Kelly elementary school, where I attended school, had an old school bell that would be rung to signal certain times of the day. It was always a special time when recess was coming to an end and one lucky kid would be asked to go inside to ring the bell. It always made the student that was picked proud to be chosen to head to the library and pull on the long rope that rung the bell. There is one day that sticks out in my mind the most. 

My best friend was asked to ring the bell one afternoon. He made it a point to make sure I was aware and a bit jealous that he was picked. He gave me his crooked little grin and said, “watch this”, before he trotted off to give that big bell a ring. I waited, staring at the bell in anticipation of what he was scheming. After a short wait I watched as our school bell almost made a complete flip and slammed into the wooden structure that supported it! When it came back around I had never heard that bell ring so loud! I couldn’t help but to laugh, following the teachers inside to see what had transpired. 

We all arrived on the middle landing of the stairwell that separated the kindergarten classroom and the library, to find my friend piled up and hurting on the library floor. After some time of reprimand from the principal, he was able to return to class. When he got there I asked him what in the hell he had done. He said, “I decided to see if I could get the bell to spin all the way around. So I jumped off the landing and grabbed onto the rope for dear life, for what I thought was going to be a fun ride to the bottom”. He told me that shorty after the rope started too plummet to the basement with him connected to it, that it abruptly stopped and violently slammed him on the floor. I pictured this in my head and instantly started laughing loudly, which in return led me to my own stern reprimand for disrupting class.