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Chapter XXXVI
“The Senior Trip” 
The Senior class of 1967 had been looking forward to the Senior Trip for many years. It wasin one of our class meetings that we were given the sad news that the Trenton I.S.D. SchoolBoard in one of their meetings had made the decision for us. There would be no more Senior Trips! Their decision was final. We had nothing to say about the matter. Revolt was on thehorizon. We did not receive the news well. After several days of discussion on the matter andtalking to our class sponsor, Mr. Yeats, who I think was our sponsor, we were getting nowhere.We elected Gary Bowlus to carry our message to the office of Mr. Sol Everett (Remember Him?): We were going on a Senior Trip. The ultimatum was delivered to Mr. Everett to tell theSchool Board that the Senior Class of Trenton High School would not accept their petty offer of a “Senior Day” at Lake Murray, Oklahoma. We had worked for a trip and we were going tohave one. The majority of the class agreed to our demand: We can go on the school bus withchaperones and school sponsors or we would load up in our cars and go by ourselves.They were not pleased with our stand. Even our sponsor was not pleased with us. We weredetermined to have our way. They tried everything they could to make us change our minds andthere were a few of the girls who tried to waver on it but they were easily brought back into the“Light.”The argument over the trip went on for weeks; neither side was willing to back down. Wewere told we couldn’t go in our cars. Who were they to tell us what we could do after graduation? I think Mr. Yeats just thought that if he pushed us far enough that we wouldeventually change our minds and give in to the trip to the lake. He greatly under estimated our desire to go to Houston and to Galveston. He also had not taken into consideration how muchwe wanted to do just the opposite of what he wanted us to do. Somewhere along the way, it became a personal challenge: The Class of 1967 v “Rowdy” Yeats and the establishment. Wewere Rebels and we had a cause.As graduation day neared and it became apparent to everyone that we were going to Houstonand on to Galveston, the fight was won. The administration gave way to the Rebels and theSenior Trip was now being planned with the help of our class sponsor. He was acting as thoughthe school had come up with the idea of us going to Houston and Galveston. By this time wedidn’t really care who got the credit. We were going on our much-awaited “Senior Trip.”After the graduation was over and all was finished at the school, there was only one thing onour minds: Party! That is what we did. There were several things going on that night andeveryone was trying to have as much fun as possible in the short time we had before leaving onthe trip to Houston. The bus was going to leave from the school at 3 A.M. Saturday. Someonewas in charge of writing our class name and the usual things that were written on school busesat the time. I am not sure who did the art work on our bus.Most of us had stopped by the bus at different times, loaded our bags, and then left. We werein a hurry to get back to having as much fun as possible and our time was running out. When itwas time for us to go to the school and actually board the bus,we made a very importantdiscovery. One of the people wrote on the bus with white shoe polish, in big bold letters, for everyone to see: “Huston Bound.” It was just my luck that the group that I was with included a
 
guy from Leonard and he was the first to spot the misspelled word. I think his question wassomething like “Which one of the village idiots wrote that?” I wish I knew. Nobody ever admitted to the error. Someone had a bottle of white shoe polish with him or her at the time so;we just inserted an “O” and went on our way. Nothing like a little common spelling error wasgoing to ruin our trip.To the best of my knowledge, we left on time. I say that because I don’t remember much of what happened after the first thirty minutes on the bus. I have heard stories but that was justhearsay and I can’t believe any of that. Some people will make things up just to embarrass you!I do recall one incident that happened on our way to Houston. A car pulled alongside our bus.There was a bunch of guys having their own party and one of them was holding out a can of cold beer. Well all of us in the back of the bus were hanging out of the windows trying to grabthat can. They kept inching closer and closer to the bus as we reached as far as we could to grabthat can. Finally, one person on our bus managed to get a firm grip on it and it was onboard.Cheers and thanks rang out from the bus and the generous partygoers were soon out of sight.As soon as the top was popped on the can one of the sponsors called out for us to pass the can tothe front of the bus. That was not a smart move. As the can was passed from the back of the busto the front, it was slowly being emptied by everyone that touched it. We gave no thought todrinking after each other. One reason being that probably every one of the eleven graduates onthe bus had already kissed each other sometime during the night!We made it to Houston later in the day on Saturday and checked into our hotel. We wereseparated four to a room. Our room was my brother Jimmy, Ronnie Todd, James Burden, andme. Of course, we were determined to see how far we could go push the adults. Maybe we justdidn’t think that they could or would do anything about our antics. Most of the boys had brought their favorite bottle of drink along with them. Those bottles for some reason werestored in our room. They were lined up on a dresser in plain sight for everyone to see. I knowthis is not something to brag about but that is the way it was.We were not completely satisfied with what we had; we had to test Room Service. So, one of us called downstairs to room service and ordered six bottles of beer. Our plan was to just berelaxed and have the money laid out on the dresser beside the other bottles when the beer arrived. When the man arrived with the beer, he questioned our ages. We told him that we didn’torder it, our sponsor did. He left the money on the dresser and then went to take a shower. Heoffered some resistance and we acted as if we didn’t care if he left it or not. We told him if hetook it back, he would just have to turn around and bring it back when our man got out of theshower. He took the money and left the beer. We had won again!Saturday we went to the Astrodome to watch a soccer game. As we were approaching theticket booth to get our tickets, a man who was trying to sell two tickets to the game approachedRonnie and me. We were the right ones to ask. We took the tickets and went in ahead of theothers while they stood in line to buy theirs.Ronnie and I got lucky that night. Our seats were about ten rows above the rest of our class.We could see them down there looking back at us and wondering how we ended up where wewere. The seats that Ronnie and I had were in the middle of a group of adults about ten seatsfrom the aisle. The advantage of these seats was when the beer man came down the aisle sellinghis product; we just held up two fingers and passed our money across the line to the man. Themoney went across and the cold brews came back, no questions asked. As we sat there,watching the game enjoying our new found fortune we could see the other guys looking at us
 
and we just held up our cups and gave them a very big grin. I know this is not something to bragabout but it is a part of the story.The real problems began after the game and we returned to our hotel. My brother Jimmy gotdressed up and went out on the town. We had taken our suits so that we could appear older thanwe were. It was a very good move and it worked. In fact, it worked too well.Ronnie and I had arranged for two of our female classmates to come over to our room towatch a movie. We had just been there for about half an hour when the trouble started. The problem was my brother Jimmy. He was in a club and was calling every five minutes trying toget us to come join him. At first, we were able to ignore him but he would not stop calling.Finally, I told Ronnie and the girls that I was going to have to leave and go get my brother  before he was thrown in jail or something. Ronnie, being the friend he was, would not let me goalone. We sadly said goodnight to the girls and left to catch a cab to go get Jimmy.When we got to the club, we were not allowed to go in. The man at the door said that if my brother was not any older than we were, he wasn’t in the club. After I described Jimmy to him,he suddenly had a change of attitude and told us exactly where to find him. He directed us to the payphone. There he was, still calling our room and wondering why we didn’t answer the phone.After a few minutes talking to him and with the help of the manager, we were able to get himout of there and in a cab and back to the hotel. That should have been the end to a long day butit was not. The night had just begun.Jimmy was not content to be cooped up in the hotel. He was determined to go out again.Ronnie and I finally decided to change our clothes and go with him for a while, just longenough to satisfy him. We went to a few clubs that would let us in without any problems.Mostly because they didn’t serve real beer at that time of night or at all. They only served whatis called “near beer.” Near beer taste like beer but doesn’t have any alcohol. By that time Jimmycouldn’t tell the difference anyway. When the bars finally closed at two A.M. we caught a cab back to the hotel.This should have been the end of the night but no, there was more in store for us. After gettingJimmy back into the room and safe, we thought, we found that we had another problem on our hands. Our other roommate was wandering the halls and causing some majors problems. Welocked Jimmy in the room and went to retrieve our other problem child. After returning to theroom, we were in for yet another surprise: Jimmy was gone! He opened the window and hadclimbed down the fire escape from the fourth floor and hit the streets. Ronnie and I had nochoice but to lock the door and pray that the other problem child would stay put while we weregone.Ronnie and I walked for blocks looking everywhere we thought Jimmy would be. We couldnot find him anywhere. After about a half an hour I gave up and decided that he was old enoughto take care of himself. I was tired and so was Ronnie and we were through playing nursemaidsto them. We were going back to the hotel. Whatever happened to him was not our problemanymore.As we entered the hotel front door, we looked into the hotel restaurant for a second and therehe was. Sitting there eating a sandwich. We asked him how long he had been back at the hoteland he said that he never left. He went down the fire escape because he knew that Ronnie and Iwere in the hall and that we would not let him go. He was there the whole time Ronnie and Iwere walking the streets of Houston searching for him. He was now not my favorite brother! Itwas probably getting close to three thirty by now and we were exhausted. It was not exactly the
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mohansuramya7228

Liked the style of the narrative.

reply08 / 07 / 2009
David L. Newman

Thank you for your comment and for taking the time to read the chapter.

08 / 07 / 2009
Rose

And after all that, I bet the class of 1968 couldn't even think about asking for a senior trip . . .

reply08 / 06 / 2009
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