It’s time for Ketchup With Us. Hosted by Mel and me on the 1st & 15th each month, the link-up gives you TWO ways to play: (A) Write about ANYTHING for 10 minutes straight without stopping OR (B) Link up an old post. I’m an indecisive pain in the ass so I always do both!
The year was 1980-something. And I was having a sleepover with one of my best friends named … wait, I shouldn’t actually call her by her real name, should I? Well, let’s just call her Bolleen. A few weeks earlier, Bolleen and I had decided we wanted to try to sneak out in the middle of the night after everyone had fallen asleep.
So we spent weeks planning our big escape. Should we use the front door? No, it was too close to my parents’ bedroom. The back door? The side door? No, both of their locks were sticky and we’d surely create too much of a ruckus and wake up my very light-sleeping dad.
Maybe a window. Yes, that’s it. We could sneak out through the big bay window in the breakfast room. But not the one on the left. One of its springs was broken and it made such a loud popping noise every time you opened it that we would’ve woken up my parents, the neighbors and possibly a few families in the next zip code if we attempted it.
Fortunately, the other window was whisper quiet when you slid it open. In the weeks prior, I checked it a few times during the day when no one was around. I just needed to remember to leave it unlocked before we went to bed that night so that the flipping of the lever wouldn’t wake anyone. Never mind the fact that I was leaving us all open to the wrath of any and all escaped axe murderers in the area.
I was on a mission.
Now back to the big night. Bolleen came over for our sleepover and we pretended to go to sleep and waited everyone out until sometime after midnight. Then, we quickly changed from our pajamas into the all-black ensembles we’d preselected for the occasion. Our only references back then were from goofball comedies like Laverne & Shirley.
Now fully clad in black (including dance tights), we snuck out of my room and down the stairs. That whole run was carpeted. No problem. Then, we rounded the corner at the bottom of the stairs from the foyer into the den. At that moment, we were about exactly ten feet from my sleeping father. If we could survive this part, we could survive any part of the night.
Done.
We crept through the carpeted den and into the breakfast room over to the unlocked-by-me-earlier-that-afternoon window and took turns stepping through it into the garden just outside. Then, we walked around the back of the house, through the side gate and into the driveway.
We’d done it. Surely, it was at least one in the morning by now. We were outside. All by ourselves.
And we were free!!!!!
(awkward pause) (blink, blink)
Of course, being kids, we hadn’t really thought about anything beyond that point. I don’t think either of us actually expected to get that far. So we both stared at each other for a moment or two. What we were going to do? Where were we going to go? We had no plans. We had no cars. We didn’t even have driver’s licenses.
We were only children after all. So we just sat in the driveway a few minutes to revel in the glory of our “rebellion,” then we climbed back in through the window, changed clothes and went to bed. And no one but Bolleen and me ever even knew about this little story. Until now.
Oops.
In response to MamaKat’s prompt asking for “something you got away with.”
Our esteemed Ketchup With Us Featured Writer from last time is …
Kir
BEHIND THE KETCHUP
Click here to read how this foolishness all began.
KEEP TRACK OF OUR STUPIDITY
SPREAD THE WORD & POST OUR BUTTON … please!
FINALLY … THE LINK-UP!
WE give you a (completely non sequitor) picture to inspire you to KetchupWithUs.
All YOU need to do is link something up.
And, for the love of Taco Bell’s new Spicy Chicken Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco, TELL YOUR FRIENDS!
OldDogNewTits 
I feel at home, in my element, with your foolishness. I’ home.
I think you just let the cat out of the bag to your parents…you may be grounded for the next two weeks. 😦
I love that you were dressed all in black, all ninja-like! 😉
You rebel you! Livin’ on the edge! Laughing danger right smack in the face! Joining the dark side! Painting the driveway red!……ok, I’m done. 😉
You make me giggle..seriously. I would have been like this..so much talking and planning and then get to my front wall and say “What now? I’m not going anywhere!”
it’s classic and makes the best kind of stories. 🙂 \
enjoyed your funny story. Looking back it’s easy to come up with ideas for what you could of done. You know, it would have been much easier if you had slept out in a tent in the yard. It’s fun just to listen to the night when it’s all a new experience.
I think I’d probably seen The Outsiders one too many times and thought I was suddenly going to have the night of my life. Of course, I forgot I wasn’t a boy living on the wrong side of the tracks in the 1950s. Oh, and fictional.
So funny. I would have done the same thing. At least you actually snuck out – I never even tried that!
You seriously make me giggle each week! I would have done the exact same. Too funny!