War Night (originally posted 8/11/19)

The other day while driving to work, a random memory popped into my head. It was the memory of John and Greg, two twenty-something year old guys that, for some time in the early 90s, rented a room in my grandparent’s home. I don’t know how or why my thoughts turned to them, but, I might as well write about it here.

 My grandparents owned a home in Niles, and had quite a lot of extra room once all the kids were out of there. They were very involved in their church, and pretty much everyone they knew seemed to be affiliated with that church. Actually, my grandma was the sociable one, and my grandpa sort of was the selfless, utilitarian type. He drove her to church, helped set up chairs and everything prior to service, and then folded up the chairs when services were over. I’m not even really confident that he’d ever had been a churchgoer at all if it weren’t for my grandma.

 Anyway, through the church, they were connected with two young men named John and Greg. I do not know their story – where they came from, what their goals were, nothing. But at some point around 1993 or 1994, they both began renting a room in my grandparent’s house. It was by far the largest room in the house, down a long hallway just past and to the right of the front door. It was once my mom’s room, and had sat mostly vacant since she had moved out in the early 70s. They used the equally expansive bathroom that was located off the hallway.

 Greg was fairly soft-spoken, and reserved. He had dark hair and kind of reminded me of a geekier-looking Jonathan Knight from New Kids on the Block. John was the opposite – he was always in a good mood, talkative, and at least equally as geeky as Greg. Think of a younger Ned Flanders, but with reddish hair and without glasses.

 John liked to organize social events. Once, he told me that he enjoyed movie marathons. He would sell the idea of getting the guys together to watch all three of the Star Wars movies, or Indiana Jones movies, or even (gag) Star Trek films. I was not interested in watching those movies with a bunch of people I didn’t know. Another time, he had an extra pair of tickets to see the DePaul Blue Demons play. I managed to find someone to go with me, Jose, a classmate at that time. John’s wife picked us up, took us to the game, and dropped us off afterward. I don’t even recall if John went, and it was sort of an awkward experience.

 What I really remember John for was War Night. War Night was a weekly event at the church (which at the time was actually a rented park district building) that was centered around competitive sports/activities woven around Bible themes and praying. My grandma urged me to go, I guess so that I could meet some nice church-going boys. I reluctantly attended, and it was everything I did not like. A bunch of suburban white kids from well-to-do families mostly, getting amped up over relay races and dodgeball and stuff like that. Then you had John, the ringleader, who really got into the whole thing. He’d stand with his hands on his hips, whistle in his mouth, sweat beaded up on his forehead, refereeing the other kids. He’d say things like, “Yeah! Alright guys!” and he LOVED using the word “competition” a lot. He used that word a lot when he originally tried to recruit me to participate. Years previous, I had sometimes attended AWANA events at my old school and frankly I didn’t enjoy that experience either (although AWANA is where I won my first and only ever trophy, for soccer in a tournament in 1990). War Night was sort of like AWANA, but without kids from my school I knew, and with a guy who sometimes made me feel bad for not liking him. I think the most interesting aspect of War Night was that one of the kids from The Little Rascals movie (the movie had just been released to theaters) was a participant. So aside from being mildly starstruck, I just flat-out dreaded the whole thing.

 It was kind of nice when John and Greg moved out of my grandparent’s house, because we again had free range of the whole house, including the big cavernous bathroom we had been discouraged from entering. Wherever they are now, I hope they are doing well. Though a quarter century later, I’m not sure they can handle these long Star Wars marathons.