Seagulls and junior high detention
The shrieks of seagulls in the mall parking lot took me back to junior high where I did after school detention for a few days and then agreed with an administrator in Mom's presence that I wouldn't be involved in this sort of activity again.
The outdoor lunch area was huge, full of tables and benches packed with students every lunch period. Twenty to 30 seagulls would line up along the edge of the tall auditorium next to the lunch area, anxiously watching for us to leave so that they could pick from among the scraps we left behind. What you couldn't tell was that there were easily another hundred gulls behind them on the roof.
Rusty knew exactly where to throw an apple from a less visible spot on the side of the auditorium and startle the whole hoard of seagulls off of the auditorium and directly over the lunch area. When I heard he was going to do this deed again, I wanted to see how it was done--and most definitely be out of range of the impending mayhem.
I knew well what it was like to be out there when the gulls bolted from the roof and unloaded their tanks, midflight. You'd hear screams from all directions as kids frantically sought cover that just couldn't be found in time. Soon after were groans and pointing toward who and what got hit. This time, I wasn't at risk of getting hit. But I ended up in detention.
I'll bet kids are still carrying on the tradition.
Comments
I used to throw oranges in the air over the same quad four years earlier.
We never scared birds. We just waited to see what sucker would be at the other end of Newton's law.
From time to time, I'd get lucky, and the fruit would splat in the middle of a table full of girls and make the most wonderful shower of pulp and juice all over the front of them.
Mean, I know.
But I never got caught.
Man, Jr. High was great in the '70s.