I got my prized jacket for Christmas after waiting for the horrible
knowing weeks of having it in the house and having to act surprised
on Christmas morning. I was assisted in my acting by actually being
really, really excited to finally have my strait up legit Chicago
Bulls gear. I was only frustrated that school was out and no one
could see how awesome I looked in my sweet new threads. I waited out
my time until school blessedly reconvened. I wore by jacket to school
the first day back and it got a fair amount of respect and that was
the first time an article of clothing of mine was impressive and I
liked it. I decided to wear it the next day and not leave it my
locker for one moment. I wore it all day and all week and then all
month. In the second month of my owning this amazing jacket it was
actually getting to warm many days to legitimately be wearing a
jacket in the heat of the day but it was the coolest thing I owned so
I pushed through the discomfort. One morning I was actually unable to
find a clean shirt and instead of doing the sensable thing of washing
a shirt and going late or not going at all I decided to go to school
just wearing my jacket zipped up with only my bear nakedness
underneath. As it turned out we were having one of those unseasonably
warm February thaws that Utah gets on occasion and by the time I was
at school I realized I had made a tactical error as I was already
sweating and the slick liner of the jacket was not doing any of the
absorbing that I liked my shirts to do. I was wearing the zipper
quite high and tight to not give away the fact that I was shirtless
and it looked a little weird to everyone who was enjoying a rather
balmy day in the sunshine. A couple of people had asked me why my
jacket was zipped up all the way and I just tried to change the
subject. I was getting hotter and sweatier and more and more
uncomfortable as the day wore on. I was cursing myself for making
such a dumb decision. At lunch I cracked and decided that something
had to give I was all soggy wet and boiling in my own juices so I
broke out. I started walking home and let my jacket loose a little to
let out the swelter and had made it about two miles down the highway
towards home when I was stopped by the cops. He flipped on his lights
and then popped out to see what I was up to. I told him that I was
feeling really sick and that I was walking home because no one would
answer at my house. He had me come sit in the car as he had dispatch
call my mom who was actually at home. He told he I was sick and
walking home and skipping school and asked what he should do with me.
She said to bring me home and he took me I got a lecture about being
in school and checking out and being safe and whatnot but I was just
glad to head home and take off my plastic lined sweatsuit jacket and
put on a shirt without being terrified that someone would find out I
was not wearing any clothes. I wore the jacket less and less and lost
track of it when I went to college. I have abuse outer clothing since
then but usually only to run t the store or to answer the door or
something short term and never a all day charade again.
