A crazy thing I used to do

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By bigpumpkin | March 22, 2007

When I was growing up, I was always left to my own devices. My parents were never around and didn’t have any rules for me so it is suffice to say that I turned out pretty good considering the circumstances.

I had an Italian Muslim boyfriend who lived in a mansion at the age of 16 whom I spent 65% of the year with on his bed. That’s a lot of time spent overnight on his bed considering we both had school to attend everyday. Our relationship was frowned upon from the start by the school and his parents. We were too ‘young’ to be in a relationship but being the rebel that I am, soon found ways to meet.

All I had to do was tell my parents I was sleeping over at a friend’s place - honestly, they didn’t care who, what, why or when. I would take a taxi out to his place just before midnight when people usually settled into their bedrooms. When I arrived, I’d stop the cab a few blocks away from his house and walked. I’d hide in the drain outside his house (it was a big drain which I climbed into and out of a lot!) and wait for his signal that his parents were safely in their bedroom.

Once the coast was clear, I would leave my school bag in the drain (too heavy with books) and climb his electrical gate that he had disconnected including all house alarms. It was like something out of Alias and I did it so well, watching quickly around for cars or people, even people looking out of neighbourhood windows, before I made the quick climb and drop off.

Then there was a detailed track that I had to follow in the grounds avoiding potential disaster areas to get to a huge overturned flower pot which encased the rope to my paradise. It was a one and a half inch diameter rope of eight metres long with boyscout knots at every two feet taught to us by a classmate of ours who was a pro at knot tying. Carrying the heavy rope along my treasure trail, I would barefootedly creep to just under his bedroom window at first level and wait for the next signal.

Directly below his window were the maids’ rooms windows which I had to pass vertically each time I made the army climb up which I mastered with my then athletic body. The knots allowed a grip for my big toe and second toe while I pulled myself up after he had released a nylon string with a weight so I could hook the rope onto and then he could pull the rope back up in order to fasten it to a construction piece on his planter box to take my weight. After I climbed into the planter box, we pulled up the rope and hid it in the high cupboards above just in case any of his parents decided to do a midnight search.

In the very early morning, I would make my descent in darkness and return the rope to the overturned flower pot and do exactly as I’d come in, except the opposite. I then got into my school uniform in the hidden drain and walked out to catch a cab to school. Hey, at least I didn’t miss school!

Once, a friend of mine who was so enthralled by the whole drama of my misadventures, wanted to try climbing my secret rope. We crazilly agreed but at first attempt, she had already swung and banged the wall which garnered immediate suspicion from the maids. Plan aborted pronto.

I wonder, what are some of the crazy things you used to do as a kid?

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