High School High

Recently the dog and I have taken to eavesdropping on the neighbor kids.

The dog gets upset and barks, but I'm fairly ambivalent about them and keep quiet. These kids aren't the cream of the crop, mind you, but they're not degenerates either. They smoke pot pretty frequently, and I've watched them drop Visine into their eyes behind their garage. They do it enough that I'd be surprised if their mom didn't know they were smoking pot and dropping Visine behind the garage.

One time I caught them smoking behind our fence. I didn't know it at the time, but they were getting high, too (the smell had wafted slowly to our yard). They looked pretty shitty: scraggily, bored, and high. I just felt bad for them. They still had the teenage acne and dopey haircuts under the hats their moms bought them from Zumiez.

I don't report them to the cops or anything; they're not hurting anyone or driving stoned. To be honest, they're not even that loud. They have a drum set in their garage, which we had growing up too but they don't really play it. Maybe they're too stoned to play. There's really nothing chill about the drums, so I guess that's out of the question. Maybe the pot works like a preventative for noise pollution. I'm not sure which would be worse. Maybe I'll go ask my neighbors from when I was a teenage Keith Moon.

I don't know if they're in high school anymore. I caught them (really just noticed them is all) behind our fence and they ran off when a girl yelled out, "Hey, Mr. Ballew!" If they aren't in school, they have friends that are. I imagine that if they are students, it will be a little awkward in the hall: I'll give them that subtle nod that says, "Hey, I know your secret Cheech, but I'm not telling," while they'll give me that acknowledging eye contact avoidance that says, "I know it's you, please don't bust me, my mom will kill me." From there on, I imagine we'll maintain the status quo.

Being a teacher doesn't actually make it more awkward in these situations; in fact, I feel it gives me a little more empathy to these High Times high schoolers. They're just kids doing what kids do: hanging out. Yeah, sure, they're doing drugs, but come on, we're a little more enlightened nowadays. They could doing coke or getting girls pregnant; instead, they're just choosing to hang out, mind their own business, and trip the light fantastic.

I say trip on, boys - as long as you stay on your side of the fence.