They come in pairs. Sometimes trios but mostly pairs, due to the confines of 4 wheelers. The carry their gym shoes in plastic grocery bags, like precious gems. They rarely speak but greet me with lovely grins and upnods, a single dollar bill offered as they enter.
It is Gym Night. The time when anyone from the village can come to play in the school gym. It is broken into age brackets of youngers (age 6 yrs-5th grade), secondary (6-12th grades) and adults. It is the adults who bring their special shoes that clearly have never been out of doors, are especially reserved for these nights when they gather to play.
Teachers monitor Gym Night and all the funds raised go to that evening's chaperone's class. Most classroom teachers have a class that they sponsor and for whom they fundraise. One ambitious teacher wants to take the current 9th grade to Hawaii when they graduate. A huge project made easier by the fact that there are only 8 of them at present. I sponsor my class, the only one not claimed at the start of the year, and I am glad. I already feel a special affinity for them and I like the idea of raising money to do fun things later in the year, though what that will look like I have no idea.
I took Monday nights because I know myself well enough to know that if I took a later day in the week, I would be too tempted to beg off and that is not allowed. In the dark months to come, Gym Night is THE entertainment in the village and I have been told to expect upwards of 100 people per session.
This night, however, I had a total of ten kids, partially because the middle and high school were banned from Gym Night when a can of snuff was found in the high school boy's bathroom. Tobacco use, snuff specifically, is a huge problem so the consequences are dire for everyone when it is discovered.
There were also ten adults who came. For ten minutes they warmed up, shot randomly, ran around even more randomly but then at some signal unknown to me, all but two lined up. The two captains made short work of choosing teams between the men, all between "just out of high school" and "still old enough to run, mostly."
And then they played. The game was nearly silent, broken only by the squeal of shoes on varnished wood, and occasional "hooooooo-oooooooooowooot!" when an individual felt they had done something extraordinary. Other than the volume level, the game played out the same as any I have seen on any court anywhere. I am not a fan of basketball but watching these guys play, who have obviously played together for decades was really great.
When it was time to go, they all quickly helped me return equipment to the ball room and just as quickly changed back into their regular shoes, mostly athletic shoes but these ones were covered in the dust and gravel that is everywhere outdoors here. They all left within three minutes of getting the whistle from me.
So I was shocked to be called into the principal's office the next day. He asked if I knew anything about someone staying after Gym Night was over. I told Sam that the custodian was there, but as far as I knew everyone else had left. I gave him the names of the few men who introduced themselves to me, and asked what was up. Apparently, someone either stayed behind or left a rock in one of the back doors to sneak in later. The vandal went to the school's boiler room and removed vital parts! We are now down to one boiler, which is not that big of a deal right now but will be soon enough when the cold weather hits in a place where it takes months for parts to come in. There wasn't any indication of why the boiler was targeted or any evidence that the rest of the school was vandalized but the damage to the community has been done. No more Gym Nights for the foreseeable future. Teachers will have to double up to supervise, a thought I am not fond of. Not that I don't want to spend time with my co-workers, I just don't want to have to do Gym Night more than once a week. Maybe I'll do Friday nights; at least then I get to sleep in the next morning.
What a good lesson in consequences for the kids. What a shame it had to happen at all.
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