Flashback Friday: Auto Theft

Okay, so I know it's not actually Friday anymore, but I started this on Friday and didn't have time to finish so I'm doing it now. For those of you not familiar with my friend Nancy's blog, every Friday she posts some funny story about something that happened to her. Last week it was eating pizza in Russia, other times it's about living in Jordan, living in Canada, or anything else she feels like writing about (like her grandma's food storage). As I was reading her Flashback last week I remembered something we did together once in High School, and I thought some of you might enjoy it. If it's not your cup of tea, sorry but it's still true.

I think it was my senior year of HS in Orem, but it could have been my junior year. It was in the fall during the time we had pit orchestra rehersals late into the evening several times a week and they were also having sophomores on the driving range-late October, probably. By the time we got out of practice it was dark outside. My friend Andy at the time drove a big old 10-passenger van. It was so old that the locks didn't work right, and the ignition would start even without the key. He drove to school one morning and then realized he'd forgotten his keys or something like that (a VERY Andy thing).

That's what gave me the idea in the first place. I remember that day he'd gone out right after the bell to move his van off the driving range so it wouldn't get towed or hit by the sophs. I told Nancy that I was going to 'steal' his car, and for some reason I couldn't understand she was very much against it. She knew I wasn't really going to steal it, but she was also way more anxious about the plan than I had thought she would be. (Now I realize it's because she liked him, since they're married and all, but at the time it was a mystery to me. It was around that same time that I told her I felt sorry for whoever Andy ended up marrying because he's so accident prone.)

Anyway, back to the story. After Andy had moved his van I snuck out of rehersal and met Nancy, who insisted on coming with me to make sure I didn't do anything too bad. We went out to the van which was now parked near the band room and climbed in. It started just fine without the keys, and I drove it over to the far end of the parking lot. Then we turned it off, got out, 'locked' the doors, and went back in. When we got out later (not sure what time) it was dark, and hard to see the far end of the parking lot. The van was a dark blue color with lots of rust, making it really hard to see clear down there. Of course Andy flipped out. He thought at first that he hadn't moved it and it was towed by the driver's ed people. Then Mike reminded him that he'd moved it. Then he was sure it was stolen, though none of us could think of why someone would steal such a nasty vehicle. Finally someone (I don't remember who) pointed it out, so far away in the dark. It didn't take long for everyone to figure out it was me, in fact I might have boasted about it, but I don't remember that now. Andy was mad of course, but more relieved that it wasn't stolen or anything (so were the other 5 kids who needed rides home that night). After that Andy drove the truck for a couple weeks while his parents got the locks and things fixed so it couldn't get stolen for real. Andy was never one to hold a grudge, thank goodnes, and a couple weeks later I even bummed a ride from him.

So, that's my flashback. I don't know if I'm thinking of these random things more now because my sister's a junior this year or because Joe's the YM pres and we do lots of stuff with his boys right now (BB tournament and Prom both this weekend). I know I have a lot more things I should post about, but hopefully someone will get a good laugh out of it and then forgive me. And Andrew, once again, I'm sorry I stole your van! (though it wouldn't do you a lot of good in Cairo anyway!)