I went to high school where my father went to high school, and where Manda goes to high school. (yawn) The building looks exactly like when I attended, except it's in terrible physical shape these days. However, the school mascot, a bronze statue of an indian chief sitting horseback and looking with grief toward the sky, is still in the lobby. (It's called "The Appeal to the Great Spirit" by Dallin, and you can see it here:
As a protest, my father and some of his friends decided to go to a farm in the next town (quite possibly the least believable part of the story, because I cannot imagine a farm in the next town) and steal a pony to put in the lobby of the high school. Having found some extra courage in beverage form, they set out on a Tuesday night, in anticipation of a big pep rally the next day. They brought old towels to cushion the sounds of hoofbeats on asphalt, and had prepared the school doors by putting masking tape over the locking mechanisms over some of the less frequently used doors.
All went off without a hitch, and the pony was grazing contentedly in the school lobby, fenced off by gym mats. The Boston Record that morning quoted the custodian as being "greeted by a distinctive, yet unfamiliar, barnyard aroma." The pony turned out to be a rare miniature breed, and was promptly returned to his mink-coated mistress.
My father and his pals were never caught. When the bronze pony was repaired, it was placed in a glass case in the wall, and the brass "fence" around the original display was removed. The marks from the fence are visible on the granite floor all this time later.
Tonight, Manda was at her first School Committee planning session, now that she's a high school representative. Mr. Scanlon, as is his habit, tries to instill a sense of pride in the school. I hope he has better luck with Manda. I adored Mr. Scanlon, thought he was a great teacher, but never had much pride in the school. (The teachers tend to stick around. I had the same homeroom teacher as my father and aunts did, and Manda has a few of the same teachers Bob and I had all those years ago. It's really creepy)
He took all the Freshman representatives to look at the display of the famous "pony." Mr. Scanlon started to tell tales of how it had been stolen back and forth, but the darkest moment was the year it had been thrown into Black's Creek and was away for almost a whole school year. But some students protested in a unique way to get their beloved pony back. First he showed them the spots on the floor which used to hold a brass fence.
Manda slumped against a support beam and held her head, because she knows the story better than Mr. Scanlon ever could. (She's heard it eight zillion times, and Grampy showed her his copy of the Boston Record for that day) The Freshman class president knows the story, too; because I told it to him a while back, and he thought it was hilarious. He worried they'd arrest my father, but I'm sure that the statute of limitations for horse theft is long expired in Massachusetts.
Just as Mr. Scanlan told the kids that it was a mystery who had done this and how it was accomplished, Mike (class president) piped up. "It was Amanda's grandfather. They stole the horse in Braintree (nearby town), and brought it in through the girl's gym. The kids had put tape over the door latches so they wouldn't shut."
Mr. Scanlon turned to Manda for confirmation. Poor kid was redder than a traffic light, and she said it was her "Mama's father." (So as not to confuse this prankster with Grandpa) Mr Scanlon, clearly dubious about this tale, asked Amanda one more question: what year had this taken place? Manda knew: 1956 - because Grampy graduated in 1957, and this was for the big Thanksgiving game the fall before.
Mr. Scanlon told Manda he wanted to call me (or even better, my father) for a special interest story in the newspaper. Manda is horrified: "The only cool thing that your father does in his whole life, and I have to hear about it in school!"
I think I'll keep my own pranks to myself (and there were plenty of them, although none involved animals)
Kathy N-V