The
house was brand new, built to
“order” as part of a builder’s development. The back wall of
the yard was cinderblock, and beyond the wall was the school yard. Milly liked
the idea of looking over the back wall and watching her children walk up to the
doors of the school.
One
of the big “selling points” for Macon Builders was the school. They were
not in charge of building the school, but Macon
could point to the brand-new school as an enticement to prospective buyers.
The
school was supposed to be completed and open in the fall of 1964. Assorted
strikes slowed the construction. Not only were there strikes involving
different groups of workers on the project,
but the supply chain was in disarray. Some materials were in short
supply because of different disputes with union workers.
Even
though the construction was slow, the school attracted more families with small
children to the area, and other subdivisions sprang up around it. When the
school was finally completed and open in 1967, it was already far too small for
the number of children in the area.
Two
years later, they brought in portable classrooms. These portable classrooms
were called “barracks buildings” by the community. No Army surplus
was involved in the purchase, but the name stuck.
Barracks
buildings provided extra classroom space at many schools in the district.
Bringing in these fully-built units did not require the years of construction
and cost-overrun it would take to add on to all of the schools. Everybody won
with this arrangement — several of the school board members owned the company
that provided the portable buildings.
These
barracks buildings provided another purpose. Blocked from view with a
cinderblock wall on one side and a square metal building on the other, an alley
market sprang to life. Local preteens found it to be the perfect smoking
section, free of prying adult eyes. Older teenagers bought, sold, and traded
pot, pills, and pilferage.
Neighbors
called the city to complain. The police were not interested in these petty
complaints, as they were never able to catch any drug sales in the act. Due to
the layout of the school yard, the teens could scatter before the cops could
reach them. The school system shrugged it off. These problems were not
happening during school hours, and the culprits were not their students. This
is an elementary school, for goodness sake!
Summer
dragged on. The neighborhood was losing patience with the situation. Now piles
of trash were building up in the alleyway. As school was not in session, the
school system did not have any groundskeepers actively policing the corners of
the schoolyard.
Preteens
smokers are careless. Being children, they don’t think consequences through
very well. When they heard a noise and scattered quickly, their discarded butts
were tossed into a pile of trash to hide the evidence.
The
garbage smoldered quietly, spreading lazily from pile to pile, until a stray
breeze fanned it into flames.
As
flames licked up the wooden steps, the neighbors saw the smoke. Several
neighbors had called the Fire Department to report the fire, and were
impatiently waiting for the fire trucks to arrive.
Flames
were now dancing against the side of the building. “This is
bullshit!” Dave yelled, he grabbed his garden hose from his back yard.
Herb and Johnson quickly followed suit. The three men aimed their water hoses
at the building, stopping the fire from engulfing it. The steps and landing
were a total loss, but the quick action by the neighbors meant the building did
not catch fire.
The
Fire Chief was not amused. “What the hell did you think you were
doing?” he shouted at the bewildered neighbors. They had expected a word
of thanks. Possibly a pat on the back for a job well done. Wildfire is a
problem in dry desert areas – an untended spark can rapidly blow up into an
inferno – and the neighbors had no intention of losing their homes without a
fight.
Red
faced and blustering, the Fire Chief harangued the men. “I oughta have you
all arrested! Interfering with the Fire
Department!
Shame
on them for saving their homes…
