A Memorable Encounter

            It was like the usual Fridays at home on that particular night some years ago.  As usual, after dinner, I would head to my bedroom or to the study room but for this particular Friday, my mom knew that I had to rest.  I took my dinner in a hurry and after dinner, I rushed to the living room to catch my favorite show and in the process I feel asleep.  As a teenager, my mom was always watching me closely and she had to take me to bed every day before nine.  Normally going upstairs meant that I had to rest in order to be ready for the next day’s activities but for this particular Friday it was different.  All teenagers’ Fridays were booked for a night out on the streets to have a little fun and I had to be there too.  Being a teenager I believed that I had an equal chance as the rest to be out there with the other kids.  However, my parents did not comprehend or agree to my concept because they believed that I was too young to be out at night and with this I permitted myself out each Friday.

            I would accomplish this by using the window to get out and then head to the roof’s scale and jump off to the ground using my neighbor’s wall.  I always ensured that I was totally dressed in complete black and I would carry along some requirements for the night like a knife, food as well as a flashlight.

            My so called knife was the same knife that was being used in the house by my mom in buttering bread by carrying it in my bag made me feel safe and authoritative whenever I was out on Fridays.  In regard to my friends they also had they own weapons which ranged from sticks to metals.  These weapons were necessary in case we were harassed by other kids in the neighborhood. Since our neighborhood has started a fresh busing initiative several black kids had been enrolled in our school and from their gang talks this gave us the idea that we needed to defend ourselves. For them, a gang was their way of life and so the weapons helped in ensuring that we were not attacked. After climbing down using my neighbor’s wall my headed to the row which separated our house to that of the neighbors.  From this point, I went climbing through several walls before reaching the back yard where I would meet my friends.

            The particular Friday was different because when I arrived at the backyard my friends were not there. I sat there carried by thoughts wandering whether they had changed their plans, but to my surprise, they had left me a letter on the shed’s door a few steps from where I had seated.  The note had instructed me to meet them at the nearby elementary school’s ground.  This was the school that we all attended at it was just a few blocks away, So I had to rush to catch up with them.  My friends were the type of people who always have crowding plans in their heads and this means that we had to accomplish a couple of them each Friday night.  With this in mind, I ran to the elementary ground which was a distance place if one had shorter legs like those that I had.

            Arriving at the ground I went straight to the swimming pool area as the letter had stated but to my surprise, my friends were not here.  I climbed down the wood bars down to the changing rooms and still I couldn’t find a trace of any of them.  This started to piss me off as it was very unusual for them to miss out.  We were not entitled to phones so I could not access any more information. Being the hot-tempered guy I decided to head home and wait for them to look for me.

            As I walked across the ground on a distance level I saw my friends being held by the school guards and so I had to hide.  I promised myself that I did not have to be the part that because my parents would kill me.  So I used the grounds tunnel and headed out of the field, I literally ran home and on arriving to my bedroom lights were on and I began to think that maybe I forgot to switch off.  I used my normal route and climbed back to the house across the roof then to my bedroom window. Immediately my head got in the room my parents were seated there staring at me. I had no excuse so I just got in and remained silent and waited for death to take it cause. My mom stood up closed the window got me in bed and off they left my bedroom.  I did not see any sense in what they did but I did not have the guts to apologize or question.  This was a lesson well learned so without any argument I decided to quit my Friday nights outing.