Fabienne remembers

#18--My Specials It takes 3 to Drive a Truck

Joy Driving in a truck was on the agenda for three of my special male students

one day at lunchtime. Apparently, the supervision of our students was lack this day.

Someone left their truck idling in the school parking lot. My three students decided

to get in and see if they could go for a drive. Dan, Will, and Seth worked together.

No one saw them leave. Dan did the steering. Will got close to the floorboards and

worked the brake and Seth worked the gearshift. They drove out of the parking lot and

managed to get three blocks down the main road. Then they turned down an alley before

they drove through some guys' fence, his garden and into the corner of his garage.

So I am having a quiet stress free lunch til I hear on the all-call intercom "Mrs. MacLeod

come to the office immediately." End of my lunch, oh boy what now!!

In the office I see my three students, the principal and two policemen. These students

function at an age between 9 and 11 in their best moments. What could they have done?

One of the officers told us they stole a truck and did damage to property.

The conversation was hilarious. "Whose idea was it to steal the truck?" "Who drove?"

"Who has a driver's license?" The boys , talking all at once are replying, " I want a

license," "My parents say I can't have one ever." "I drive the tractor on our farm."

"We all drove." It was chaotic. The boys thought it was fun and did not understand that

what they had done was serious. Then, they explained what role each one did to move

the truck. Each one had slow, labored speech. The police finally realized that they weren't

dealing with regular teens. The boys talked about how the truck kept jerking forward, the

noise and not been able to figure out how to go backwards. We realized the noise they were

describing was the gears were being stripped. The police said they did a lot of property

damage and they could have been hurt in the crash. Seth piped up and said "My family was

killed in our car crash but I didn't." Finally, the police understood they were not going

to get any where with the boys. I asked the boys to go to the outer office and then

proceeded to explain the special program they were in.

The truck owner said he would do his own repairs and would not be leaving his vehicle

idling again. A deal was made with the man whose fence, garden and garage needed repairs.

Two sets of parents agreed to let their sons go every lunch to do repairs. These boys

enjoyed going . They got lunch for their efforts and loved seeing the man and his dog.

Poor Seth was upset his guardians would not let him go. He wanted to be "like a man doing

a job also." However, his guardian said he could not be held responsible since the school

did not supply adequate supervision. Their joy riding story was a hit with our girls.