We were sitting in a circle behind the Performing Arts Center. Somebody dared Joe to throw his apple across campus. Now food fights weren’t uncommon during lunch but it typically happened between the jocks and the surfers, but with a little pressure we knew Joe would break.
With everyone in our group gaining up on Joe, we convinced him to forgo eating his food for tossing the fruit. He reluctantly stood up with his apple, hand hanging down at his side, knees bent, a single jump and stride with a swing of the arm and a forward fling sending the round red produce into the bright blue sky.
We watched in awe as it flew through the air, reaching its highest peak, arcing and gaining speed. It seemingly happened in slow motion, dauntingly descending, narrowing in on the unsuspecting Perry. Thud. It split upon the top of his head, a hollow harrowing sound.
Quickly Joe sat down as we suddenly stuffed our faces with food as if nothing had happened. Silently, we sat… waiting. Maybe Perry thought it was a football player, possibly a surfer? Not quite. He was looking straight for us, tossing a brand new apple up and down in his palm, two split slices at his side.
One of my friends, quietly whispered toward Joe, “That sucks Joe, you should go apologize…” We agreed enthusiastically, coming down hard on Joe, “Why’d you even do that?”
Oh, how the tide turns.
“You guys suck”, Joe snapped, pissed with our betrayal, scared for his life while walking toward Perry, mind you, Perry was twice the size of Joe and we had no idea what would happen next. Eagerly watching with anticipation, anxious… curious. We could see them talking. This wasn’t good. Should we help? Does anyone have another apple? Joe slowly started back for us. Cautiously sitting down, “Screw you guys”, and we continued with lunch.
