Thread by @JAEbberts

Y'all wanna hear about the time I nearly burned down my High School, forced my parents into bankruptcy and had to leave the state of California?

I was a freshman and I lived within walking distance of my high school (middle and elementary too...I walked to school every year we lived in California)...

The path to school took us through "the date grove", an orchard full of date palms. It wasnt really the route to school, it just kept us all from having to walk nearly a mile around to the actual entrance of the school....

There was a chain link fence that ran the length of the school yard. every year someone (usually one of my brothers) would take a pair of bolt cutters to the fence so we could all crawl through it and not have to walk around...

it was common on the walk to school through the date grove to encounter a bunch of kids who had snuck off campus in the morning to get stoned or smoke cigarettes, and I (regrettably) would often stop in and partake on my way to first hour...

It was a common place. Everyone knew if you were sneaking through the hole in the fence into the grove, you were gettin' lit or cutting class or both...

We were on a block schedule that year, which meant I had 8 classes, but only 4 of them on an "A" day, and 4 on a "B" day, alternating.

On this fateful day, my first hour was art, and while I loved art, my teacher was something of a dingbat...

so I wasnt too excited to go. I also had an orthodontist appointment (I had braces) at Loma Linda later that day and would be leaving school after first hour anyway, so I figured I'd skip 1st hour and hang out in the date grove until it was time to head back home...

as I was making my way off campus, this kid from my neighborhood followed me out there. He was a squirly dude. We got along all right, but ran in different circles for the most part. He figured I would have some smokes and tagged along. I didnt mind the company....

Once we got back into the grove and off campus, we did a little exploring. There was some very thick brush there and it was really easy to conceal yourself. We're talking several acres of palm trees and overgrown desert brush. it looked tropical...

as we explored and moved further into the grove than I had ever been, we happened upon what we thought was THE COOLEST thing we had ever seen. A straight up Gilligan's Island style hut that someone had build, complete with window frames, roof, the whole bit! ...

I found out much later that both of my older brothers had helped build it and that it had been an upper-classman secret for a while.

As we went inside, we found it had two rooms! There were some student desks, chairs and a mattress in the main room...

Charlie (the guy who followed me) started talking about how cool the place was and how we should "totally throw a party in here sometime!"

I, not entirely against the idea, asked him how he would do that without being caught?...

He said "well, we could do it at night!"

"Great" I said, "What will you do for light?"

Without hesitation Charlie grabbed a dry palm frond from the wall and lit it on fire. He then shoved it into the roof, which was also made of dry palm fronds....

"lets see how long that burns!" he said, impressed with his own genius.

the palm frond burned up and then fell to the ground. It didnt burn the whole place down like I was expecting, at least not yet...

Charlie, being the intellectual giant he was, lit another frond to again see how long it would burn, potentially providing us light through the night for this hypothetical party we were going to have...

this again burned up, dropped out of the roof, and hit the ground.

By this time it was getting pretty close to time for me to leave for my appointment. It was about an hour drive from where we lived so I started to collect my bag and head home...

As I looked down I noticed that the frond nubs had fallen next to the mattress that lay in the front room of the hut. There was a black spot on the mattress that I had seen, but ignored that had now grown larger....

"I think the mattress is on fire!" I said to Charlie.

Charlie, investigating, stepped on the mattress.

As he did so, a huge puff of white smoke billowed out of the expanding black hole on the side...

"Cool!" he shouted and then started jumping on the mattress with both feet!

He created a bellows and suddenly massive flames were firing out of the sides of the mattress in all directions! Huge clouds of white smoke filled my lungs and we panicked!...

We immediately set about trying to cover the mattress with dirt to smother it. It was already sitting in this kind of depression in the ground, so we just did the best we could to bury it. After a few moments, it appeared to be largely extinguished...

I collected my things and started out the door. Immediately I hear a "whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh" and there was Charlie, again jumping on the mattress. He just couldnt help himself I guess?

Again, we scrambled to put it out and bury it. We then left...

Charlie's house was on the way to mine, so we stopped by his place where he gave me a cold Dr. Pepper, and I went on. He was returning back to school, by way of the date grove...

I went to my orthodontist appointment without giving it another thought. Got my braces adjusted, probably got something to eat along the way with my dad, and never even considered what had happened that morning...

As we headed home and got into cell phone range (back when cell phones were the size of a shoe box and reception was spotty at best, even in so. Cal) My dad called my mom to tell her we were on our way...

My mom mentioned that there was a lot of smoke in the neighborhood and tons of sirens blaring, and she thought there was a big fire near the school. My dad relayed this message to me and my response was;

"Sweet! I hope the school burned down!"...

the moment those words came out of my mouth, my stomach dropped into the soles of my feet.

"Oh. Crap." I thought to myself...

As soon as we pulled into the drive way, I put my stuff up and then ran to Charlie's house. I could smell the smoke, the char, the moisture from the fire department's efforts, all through the neighborhood as I made my way. Closer and closer to the scene...

The moment I hit Charlie's yard, he came walking out of his front door. Pale white, flopping his arms as he walked towards me as though he had no use of them, shaking his head he says "Dude, we are in so much trouble man!"...

No sooner had he said this than his dad came out and shouted at me

"You better get on home boy, they're looking FOR YOU!"

I turned around and headed the couple of blocks home...

When I got home, there were two unmarked police cars in my drive way. I walked inside and my parents were sitting on the couch, with two detectives in suits. They told me to take a seat and began questioning me about what had happened...

I told them the same story, about skipping class, about Charlie, about the mattress.

I had smashed the lighter we used (because it was empty) on the street during my walk home and they asked me to show them...

After taking my statement, they left. And I was left with the uncertainty of what was to happen next. My parents must have been super pissed because I dont think they even talked to me for the rest of that day, or even the next couple of days...

Then came the service... I was being charged with First Degree Arson with damages totaling in the MILLIONS...

I should pause for a second and share how it was the police got my name in the first place...

Yeah, thanks for that Charlie...

Charlie had gone back to the date grove as he went back to school. There is about an hour of time unaccounted for, but he tells the story that he went back, met another friend (who was back there getting lit) and then noticed the fire!...

He ran to the school and altered the office that the orchard was on fire! The only thing separating the orchard from the school was a two lane road which happened to be the only way in or out of campus. Flaming palm trees would have easily fallen and struck the school....

At this point, the fire alarm had been pulled and of course everyone floods the parking lot to get a good look! It was then that several of my friends found Charlie and asked him what was going on...

ALL of my friends said Charlie was dropping my name to anyone who would listen. The school, the police, the firemen as they responded, he was singing like a choir boy.

this, of course went over like a lead balloon among my friends...

but here we were. Rather than just walking away, he made sure that everyone knew he was there, and that I was with him...

My parents of course lawyered up to fight the charges. They had zero experience with this level of court involvement (even though my older brother was on Clinton's 3 strike plan for possessing copious amounts of LSD... thats another story)...

The guy they hired, unfortunately, was totally useless. Offered no defense, and basically let the court have their way with me....

the final damage assessment was the loss of 250 trees, valued at $5000 a tree (this was an operating date orchard) as well as a $500,000 bill from the fire department (split between Charlie and I) and the school was trying to get a new football field out of it...

Because they had to evacuate the school, and the only way in or out of there was this little two lane road that had FLAMING PALM TREES falling on it. So, they had to evacuate everyone, in their cars, across the football field and out the opposite side of campus...

I was found guilty, sentenced to two years Juvenile Probation (with a whole laundry list of stipulations and rules) and my family was hit will all those fines, fees and restitution, which they absolutely could not afford...

My parents were forced to file bankruptcy in order to protect themselves and their business.

My dad had several carpet cleaning franchises at the time, and was pulling mid 6 figures, but after employees and costs, we werent much beyond poverty...

Filing bankruptcy allowed them to protect their assets necessary to provide and basically kept the insurance companies and FD from squeezing blood from a stone...

I was expelled from school and basically barred from attending any other school in the valley. We ultimately hired ANOTHER attorney who had some state house connections who forced the school to let me back in to finish out the year...

I had missed maybe a month of school while that all got sorted out, and I'd be lying if I said I didnt return a total celebrity among the student body.

Charlie, on the other hand, was never expelled from school. He was allowed to return right away...

He had to switch schools though because 1, I was gonna tune him up the next time I saw him, and 2. so were all of my friends, and even some people who just thought snitching was shady business...

Unfortunately for him, he started attending my girlfriend's school, and she quickly educated everyone about why he was there. That was the last contact I had with Charlie. He lived in the neighborhood, but kept a VERY low profile...

The school, somehow, obtained a copy of my probation rules, which included absolutely zero unexcused absences or tardies for any of my classes. So, what do they do? The school security guards literally followed me from class to class...

I would be pulled from class for no reason whatsoever and taken to ISD to sit out the rest of the day. No explanation, no talking back, just "come with us" where I would stare at a wall for the day and miss my regular school work...

One time I was even confronted OFF CAMPUS by a couple of the school rent-a-cops who took it upon themselves to search me without consent, dump my walkman into the dirt and then threaten to "kick my ass" if they saw me again...

this went on for the entire rest of the year. Daily harassment from school officials and security, failing grades and the threat of getting locked up for failing to meet probation requirements...

My folks had, prior to all of this, been considering a move from California.

The year before all of this, one of my brothers had been jumped by a bunch of dudes in the same date orchard and was beat up pretty bad...

a couple years before that my other brother had narrowly escaped death at the hands of the cartel as they intercepted a dope deal he had been a part of.

My pot dealer lived across the street and made bedroom window deliveries... it was a mess....

fearing for my own life and safety, and knowing I had two younger siblings who were coming up in the same neighborhood, with the same last name, I folks liquidated everything and moved us to Oklahoma...

Talk about your culture shock!

My dad was able to start another carpet cleaning franchise and took really good care of my siblings and I here.

I spent the entirety of my sophomore year feeling real guilt for what I had done to them...

They had worked so hard to build what they had built, and in one fell swoop it had all gone up in smoke, much like that date orchard.

The guilt was real, and played a big part in my destructive downward spiral (though I was all ready firmly on that particular path)...

Fortunately, I had a really lazy probation officer and she did not refer my case to Oklahoma. Good thing too, because after I turned my life around and became a Juvenile Probation Officer for the State myself, my records may have lingered here...

and thats the story about how I nearly burned down my high school, forced my parents into bankruptcy and had to leave California!

/end

Just found this on a Facebook page!

10 acres.