Hitting the Mattresses

Here's a goofy friendship story. During my college days, I ran with a bigger circle of people (bigger than two, that is). I think there were six of us that night.

Our neighbors - like four or five guys, all crammed in one tiny apartment - they moved out suddenly. They left all of their mattresses and boxsprings next to the curb for the trashmen to pick up.

My friends and I were in the right 'state of mind' for a crazy plan, and I hatched one. We took all of the discarded mattresses and boxsprings, and we stacked them next to the building. This produced a 'crashmat' that was about four feet thick.

There was a tree next to the building with a thick branch that grew right over the roof. You could climb this tree easily and be on the roof in seconds. We all got on the roof and took turns running and jumping off of the roof onto the stack of mattresses. It was some of the best fun I've ever had in my life. We were getting wild and crazy with it, doing flips and yelling and screaming. Then the cops came.

The cops told us to cut that shit out - - they said somebody was going to get hurt. So we said okay and waited for them to leave. After they left, we resumed the activity for another hour or so.

Then they came back and saw a few of us standing in the yard after we had made our jumps. They asked us if we were still doing that stupid shit, and we said no - - no way. There was still one guy on the roof, though, waiting to make his jump, this guy named Christian. Christian didn't know that the cops had returned. So Christian comes running across the roof, screaming, gung ho, balls-out crazy "YEAH! WOO HOO" - - and he already had a cast on his arm from some previous stupid, dangerous activity (skateboarding on painkillers or something). Christian spotted the police right before he made his jump. He stopped - - and just stood there on the roof, kind of looking at his feet, not knowing what to do next. The cops just looked at each other.