Let's face it: we come up with some pretty crazy ideas. And those crazy ideas, spurred on by our inability to be completely neutral when it comes to ourselves, can lead to hilarious results.
Case in point: an indoor pile of leaves. A big, smelly, possibly bug-infested pile of leaves in an elementary school gymnasium.
Here's how it went down.
While here in St. Louis I'm helping out at a local Good News Club (one of CEF's primary ministries and the area in which I am most involved in Little Rock). I do this because I love the ministry and I need to step out of my deputation role every now and again so I don't go insane. Also, it is good entertainment.
This week was our Thanksgiving Party Club and our club leaders had some fun cooked up for the kids. During the last half an hour of club, after the lessons, and songs, and snacks had all been experienced, one of the club helpers carries in a big brown tarp. The children were told not to look at what he was doing behind them as it was their last big surprise for the day.
It was a big surprise for me too.
Being the Helpful Henrietta that I always am, I tramp over to assist. We spread the brown tarp and then the club helper disappears to his car for the other half of the mysterious prize. He returns a few minutes later carrying three huge (HUGE!) black garbage bags. He begins to rip them open and spread their contents around. In a minute, the middle of the gym looked like this:
A big pile of leaves in the middle of a school gymnasium. I watch in horror as this takes place. I'm so numb that I don't even realize I have ripped open a bag and dumped it's contents out as well, contributing to this nightmare. At this point, I am unsure of the game we're going to play. Are the kids going to jump in this huge pile of leaves and roll around, scattering the leaves to the far corners of the gym? If this happens, I think, the janitor will have a conniption. And as if on cue, the janitor walks through. He stops, visibly startled. He stares, visibly shaken. Now, I've worked in public schools for many years and I know how persnickety the janitors can be about their floors. And why shouldn't they be? They spend their whole day cleaning up after small children and at the end of the day, they just want a few brief shining moments of spotlessness. Is that too much to ask?
Bottom line: you don't get on the bad side of janitors. They can make or break you in that school. Am I being paranoid? No, not at all. The janitor is a little kingdom unto him or herself so you want to keep him happy. Christmas gifts, Easter bonnets, fruit baskets are all things that can be used to appease a janitor. I've tried operating solely on the basis of my charming wit, but no, that janitor needs a gift certificate to Outback Steakhouse every now and again. Never underestimate the power of a well-placed (or played) Blooming Onion.
So I keep a close eye on this janitor, inwardly ringing my hands. What's going to happen next, I think. But the janitor plays it cool and rolls on by. For now. But he is watching. Oh yes, he is watching.
Do you see him there in the doorway? He watched us the whole time. Suspicious unto the point of gathering his other janitor buddies for a good beat down. But as he found out a few anxious moments later (for him and for me) that would prove to be completely unnecessary.
Again, I found myself an unwitting participant in The Great Leaf Debacle of 2010 as I begin to hid toys throughout this giant pile of leaves. Then the kids descended upon it with great vigor to find their treasures.
I have to admit, although I would never have attempted, let alone thought of this idea, the kids loved it, and they even stuck around for the clean up, which might have actually been the real fun, as is so often the case.
So would I, as a ministry coordinator of Good News Clubs, recommend recreating a yard in the middle of a school gymnasium to my teachers back in Little Rock? Probably not. But no harm, no foul. It was a pure, unadulterated case of a goofy idea turning out brilliantly, and at the end of the day, I was glad to be apart of it.
Especially since the janitor doesn't know where I live.
