An Amusing High School Story

My brother Nick stopped by recently for a visit. Talk turned to fainting (as it always does on occasions such as these). No no, not really. But we were talking about fainting at ooey, gooey blood and guts type things. Nick was telling me about how when he was young he came close to passing out one time when he was in the hospital. And then he said, “but there WAS that one time when I passed out…but not because of anything medical”.

Okay. That was enough to pique my curiosity. And the story Nick told me gave me the biggest laugh of the month.

It seems that one night during “play practice” Nick and Gene-Gene were in 501 goofing off. (You remember Ian, that was the room for quiet talk.) Gene told Nick he had tried this new method of making oneself pass out. He described deep breathing on one’s haunches, followed by a hard grunting push (which sounded like a valsalva maneuver) and then quickly standing. Gene said he tried it at home on his bed and it worked. Naturally Nick didn’t believe him. There was much adolescent bantering over the effectiveness of the procedure. The only way to find out was to try it. And so, my brother did. And he did. Pass out. Apparently it scared the living crap out of Gene. When Nick came to, he couldn’t remember anything and asked what had happened. Gene, who was visibly shaken, responded, “You were out cold. We didn’t know what to do!”

When I asked Nick if they told anyone (like DRT), Nick said, “Oh my gosh, NO! We would have gotten killed!”

I howled. I can just imagine Gene telling Nick about this. (Doesn't it make you wonder what book or magazine Gene found this in?) I can imagine them arguing over this. I can imagine my brother actually doing it. I can even imagine Gene's very real fear that not only did it work (on someone else) but that it happened at school. During play practice.