That was it. Punishment was swift and harsh. Mary Higgins informed Matt and his family he wouldn’t be permitted to attend graduation. He’d also be forced to help the janitors after school was out for the summer, which consisted of scrapping gum off the bottom of cafeteria tables with a butter knife. Jim was there too, of course. But Jim’s idea of helping the janitors was far, far different from what the school had in mind. Jim Bowden’s idea was to give the janitors a few days off. His plan was simple: take a paperclip, unbend it, wrap lots of electrical tape in the center, then bend it into a U-shape. This crude device was to be inserted into the bathroom electrical socket—well out of the sight of anyone in the concrete tomb known as Madison High.

They’d walked into the bathroom with Jim cupping the sabotage device in his palm. He went to one knee, lining up the paperclip ends to the socket inputs. It seemed like forever.

POP!

A blinding flash had radiated from the socket, knocking Jim back five feet. The acrid stench of burning hair flooded the bathroom, and the lights went dark. Matt had walked over to Jim, laughing his ass off.

“You alright, man?” he’d asked.

“What you think? If I’m talking to you, I’m alright,” Jim said. But it was obvious the shock had frazzled him. Matt could see it in his eyes.

He’d taken a toilet roll and used it to knock the paper clip out of the socket. The clip glowed in the dark, red hot like an ember. Matt had picked up one end of the clip and wrapped it in his shirt. When they got to an area with emergency lighting in the circular passageway, Matt dropped the clip into one of the wastebaskets. They could hear staffers trying to make sense of the situation, attempting to gather their bearings. Mary Higgins, who was still inside her office, hustled out the front doors to greet the fire truck they could hear halfway across town. She’d told Matt and Jim that they needed to go outside in case of a fire. After an hour of no electricity, she sent them home. The next day, Mary Higgins informed them that their suspension was over. The school was down for a week because of electrical repairs.

That was the end of the strangest suspension ever—one that occurred when school was over, after they’d graduated. Looking back, Matt had the distinct sensation of being trapped in a place that had moved on from him, as if the rest of society had migrated to another plane of existence. It was not comforting.