see if I could get one last trophy for the day. I squealed in delight when I found a rather cool (for the day) pair of sunglasses which I perched onto my head immediately and with that, we figured that we tempted fate long enough; it was time to beat a hasty retreat.

Nobody ever found out were were in there, and to this day we laugh about our days at "Pyromania" as we fondly code-worded that particular expedition. Even now, at 38, I smile secretly as I pass by that place. It makes me wonder how mad that trucker was when he couldn't find his shades, and when the owner of the desk we plundered open the drawers and found it nearly barren.

We were fools. We put ourselves in great danger. All the while my mom was probably at home cooking dinner and enjoying the beautiful summer day with not a single clue that her daughter was being such a dumbass.

But hey...we were only about 13 at the time. We were young and felt the world was ours for the taking. And I had no idea at the time that I was making a memory for myself that I would tell to others in my later years. When I, myself, was a parent; hoping upon hope that my children won't do the stupid things that I did. But if they do decide to make memories of their own, I hope they stay safe.

Here's to being young....being foolish....and having secrets that put a smile of our youth to our faces.



Love and Peace To All!