I Won't Get Fooled Again | Teen Ink

I Won't Get Fooled Again MAG

By Anonymous

   The radio in Dave's mom's baby blue Ford Caravan blasted with the sounds from that night's Who concert. I reminisced about the show I had seen no more than a half hour before. I carefully took note of the order of the songs being played by the New Jersey station. DJ's always shadow the concert on radio by playing the album versions of the live performance. I could feel myself slipping away as I stared at the Caravan's clock radio. It blinked 12: 45. My lids closed and I could no longer hear the music.

As I dozed, I thought about the adventure I had had visiting my friend Jeremy in New York. From the moment I had arrived on Friday afternoon until this Monday morning it had been a constant party. The pinnacle of my stay was the Sunday night Who concert at New Jersey's Giants Stadium. Dave Molineux, Jeremy's bony, big-eyed, humorous friend and Keith Davey, a chubby teddy bear of a person had spent most of the weekend with us. All the partying had worn me out and it had taken its toll on the ride back to Mt. Kisco.

This trip was only the beginning of my summer. The Monday after the show would be my first day of camp. I was to catch the 8: 15 train from Mt. Kisco to Back Bay to meet my mother for the ride to Wellesley, and camp.

" Mike! Wake up, we're lost! " screamed Jeremy. I awoke in a stupor, the imprint of the seat on my face. I wiped the condensation off the window of our car and saw blackness all around. We were stopped at an intersection in the middle of nowhere.

"My mom is going to kill me," said Dave solemnly from behind the wheel, "I've never been out this late with the car." I looked at the clock and its blue image read 3: 00 a. m.

Panic. "Guys what do you mean we're lost ? I have to catch an 8: 15 train!" I could feel a knot of terror in my stomach.

"Mike, we took a wrong turn somewhere and now we're in Fort Lee, New Jersey." Jeremy said with austerity.

"New Jersey! Where's Fort Lee, New Jersey?"

"The southern tip," said Keith.

"We've decided to just pull over and sleep at the side of the road," said Jeremy as Dave took the key out of the ignition.

"Better yet, let's just park the car right here," said Dave.

"You can't park the car in the middle of the freaking road!" I screamed.

"Mike, you're just going to have to miss your train. Once it's light we'll drive, but I think I speak for all of us in saying that I'm dead tired, and you wouldn't want Dave falling asleep at the wheel, would you?"

As I listened to Jeremy I felt a tremendous rush of blood to my head. I felt nauseous and feared that I was going to puke on Dave. The walls of the Caravan were closing in around me. We were four souls in a small car, and from the heavens I pictured a tiny automobile surrounded by blackness and trees.

But wait, as I sat there in my despair, I noticed something odd. The corners of Keith's mouth were slowly tilting upward, revealing two front teeth. I lifted my head out of my hands to see that Keith, as well as the others, were smirking.

"We fooled you, we fooled you," they bleated with third grade joy. "Mike, we're really only five minutes from my house." said Jeremy, laughing. Dave started up the car. I felt like a "royal ass," the "butt" of the joke and the court jester rolled into one. Anxiety gave way to relief, and I joined in the laughter as Dave banged a left onto the main road.

"You guys really had me fooled, ha, ha."

"I knew we would. You were conked out on the back seat as we planned our story" said Keith.

"Let's go get some chow," said Dave.

Five minutes later we pulled into the lot of an all night diner. The diner, with its familiar aromas, brought me back to reality and civilization. The knot of terror having been replaced by a superb shrimp-salad sandwich. n



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i love this !