I HAD IT COMIN’
In 1967, I was in 7th grade at Lake Oswego Jr. High, standing outside Mrs. Gill’s English Class when Doug Rathbun “stabbed” me. But the story starts earlier than that:
Victor Dahl and I were close friends in 7th grade. He was smart, funny…and knowledgeable beyond his years. His dad was a Chemistry Professor…and ‘Tor knew how to make two types of contact explosives: “dry” and “paint”. My mom invited Victor to our house for my 13th birthday. I put on my new shirt (one of my presents) then we went outside to play while mom finished up making Mac n Cheese for dinner. Victor brought over 4 explosive capsules for each of us. They were “Contact” gel caps that had been emptied and filled with dry contact explosive and rice (“shrapnel”).
I threw one at his feet, and he returned fire at my feet. My next toss went way off target…he jumped to avoid being hit in the crotch and I turned to run. He threw his remaining capsules and blew two holes in the back of the shirt I had been given 18 minutes earlier. Mom was “disappointed”.
The ever crafty Victor also had explosive “paint”. If you touched it after it dried it would explode like a small firecracker. We painted Doug Rathbun’s locker and stood by, waiting to watch his reaction when it popped. Yes, mistakes were made…we may have used too much. Understandably Doug was not pleased and he immediately knew who did it and jabbed one of us (me) with a sharp #2 pencil in my right thigh. To this day, every time I get out of the shower, 54 years later, I can see it.
I was wrong…and like the lyrics in Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse’s “Chicago”…”He had it coming”. Sorry, Doug…I hope to see you again on July 22nd and 23rd, 2022 at the 50th reunion of the Lakers and Pacers Class of ’72. What a great group!
