The place: Inglemoor High School cafeteria
The occasion: German Club Oktoberfest / International Night
I walked through the glass doors and was hit by a cacophony of food smells. It was a potluck. Dishes from across the globe—enchiladas, stinky brie, sushi, bratwurst—formed straight lines on the long cafeteria tables, like soldiers in a culinary world war.
My friend and fellow Deutsche schüler Erika ("Klara") and I ("Hedwig") wandered over to the German Club's table. Nestled among the thirteen-by-nines of lukewarm food, we spotted two beautiful glass pumpkins filled with gummy bears.
A printed sign lay flat between each gourd-shaped bowl.
Play our Guessing Game!
Guess the number of gummy bears in each pumpkin. The guesser who comes closest for each will win the pumpkin (and the gummy bears inside!)
PUMPKIN 1
Name: Guess:
Bob Smith 312
Suzy Jones 535
________ ___
________ ___
________ ___
PUMPKIN 2
Name: Guess:
Bob Smith 422
Suzy Jones 815
________ ___
________ ___
________ ___
I made a circle with my thumb and pointer finger. Holding it up to the glass, I counted the number of bears that fit inside. Then, I imagined how many of those circles would fit in the bowl. But in the process of figuring that out, I forgot the first number (the amount of bears in the circle). So I gave up and wrote down a random number for both. Erika did the same.
An hour and 17 mini dinners later, the results were announced.
"The winner of the first pumpkin is....
MARGARET KAY!"
I was stunned. First time winning anything (but not the last). Fighting back joyous tears, I scurried to the table and collected my winnings. But that wasn't all.
"And now, the winner of pumpkin number two is...
ERIKA BARRIE!"
Cue excited screaming. Jumping. Twirling. Oprah-style hand-clasping. We'd done it! We had BOTH WON. It was incredible. The birth of my first child has a lot to live up to if it's going to overtake that moment as the best experience of my life.
_________________________________________________________________________________
So, why bring this up now?
Once the gummy bears were gone (it took about a day and a half), I used my gorgeous glass pumpkin for note storage. Notes were a big feature of my high school life. My friend Connie and I would exchange notes—intricately folded into perfect squares—at least once a week.
I figured the glass pumpkin and Connie's notes got the heave-ho along with all my other beloved-yet-neglected childhood items. But when I asked my mom to hunt around for a glass, note-filled pumpkin, she FOUND IT under the stairs! I guess even Nadinski couldn't bring herself to throw away such a stunning piece of crockery.
 |
| The pumpkin didn't fit in her suitcase, so a ziplock bag had to do. |
I've read a few and man, do they take me back to the bizarre, mundane world of high school. I'll feature some of the best ones in upcoming 'From the Archives' posts, but here's a taster to get you in the mood:
Margo-
Sitting in McNeil right now. This is the dullest pencil I've ever encountered in my life, but I'm not about to go and sharpen it. We just took a basic skills test, it wasn't too bad.
There's like 16 minutes until our 3 1/2 day weekend begins. YAY! Freedom!
Ha, McNeil is giving us a talk about how we shouldn't throw things to each other if there's somebody in between the two people.
We all have bitten1, what a BURDEN!
T-22 rules, down with mean Bus Driver.
Bye.
- Connie
1Editors note: "Bitten" was our code word for menstrual period.
2 T2 was our bus from junior high.
Cheers,
Margaret
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