We all do, well, questionable things.
And I’m not talking about illegal activity.
I’m talking more about the harmless choices we’ve made in our lives that didn’t hurt anyone but you still think about to this day.
Like cheating on an algebra exam or pocketing the 20 bucks you found on the sidewalk or sneaking into a movie theater without paying for a ticket.
Well, I have one.
To preface, remember, I’m an English major. I used to write fiction before making the switch to journalism. Just keep that in mind.
Back in high school — I think it was in my junior year — we had to write book reports for one of my English classes. The point was to read a book and write about it, a summary of the plot and your take on it.
So here’s the thing: I did read. I read all the time. I never needed an assignment to get me to read.
So I did read books. I just didn’t write book reports on the books I was reading.
No. I wrote book reports on books that didn’t exist.
I made up entire books with plotlines and characters and everything. Sometimes my book reports ran pages over the required minimum.
Thank God the Internet wasn’t around back then.
I remember once my teacher enjoyed my book report so much she asked where she could find the book. I panicked and told her it wasn’t in print anymore.
I’ve always wished I kept those book reports. Maybe there’s a future novel in there.
So let’s hear it. What’s something you remember doing that you never really told anyone? And please, no confessions of illegal activity. I don’t want to be an accomplice to anything.
10 Comments
CAT: There are much too many for me and it would take “pages” to cover them all. As you can probably guess, most of them dealt with relationships…those “little white lies”.
once, at uc davis (big biking school…i was one of the few students who didn’t ride a bike), some bike riding chick cut me off or something (can’t remember anymore) so I swore at her loudly and pretty aggressively. she looked back (I doubt she even knew she had cut me off in the first place) and promptly crashed into one of those pylon things that they put off to keep cars out but allow pedestrians and bikes through. of course, punk ass as I am, i laughed my head off as I walked by her.
wanted to say, though, that Cat…yours is awesome.
I once used a national lampoon story as a humor article I had to write. Could not resist because it was way funnier than I could come up with. Trouble was the teacher liked it enough I to read it aloud in class. Fortunately a friend who recognized it remained closed lipped. Amen thanks there was no an internet back then. Global warming had not invented it yet.
Hello Cat!
I plead the 5th….hahahaha
if we’re talking book reports, i sometimes used cliff’s notes! lol. sometimes they were much more interesting because they were short. like you, i read alot… but i didn’t always want to read the books i was assigned. never thought of making up my own “book” to report on, though. very clever!
m – cat said not illegal activity! lol.
There once was a Sistah Shauna….
Hi Cat! After 70 years on earth, most of my little secrets are hidden in my failing memory ( thank goodness for demetia!).
This was the tropic of our bible study tonight.
Hey Cat: whatcha talkin’ ’bout??? … pocketing small amounts of cash found on the sidewalk is frowned upon??? … I used to jump for joy every time I found money!!! …
… and I’d jump even higher today!!! … haha!!! …
… I really don’t think that’s a confession worthy action …
… sorry Cat … the things I never told anyone about were mostly illegal … well, just a little illegal, if there’s such a thing … haha …
… and the little things I’ve done … I can’t remember … I must have done alot of questionable stuff …
… I guess I don’t have a conscience!!! … *sigh* …