Michele, David & the kids are moving to Tennessee. They're leaving tomorrow. They came over for a little while to spend some time with us. TB's mom came over, too, and poor Michele was having a really rough time. It's hard to leave your family to move so far away. You go from weekly visits to every so often during the year. It's not like she can pick up the phone and just call, either. We're going to miss them very much. Michele says they'll be back for a visit in June and it would be nice if we could go visit too. We'll see how the money goes.
Today is the dreaded Friday the 13th! Or is it? Are you a superstitious person? Why or why not?
I’m not a very superstitious person. I don’t avoid black cats, ladders, or cracks in the sidewalk. If I spill salt, I’ll take a few grains and toss it over my shoulder. I’m not sure why I do that.
Sometimes something bad has happened on a Friday the 13th. I think there was one time where I linked it to the date.
On December 13, 1972 I was 17, a senior in high school. My first class of the day was Psychology. Usually my best friend, Daina, sat next to me but she hadn’t arrived yet. I think she had to see our guitar teacher about something.
Well, so we’re sitting there ready to start the day and we heard a scream. We all looked out the window and saw other students running from the cafeteria. Our window was right across the quad from the cafeteria. One of them ran toward us, yelling that he has a knife.
Who?
Another one said the custodian pulled a knife and was trying to stab people.
Our teacher told us to sit down again and she went out to see what was happening. This all happened within a few minutes. We heard pounding feet and more screaming. The music classrooms were right above the cafeteria and I suddenly worried about Daina. I went to the door, intending to go and find her to warn her. Other kids yelled at me to sit down.
Our teacher came back in – fast – and locked the front door. Then she went to the back and locked that door too. The vice principal’s voice came over the PA: “Teachers, lock all doors, lock all doors! This is an emergency!”
I heard more screaming and more pounding. A door slammed loudly nearby and I could hear a man yelling and a girl screaming for help. There was a custodian’s office around the corner from the psychology classroom and we realized that the man was in there, with a hostage.
The police and SWAT team arrived quickly. The officer in charge walked across the quad to our window and asked our teacher to tell us to get down on the floor in case there was gunfire. Boy, that was scary!
I remember how cold the floor was. My fingernails turned blue. I was so cold, my body went into tremors that started from my head and went down to my toes. I tried to keep my attention on a book I was reading. Other students held hands and prayed.
Next door, the girl screamed in terror, “Get the knife away from my throat! Help me, God!” And we’d hear the man laugh like he was insane and say, “There’s no God and I’m going to kill you!”
One of the girls in my class began to sob hysterically. The teacher went to her and hugged her and said, “If we can hear him, he can hear you. I know you’re scared, but you have to keep quiet.” The girl put her hands over her mouth and tried to stifle herself.
I don’t remember how long we were lying there. It seemed like forever. Then we heard a commotion and those of us in the back sat up to look into the hall. I saw people moving fast with a stretcher. A girl was lying on it and they were rushing her away. We all began to get up, thinking it was over.
Then there was a hail of bullets. Actually, I thought there was only one shot but there were much more. They all just went off together. Anyway, we all screamed and threw ourselves onto the floor.
After it was over, we found out what happened. The custodian was mentally unbalanced and had gotten fed up with being teased. He brought a machete to work with him and when the teasing began, he pulled the knife. The kids ran from the cafeteria, screaming. He ran out, too, chasing some of the kids (the ones who hadn’t run outside). He went up the stairs toward the music classrooms and a security guard tried to stop him. He slashed her with the knife and ran back downstairs.
There was another security guard and the man stabbed him in the chest. Then he grabbed a 15 year old sophomore and dragged her into his little office next to my psychology class. He held the knife to her throat most of the morning. At some point he began moaning and said he felt sick.
Maybe an angel whispered into that terrified girl’s ear. She offered to go with him to the hospital to make sure he was okay. He was stunned that she would do that … and he let her go. After she was taken away on a stretcher, he rushed the officers waiting outside. He held the knife like he was going to attack them … and they all shot him. I guess he was hit over 20 times.
Daina was okay. She’d heard the commotion but the teacher locked the door before the man could get in. Apparently he was trying several doors before the first security guard came upon him.
I wrote pages and pages in my journal that night, trying to get all the sickening feelings out. I was upset that I’d almost gotten out of the classroom. I might have been grabbed instead of that girl. I was upset for the girl and frightened by the efficiency of the SWAT team and by the fact that something like this happened in my school. I remembered it was Friday the 13th and wondered if that had been a factor.
I’m not so sure of that now. I think the man was a string wound too tight and would have snapped at any point. It just happened on Friday the 13th …