This story comes from my High School days. In 1980 I was a High School Junior attending a private christian school in Sacramento California. The senior class at this school had decided that a particular section of the parking lot was for their use only. They defended this territory by partially dismantling anyone's car who dared (or was forced by a lack of space elsewhere) to park there. Being a small school we all had the same English teacher, but the seniors had her first. They would put the dismembered parts of the car in her classroom. By the time the junior's came into the English classroom, all the 'trophies' from the offending vehicle had already been viewed by most of the school. This was a practice I took offence to. I discovered that by inserting a chip of circuit board between the points of a car I could prevent a it from running without doing it any harm. So the following Friday I arrived late to school, on purpose, with five such chips in hand. No one was around, so my plan to disable five cars in the senior parking area seemed to working perfectly. I intended to make a point about their practice of sabotaging cars by waiting until all five car owners were unable to leave school, and then repair the 'fix' to their cars after they had gotten a good taste of their own medicine. Well that was the plan. The first problem I encountered was hood locks. Only one old pickup truck did not have a hood lock and although I did not know to whom it belonged, it was the only one I could disable. One was better than none, so it would have to do. The second problem with my plan was that after a full day at school, I had forgotten to wait and see what became of the pickup and it's owner. After returning to school on Monday morning, I found out.
Leman was the senior class president. He was also the only black in attendance although neither of these facts are material to my motives. After school on Friday Leman climbed into his fathers old pickup truck, inserted the key into the ignition, turned it, and nada. It would not start. This caused him to walk home. When he arrived he was greeted by a father who was to miss an appointment due to the inoperative vehicle. On Saturday the football team had practice and were witnesses while Leman and his father worked for a couple of hours attempting to diagnose and fix the problem truck. When they final popped the distributor cap and looked at the points, Leman's dad just about hit the roof. The chip was obvious, and so was the fact that someone had sabotaged the truck. In no time they had it fixed and under way. Then the school principle got a call from one very upset father. On Monday morning this irritation spilled over onto the senior class who got a personal visit from said principle. The era of dismantling cars in the parking lot was over!
Well, the point had been made and the goal achieved, but at what cost? To be sure, Leman was the last person I'd have wanted any of this to happen too. I doubt, although I do not know, if he ever had anything to do with the car wars in the first place. He had enough class to ask me if I had done that to his truck. I had enough guts to admit to it. But I never had the chance to tell him the rest of the story or apologize for forgetting to stay after school on Friday. I hope he gets read this.
-Dan.
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