School Story:
For me it was helping Jay & Mike White drive the bus onto the front lawn of the school on backwards day. Yeah, I drove the bus. Here is the little heard story...long version.
A few of us were walking up from the cafe and as usual, someone hit the "button" on the front of the bus. Not sure if it was Greg Francis or Andre Cooper, but to our surprise it was unlocked and the door opened.
Later on that evening Mike and Jay pull me aside. They knew that I could drive a truck and that I would know how to move the bus. As much as I loved the idea, y'all know I was always in trouble and didn't need anymore. But I promised to tell them everything they needed to know about how to do it.
See what was unique about the bus is that it did not need a key to start. That's why it was always locked. It had a simple button starter similar to what is seen in new cars of today. But that is where the simplicity ended. After you started it, like all commercial vehicles, you have to let it warm up so that it can build up air in the brake lines. That releases the emergency brakes so that the bus can move and pumps up the regular brakes so that it can stop. But before it can move you have to push in another "brake release" button.
I told them to hit the start button, and turn on the "fast idle" which revs the engine at a higher rate. Because this warmup process takes a few minutes. I suggested that they get out of the bus and wait in hiding. They didn't listen. They were out there revving up the engine themselves. I heard them put the bus in gear and then heard the bus stall. They kept re-starting and trying this over and over. They would not give up and had the bus roaring like a lion!!!!
At that moment I am pretending to be asleep in a sofa in the lobby and I can hear them revving up the bus and I am loosing it and getting paranoid that the deans will hear them too.
I can't tell you what possessed me but I got up the courage to run out there and rescue them. As I got to the door and scared them half to death, I tried to find out from them what the problem was and warn them that they were making too much noise. They told me that they couldn't get it to move.
I had no intention of staying out there, but they pleaded with me to get behind the wheel and figure it out. See, that's how I always get into trouble! I jumped behind the wheel, I checked the air pressure, I tested the air brake by pulling out the brake release button and putting the bus into gear and easing off the clutch. It shut off real quick so I push in the brake release and the bus started to rock backwards. I re-started the bus and asked them where they wanted it. I thought they wanted to go on a joy ride, but they wanted it on the front lawn. So we drove it straight onto the lawn and around that big Pine Tree. The wild thing was that as we started turning the bus to put it in front of the steps,it seemed like we were going to hit the flag pole, then somewhat amazingly, when the front wheels were completely horizontal, the bus stopped moving forward and moved sideways like a dial on a kitchen timer and we swung around towards the steps. We then engaged the brakes and bailed out and hightailed it back to the dorm.
Now let me clarify a few things. As some of you may have remembered. The brakes froze the following morning and they had to tow the bus from the front of the building which tore up the grass. Although it may have seemed that the strain that Jay & Mike put on the bus may have caused the brakes to freeze in the morning, it's pretty likely that it would not have moved at all if that were the case. This was just an old bus and this problem would have happened one day or another. Next thing, I begged them not to tell on themselves. For some reason the faculty thought that Mason West knew what was going on and they were putting amazing pressure on him and he was actually acting suspicious. Mike was worried that he was about to loose it. Then Doc Roc resigned as the USM faculty representative and they felt they needed to say something. They kept their promise not to "out" me and turned themselves in. I was with them when the students in the cafeteria gave them an applause worthy of superstars. I was jealous but I wanted to graduate!
I did say it was the long version... I have another story, but it is just as long. I'll tell you all about it when you come to our 20th in August
