America the poor: A Wanderers Tale, Volume One

Chapter 26: Snoozing in School, and Joseph's Crime

Time carried on. At school, I believe I was in 4th or 5th grade, I'm not exactly sure. I was amazingly tired in school,and couldn't keep my eyes open.

I started finding creative ways if not to fully sleep, at least get a bit of rest in class. My grades were never much of an achievement, in all my school years, and as always I couldn't have cared less, but they really suffered at this point.

Homework wasn't my thing ever, but surprisingly so I did alright on actual tests; I usually passed them, but as far as actually paying attention in class, I had more important concerns, like closing my eyes without getting busted. Most teachers seem to take sleeping in their classes somewhat offensively, I can't imagine why. It's not an insult to their teaching ability, but tired is tired, and little else seems important when you need sleep.

More on tiredness in a later chapter. For the moment, I became a master at sleeping, or at least resting in class. I slept on the bus to school(of course I did), and I rested as much as I could sitting at my desk. It greatly helped that I sat at a location at the very back of the room, as far from the gaze of teachers that I could ever get.

The less I was noticed, the better. I avoided the teacher's look as much as I could. At this point, I knew my scholastic potential was over, I was written off long ago, and was merely there because I had zero choice in the matter, and had the day to waste. I was long done, just stick a fork in me, my goose was cooked, and I knew this.

A being who has nothing to lose, doesn't really care about much, if anything, and I showed it. Grades were not my concern, only my comfort, and survival wasl. I never wanted to be in school, and I think teachers and other students knew it.

I made my disdain quite known. I hated my young peers, and I was hated in turn. I used every con I could come up with to sleep on a desk.

Dark sunglasses of course, or my face sitting on my hand, a thinker's pose, but covering the eyes. As well as propping books up, whatever I could do to sleep, or rest with my eyes closed at least.

I gave it my best efforts, and sometimes succeeded, to the chagrin of my teachers. They had A+ students who actually wanted to learn, why should they really concern themselves with me, especially since I didn't want to be there in the first place.

Of course I was still considered the lowest echelon in the class. I had an average of 65, which is a d minus. In New York state(at the time) you can be 65 and still pass. Any less than that, and you failed. Of course my grades were never my real concern, just my existence, and my day to day living. During the summer I got a communication from Carol that Joseph was in trouble. I cannot remember if it was a call, or a letter, or word of mouth, but she wanted me to come visit her.

I ended up taking a city bus, and she gave me the story. Joseph was locked up in a special place for young offenders,we called it "Juvie″, at least until his court date. He was caught, doing something very stupid, even moreso then at other times in his young life.

As it turned out, he was browsing in a medium sized pet shop near downtown Cheektowaga, well outside of central Buffalo, looking at exotic pets. He saw a creature he very much wanted to keep(apparently for his mother), but since poverty was always a constant curse we all shared, he couldn't pay for it of course. It was a small snapping turtle, and turned out to be a major miscalculation on his part.

His only option was a five-finger discount, which he was quite good at under normal conditions. There was a caution sign on the tank, but he paid no heed. I imagine he waited til all employees were otherwise busy, slowly and stealthily opened the tank, and grabbed the turtle by its sides. To this day, I know he didn't think his master plan through. Joseph was never much of a thinker, between us, that was my specialty, although that's not saying a hell of a lot.

He successfully maneuvered the turtle into his pocket, and as I discussed in an earlier chapter, he had very deep pockets at the time. From what I learned later he almost made it out the door, got quite close to the front, with the turtle deeply embedded in his front pants pocket.

At some point before he passed the door the little guy rebelled, and ended up biting him hard in a very sensitive spot at his groin area, and of course, he collapsed in extreme pain; Probably quite humorous to watch, and was summarily caught in the act before he left.

The turtle was returned to its tank, and Joseph was arrested, and he stewed in the lockup for young teens, until his court date of course.

Bad plan, poor execution,and sorry timing. Caught by the refusal of the turtle to be confined to a tight pocket, I'm sure that made a fun story while Joseph was in confinement.

On the proper date and time both myself and Carol took a bus to the court location, to be there, provide moral support, etc. The Judge seemed almost merciful and granted Joseph a few months probation, due to his youth, and his mother being there. He seemed very relieved, and walked with us leaving the court quite happy to be going home.

Of course, this didn't last long. We got about a mile down the road on our way to the bus stop, when a police vehicle pulled up, and took Joseph into custody for yet another old warrant, about a block before the actual bus stop. I've never forgotten the look of disappointment on his face, abject misery, and if never seen it's like in all my years.

He was not a happy camper for sure. He was given his freedom to fly, then his wings immediately cut, and viciously. He was driven away in the police car,, and looking back at us the whole time, misery personified.

Carol and I walked the rest of the way to the stop, and didn't say much at that time. He was almost free, then it was snatched suddenly away, and was worse then if he was never set free at all.

I couldn't even imagine how cruel this was from his perspective, but I found out much later, as I would have all my freedoms ripped away as well, and not for a few months, but many years. Between us, I ended up faring by far the worst, but not for much later in time. For then, I gave Carol my utmost regrets and sympathy, and headed back home.

One day in school, I had a teacher that seemed to have had enough of my endless efforts to sleep. She was frustrated by my low grades, and my constant attempts to sleep at my small school desk. I was finally presented with a unique challenge, quite unorthodox, yet it was done anyway.

She gave me a standard backed classroom chair, and told me, if I could find a way to actually sleep in that chair, she would give up, and let me sleep in the desk, without affecting my grades any lower than they already were. It was a puzzle, and a challenge, yet still nothing for my unconventional mind. Even back then, I not only thought outside "the Box", but outside the box the Universe was in. If there was a way to do something, outside of the normal limitations, that was something I could usually figure out, which of course I did within 60 seconds of her challenge.

I was at the very back of the classroom, with every student looking at me as well as the teacher. I took the single chair, turned it backwards, crossed my arms on the backrest and proceeded to close my eyes, quite comfortably. She had given no rules as to how I should sit, just that I should use the chair to sit and sleep if I could, which I did.

She gave a long loud sigh, and merely said for me to return to my desk and resume my "activities″ if I felt I must. She gave up the ghost, and admitted defeat, as I figured she would. I was no ordinary kid, nor a normal student, and i'd earned my leeway.

I did the minimal work, and passed all the tests, but never did homework(except sometimes on the school bus, if I wasn't actually sleeping), and slept on my desk when I felt so inclined, and kept my D minus, and barely passed. As I said, I may have been at the bottom of the class scholastically, but I was far from the dumbest; In fact, In all honesty, I was probably the most intelligent and uniquely talented in the entire school! However I had bigger fish to fry and didn't really care to demonstrate it, to anyone, least of all my idiotic ignorant sheeplike peers. To a school system that didn't really give a crap about my well-being. Screw em, my life was about ME, no one else.