Breaking the Rules at Valpo
Jed Curry woke while still nestled snugly in his bed. The dormitory room with two long rows of beds on either side of the room, was still dark in the wee hours of the night. The only sounds Jed heard were the soft snores of two or three of the almost thirty boys who shared the room.
Jed rolled over in his bed, being careful not to let the warmth of the down comforter escape into the cool night air. He looked over to the next bed, expecting to see his cousin nestled in his own blankets.
But the covers had been pulled down and Han was not in the bed. Jed pulled himself up and tried to adjust his eyes to the darkness, but he saw no one, not even a silhouette of anyone standing about in the room.
"Han?" Jed whispered as loudly as he dared. "Han, where are you?"
Only then did Jed hear what sounded like muffled giggling emanating from somewhere outside the room, somewhere down the hall. Jed looked at the space at the bottom of the door and thought he could make out a very faint flickering of light.
As quietly as he could, Jed slipped out of the bed and, dressed only in his nightshirt, Jed padded across the floor with bare feet. He pressed his ear to the door and listened intently. He again heard muffled giggles.
With great trepidation, Jed slowly turned the doorknob and the door creaked as Jed inched it open and stepped out into the hallway.
Being out of the room at night was forbidden, a strict rule that was reinforced with a hickory stick to anyone caught disobeying, and Jed knew he was taking a great risk searching for his cousin.
But the giggling noises became clearer in the hallway and Jed tiptoed very slowly down the hall until he reached the door to a room from which he was certain the sounds were coming.
"Han?" Jed whispered.
Suddenly the giggling stopped and silence encompassed the entire third floor.
"I know you're in there, Han," Jed whispered.
Still not a sound was uttered and Jed found himself growing more irritated than scared.
"Han, what do I smell... Han, are you..."
With that the door opened and a hand reached out and grabbed Jed's arm and dragged him inside.
"Shhh, Kid." Han scolded in a threatening whisper as he quietly shut the door behind him.
"You are! Kid whispered with astonishment. "You're smoking!"
"Be quiet!" Heyes scolded.
"Yeah, Jed, you want to get us all in trouble?"
"You all deserve to be in trouble if you're smoking," Jed whispered defiantly. "Where did you get them, anyway?"
"Come on, Kid," Han said, leading Jed over near the window where three other boys Han's age were puffing away and blowing the smoke out the open window.
"Heyes, is it a good idea to let the kid in here? Ain't he likely to tattle?" Paul Groden asked.
"I don't tattle on nobody," Kid said. "Not even for what you're doing."
"Kid won't tell," Heyes assured the other boys.
"You want to try it, Kid?" one of the boys asked.
"Hank," Heyes cautioned the boy. "He's just a kid."
"I can do anything you can do, Han," Kid protested. "Yeah, let me try it," Kid said and grabbed the cigar from Hank's hand.
Kid took a puff and immediately started coughing and gagging. "Geese, that's awful," Kid exclaimed and the other boys quietly giggled.
"It ain't bad once you get use to it. Try it again," Hank urged.
Not one to let the older boys intimidate him, Kid took another, less hefty puff of the cigar.
"Don't swallow the smoke, Kid. Hold it in your mouth and then blow it out," Heyes told him.
Jed did as instructed but still gagged, though less severely than before.
Hank yanked his cigar back from Kid's hand and drew a long puff.
"See you gotta get the hang of it, Jed. It takes practice."
"How long you been practicing?" Jed asked.
"Couple of weeks."
"Every night? In here?"
All they boys nodded.
"I want to start coming every night, too," Jed said. "I wanna get as good at that as you boys."
"Why?" Paul asked.
"Ain't that what men do?' Kid asked.
Heyes frowned, realizing what a bad influence he was being on his cousin.
"No, smoking don't make you a man, Kid. In fact, most men don't smoke at all."
"Yeah, some men chew?" Hank said with a chuckle.
"Chew what?" Jed asked.
"Tobacco." Hank replied.
Jed's faced pinched into a disgusted look. "That sounds worse than smoking it."
"Come on fellas, it's getting late. We got to get back to our beds before Mr. Hasbro comes barging in to wake us all up," Heyes said.
The other boys agreed and began snuffing out the cigars and waving their hands trying to move any remaining smoke toward the window.
"Everybody ready?" Heyes asked.
With the stealth of nervous teenagers, the boys made their way out of the room, down the hall, and back into the dormitory room where each boy quickly slipped back into his bed and pulled up the covers.
"Han," Jed whispered after several silent minutes had passed.
"What?"
"I don't feel so good."
"I've been waiting for you to tell me that, Jed."
"Waiting?"
"Uh-uh. Happens to everyone the first few times you try smoking a cigar. You'll get over it in a couple of hours."
"Why do people try it a second time if it makes you feel so sick?"
Heyes smiled. Maybe he'd be able to save Jed from ever trying another cigar.
"Cause people are foolish, Jed. Only the ones that ain't foolish are the ones that stop."
"You ain't foolish, Han. Are you going to stop?"
Heyes shook his head. Through sheer innocence, Kid had won the argument.
"Yeah, Kid. You and me both have just smoked our last cigar."
Kid smiled through his nausea.
"You and me, Han, we ain't fools." Kid said proudly.