The transition from Elementary to Middle School is rough. I'm sure it's just as hard today, as it was back in the ass of the 80's when I was making it. To me, and many millions of others, Middle School was the worst place on the planet. It's a place where no one really knows who they are. Everyone is part kid, part adult, and no one is sure which, or what to do about it. This hormonal confusion makes for some very ignorant, erratic, often violent and disturbing behavior.
During my 5th-6th grade transition I went to a Summer Camp called "Adventure Camp." It should have been called "Hot-ass Bus Camp" because we spent most of the summer on a hot, poorly- ventilated, piss-yellow, school bus going to our various "Adventures." Since I grew up in Florida, it was always hot and humid as shit, and we always went to the beach or some other lame local place we'd all been to a million times before. (It was only cool at the end of the summer when we got to go to Adventure Island.) It was during that time at Adventure Camp that I met one of the craziest people I ever would, Crazy Eddie.
No one called him "Crazy Eddie" then. It was just Ed. He had a horribly foul mouth, and seemed to like getting in trouble even more than I did at the time. A perfect summer friend. We'd steal and vandalize shit and laugh our asses off about it. Never realizing that we were really just a couple of total assholes. Despite our self-ignorance, we had a grand ol' time at "Adventure" Camp.
Once I got to Middle School I ran into Ed and we had the same homeroom. We were both stoked about it and became better friends after that. Eventually, I stayed overnight at his house. His parents were old. I mean REALLY old. His Dad was retired and only a few years younger than my Grandad. His Mom was in her 50s. They both smoked like chimneys, watched HSN all day and night, had thick Chicago accents, and the house always smelled like a stale ash tray in spite of their OCD cleaning habits.
All that aside, it was the coolest place to sleepover a kid could ask for. Ed had every video game system you could think of (in 1990), a VCR and cable in his bedroom. He made straight A's in school and was paid cash for it, which he used to outfit himself with tons of games. The first time I stayed over there, we didn't sleep. Who could sleep, when there were hours and hours of 16 bit graphics to soak your young, stupid, eyes with?
All that aside, it was the coolest place to sleepover a kid could ask for. Ed had every video game system you could think of (in 1990), a VCR and cable in his bedroom. He made straight A's in school and was paid cash for it, which he used to outfit himself with tons of games. The first time I stayed over there, we didn't sleep. Who could sleep, when there were hours and hours of 16 bit graphics to soak your young, stupid, eyes with?
Ed and his parents fought a lot. They would yell so loud. It was crazy. He'd yell "FUCK YOU!!" right to his Mom and Dad's faces, when he didn't like what they yelled at him. The volume would go up and stay up. These crazy fights would end very easily and casually, too, but not before at least one threat to call the cops was made. I had never seen anything like it.
Admittedly, it was entertaining. But, in hindsight, it was all actually kind of sad. I guess I was just too stupid then to notice that his parents might have had him by accident. They bought him all that shit to keep him in his room, on his side of the house, away from them. It wasn't that they didn't love him. Even though their loud, smokey voices made them sound it, they weren't monsters. They just didn't really care. It wasn't until much later that I was able to see how this actually effected his being.
Admittedly, it was entertaining. But, in hindsight, it was all actually kind of sad. I guess I was just too stupid then to notice that his parents might have had him by accident. They bought him all that shit to keep him in his room, on his side of the house, away from them. It wasn't that they didn't love him. Even though their loud, smokey voices made them sound it, they weren't monsters. They just didn't really care. It wasn't until much later that I was able to see how this actually effected his being.
-2013 Wielgorecki
No comments:
Post a Comment