The same teenagers who were so exhausted that they laid on the floor of a bowling alley five minutes before we left, suddenly became alert and lively once the prospect of sitting in the front seat arose. Andrew was disqualified - the others didn't like the music he chose, and he had been up there already. And it was Christina who beat Katie and Michael to the car, and got the coveted seat. The other two showed their displeasure by falling asleep almost immediately.

We drove and drove and drove. The radio began to be irritating, so we turned it off and provided the music ourselves, cranking out such hits as "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell, and "Another Brick in the Wall (Part Two)" by Pink Floyd. These are the songs I recommend you sing on no sleep, at 6:30 in the morning. You would be amazed at how much they are improved. Further discussion of the "Wawa" goose store, the "woods alligators," and other such topics also took place at great length.

Finally, we got off the interstate and arrived in a town where some of Mike and Josh's kids lived. Mike went one way to drop off his, and I followed Josh another way. At times, Josh seemed to drift off towards the other lane, and I became concerned that perhaps he was not faring so well in his alertness. In fact, it turned out that his car wasn't a very pleasant one - it was filled with the adolescent boys, who put each other down to look good, at times using racial slurs. Thankfully for him, they all slept during this drive.

He drove jerkily through the town, as none of his passengers seemed to remember where they lived. Finally, he dropped off all his kids, I dropped off one of mine, and I proceeded to get ahead of him and direct us to the IGA. Unfortunately, we took several wrong turns, thanks to Christina, who had assured me she was an expert on the location of the IGA, but turned out to be greatly exaggerating her skill. We met up with Mike, and we proceeded to go to the other town, where Katie, Michael, and Christina all lived. It had been nearly an hour since we left the bowling alley.

The two in the back seat woke up for a little while when we stopped, and someone asked, "What was everyone's favorite part of the trip?" There was some silence as they thought about it, and then Michael answered, "I think it was the car rides." Christina and Katie assented, "Yeah. The car rides." Were they serious? It sounded that way. Earlier Christina said it was the most she had ever laughed in a car. And, frankly, I prefer to think that at 6:45 AM, they were incapable of sarcasm. It was definitely one of the most enjoyable times I've had.

I dropped off the brother and sister at their house in the middle of nowhere, while Mike and Josh waited in a nearby driveway. They followed me to Christina's, where I dropped her off - the last passenger of the morning. By this time, the sun had fully risen. We went back to Mike's parents' house and returned their minivan, and when we got back to his apartment, it was 7:15, and time to sleep. For a while.

-TO BE CONTINUED- 

Part Seventeen

NHS Speech

"My View" Editorial

The October Surprise
|  Round 1 |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |
|   6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  10  |
|  11  |  12  |  Final Bell  |

Journey to Jersey II
|  Intro  |  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |
|   6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  10  |  11  |
|  12  |  13  |  14  |  15  |

Journey to Jersey I
|  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |   6  |  7  |  8  |
|  9  |  10  |  11  |  12  |  13  |  14  |
|  15  |  16  |  17  |  18  |  19  |  20  |

An Epic Saga
|  Act  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |
|   6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  10  |  11  |
|  12  |  13  |  14  |  15  |  16  |

Christian Rock Email

Freshman Room Draw
|  Part One  |  Two  |
|  Three  |  Four  |  Five  |