Saturday, December 27, 2008

Grown-up Geeks


My friend, Margaret, and I are nerds--dorks, if you may.  We always have been. We grew up three thousand miles away from each other, on opposite coasts, but we didn't need to go to junior high school together, to know what each other's childhoods were like.  I was never a popular kid.  I got to be a cheerleader for a few months, because they made a special rule that year that you couldn't try out if you played any sports.  So they were basically left with me--along with a few others.  But then the other cheerleaders, who were much better versed in popular-mean-girlism, were horrible to me, and I could never crack their secret code, so I quit.  I did get to be the Christmas dance queen, because my calculus class (the only 13 kids of my high school that still took advanced level math) nominated me.

So back to Margaret and me.  What do adult geeks do?  Do they still enjoy solving math problems? (okay, yes...)  Adult nerds still want to be daring.  They still crave that devil-may-care attitude of the popular kid.  Margaret and I would never actually do anything daring, because we might get in trouble.  There's that extra-strong, automatic damper we put on ourselves.  We can't help it.  It's built in.  

But then there's this scary thing that happens when two adult geeks become friends.  They dare each other to do risky things.  Margaret and I like to explore old houses.  I can't tell you where, of course.  Because we could get in trouble.....Margaret and I both love anything old or used--abandoned things have so much character.  She's got a really good eye, too.  She's the one that discovered that the basement door hatch for the abandoned house (slated for demolition) was unlocked.  I'd like to tell you that she went down the stairs first--but I can't--because we might get in trouble.

At the top is a picture of the cup that Margaret found.  She took it home and boiled the decades of dirt and grime off of it, and then she gave it to me.  It's your muse, she said.  That's how the real daring part gets to come out.  Margaret is a writer, too.  We get to make things up.  That's how we are allowed reprieve from our geekdom.  Who doesn't love some good fiction? 

2 comments:

Tim Haywood said...

One time I came across an unlocked storage unit when I was walking through a place with storage units. There was nothing in there, but I wish something would have been in there, like Frampton Comes Alive or an orange or an adult tricycle.

Jannie said...

With all due respect...I'm just saying, I used to teach high school with Margaret and she was the one who would suggest we call in sick the next day and have an adventure! (I was too timid). Margaret does not always follow the rules!!