That's not quite how she said it but she may as well have.

A classmate from Junior High School needed her mallets. We were in ninth grade and both of us were members of the same drum & bugle corp. There was going to be a stand still concert/practice at the mall that weekend. A perfect opportunity to pick them up.

Several of our fellow members, herself included, were quitting to join the rival corps in town, I had hoped to be doing the same. At the time, they hadn't told anyone that they planned on doing this. Unfortunately, she forgot to grab her mallets on her way out of Dodge and needed someone to get them for her because she just wanted to make a clean break and not have to deal with seeing anyone. So she asked me to get them for her. The problem was that I didn't want deal with those people either but for different reasons.

Had they known that she was leaving they would have gone out of their way to try to get her to change her mind. She was a talented musician, attractive and made friends with ease. It was understandable that she would want to avoid such a situation. Same goes for the others that were leaving, all of them were talents.

I, on the other hand, didn't have to worry about such a dilemma. Because unlike the others, I had no talent and no amount of practice would have made me any better. Even worse, I was a socially inept dweeb that was rather deficient in the "looks department" and I dressed funny. One of the kids even dubbed me 'Fifi' because I was a dog. The moniker was a hit with the others and stuck throughout my duration as a member.

I joined a drum & bugle corp because I loved music so much, that I'd do anything to be a part of it, no matter how unqualified I was. At any rate, I doubt that they would be upset if I chose to leave. In fact, to this day, I scratch my head wondering why they didn't ask me to leave in the first place. My guess is that they were either so desperate for money or they just liked having someone around to abuse. Perhaps, a little of both.

Anyway, back to the mallets. So, she phoned me to ask to get them for her - I so wasn't into it. Why couldn't she get her own damned mallets? The conversation went a bit like this:

her: "Oh please will you get my mallets?"

me: No! Get your own mallets.

her: "Oh come on! Please?"

me: No! I can't stand those people and never want to see them again, you get them!

her: "Please..." "Come on...."

me: You live closer to the mall than I do - you get them!

her: "(my name), please...."

There was a tone in her voice that told me that if I didn't do this, she wouldn't be my friend anymore. Not that she was in the first place but why jeopardize any chance I had? Of course, I totally caved and told her that I'd get her mallets for her.

So there I was at an empty mall on a cold wintery Saturday morning waiting for the equipment truck to show up. I don't recall the events that took place while there but I did retrieve the errant mallets and started the walk to her house to drop them off.

I rang the bell when I arrived. She opened the door, saw that it was me with her mallets. She smiled, said "Oh thank you!" Grabbed the mallets from my hand and before I had a chance to respond, the door was closed in my face.

I stood there for a moment rather dumbfounded. Gee! Glad I could be of assistance!

With nothing else to do, other than standing there and freezing, I walked home wondering what was in store for me there. Was my mother going to start screaming at me for whatever or make me help her put away the groceries. You never knew.