The parents of my generation dismissed mischief with a shrug and said, “Kids will be kids.” The pranks were not intended to hurt anyone. The fun was in not getting caught. If the prankster got caught, the punishment was meted out by parents or a teacher or principal.
Ken outgrew most of the misdeeds he and his brother did in my post, “Boisterous Boys.” However, in high school, he did pull a Baby Giant firecracker out of his pocket one day in shop class. He stood looking at the teacher with the firecracker in his hand. The teacher gave him a stern look and said, “Standifer, don’t even think about it.” At that point, Ken reached into his pocket, got a match, lit the firecracker and pitched it toward the middle of the shop. The resulting bang was so loud that the lunchroom next door was evacuated. Without a word, the teacher marched Ken to his desk, told him to bend over and grab his ankles, and administered another bang, this one to Ken’s backside. It was the only paddling he ever got in school. It is interesting that the shop teacher was, and still is, Ken’s all- time favorite teacher.
The after school and evening activity in Breckenridge was often, “making the drag.” This involved starting from either the east or west end of the main street and driving to the other end, turning around and driving back the other direction. This could go on for hours. One night Ken was making the drag alone. There was a young policeman on duty who had a good rapport with the teens. Ken topped a hill on the east end of town and pulled into the parking area in front of the grocery store where he worked. The young policeman pulled up beside him and they started conversing.
After ten or fifteen minutes, he asked Ken, “How fast will that old car of yours run?
Ken said, “It will outrun that new Plymouth any day.”
The policeman said, “Let’s just see about that.”
Ken was up to the challenge. They agreed on a point about two miles away where they would stop. There was a Y in the highway and a parking area in front of a small store.
There was no traffic. They lined up and took off. They reached their destination at about the same time, stopped, and talked some more. Finally, the policeman said that he needed to get back downtown. Ken followed him and then went home. When he walked into the living room, his Dad was sitting on the couch waiting for him. He stood with his belt in his hands. It was folded double. He began to pop the belt and said, “I’ll teach you not to try to outrun the police.” He would not listen to any explanation or excuses. He administered his behavior modification without any discussion.
Georgetown High School had an annual bonfire when my children were in school. For days, students gathered anything that would burn and took it to the site. The signs from the city park were usually in the fire. We were awakened one morning at 4 AM by a policeman at the door. He asked to speak to Kevin, our oldest. It seems that he and a friend had absconded two signs from the park. They made a big mistake. Instead of taking them directly to the bonfire site and dumping them, they left them in the back of his friend’s pickup. They were not arrested or taken to jail. Their punishment was to meet the policeman in the park during their lunch break the next day. They had to reset the signs while other students who were in the park during lunch watched. That was humiliating. Some other signs were also missing, but they were already hidden in the pile for the bonfire.
A friend of ours who grew up in a small town told a story about the teens making it a challenge every year to find the switch to the town’s Christmas lights. They would turn them on or off at inappropriate times. The city would attempt to hide the switch in a different place every year. The teens would persevere until they found it. He and two friends were riding around one night admiring the lights and decided to turn them off. The switch was under the canopy of a service station on the corner of a block. They would let the perpetrator out. He would stay in the shadows while they went around the block. As soon as he saw their headlights turning the corner toward him, he would flip the switch. They would slow down and he would jump into the car. They let him out and made the turn to go around the block. The town’s only police car was in front of them. That was not good. At the end of the block, the policeman made a right turn. They followed and saw the car make another turn. This could mean trouble if the car turned right again. Disaster was imminent as the police car made another turn and moved toward their friend. They had no way to warn the boy. Sure enough, the boy saw the headlights, quickly flipped the switch turning the lights off, and sprinted toward the car. He grabbed the door handle and lunged into the back seat of the police car. Our friend just innocently drove right on by
Today mischief often has the intent to hurt someone. Bad judgment can also lead to an arrest and a jail record. The environment for teenagers today is altogether different. Society, in general, seems to be intolerant of teen mischief and pranks.