…I got to pick my classes and I wanted to make sure that all the required classes I needed for graduation were taken in my junior year. The only class I couldn’t take was a Government Civics class which had to be taken in the senior year. I was pumped and looking forward to going to my new high school. I could have taken the school bus but I wanted to walk. It wasn’t that far from my house, maybe a mile or two. I remember the impression it gave me seeing it for the first time coming out of a field with the morning dew on my boots. It looked like a castle I thought sitting behind the Edison Power Line Towers. The Edison Corridor stretched for miles both north and south in front of it. The sun rising out of the east reflected off of the facade making it look like a metal and gold brick fortification. I was impressed.
… I would be the first graduating class from this new high school. Excited, I began walking faster as buses of students were unloading in the front entrance which was clearly marked in large white letters on Gold Brick , STERLING HEIGHTS HIGH SCHOOL. The WCS emblem in a blue circle was next to it.( Warren Consolidated Schools) I was walking towards the entrance when I saw a young man with long blond hair and a coffee can standing behind one of the buses. Students were running up to him and looked to be giving him money. He would pass them something out of the coffee can once they gave him their money. My first reaction was he’s dealing drugs and now I had to find out. I walked up to him and questioned what types of drugs was he selling? His answer, “red devils man, you ain’t a NARC(narcotic undercover police) are you?” I shook my head no but I told him I don’t have to be.
…I explained to him the minute those kids you sold the barbiturates to start passing out and throwing up, your name will be well known by the administration here, and it well could be the “Pusher Man.” He told me to go F myself. “We shall soon see,” I said with a smile. I wasn’t even in the door of the school and some young woman was throwing up while her friend held her hair. The buses pulled away and she was now pointing at the guy with the coffee can. He looked like a deer in the headlights of a car not hidden by the busses any longer. A teacher was in quick pursuit. I didn’t stick around for the excitement and made it quickly to my new Drafting Class. My classroom was brand new and it actually had large windows. It had that new car smell too! Our teacher said to sit where ever we wanted and I made sure to sit by one of the windows. Perfect for the natural light to illuminate my drafting table, and for me to see what was happening outside. I was liking this new school already.
… Ambulances started pulling into our driveway and I felt sorry for the kids who ingested the “Reds.” Not a good way to remember your first day of class in a brand new school. The police were at the school as well and I could only imagine what was happening to the “Pusher Man.” I ran into some of my friends between classes, and they asked me had I heard what had happened? It seemed they had kids passing out in their classes. I let them know I saw an idiot selling Red Devils, and tried to convince him it was a bad Idea but after he was assured I wasn’t a NARC he told me off. I watched one of the teachers run after him when someone pointed him out. I saw police cars pulling into the driveway from my classroom so I believe they must have him. My friends were amazed that I had windows in my classroom. Apparently, they didn’t have any in the classrooms on the second level. … My Life’s Journey To Be Continued….. Proverbs 3:1-12
MJ-Way 