Don't play in derelict houses....
When I was about 13, I used to be allowed to 'go out and play' with some friends, as my parents believed that I would be doing something innocent and childlike such as flying kites or playing rounders.

No Jose, that wasnt the way. Going out to play in the summer holidays was a licence to wreak havoc. The three of us would wander inner city Birmingham in the July heat buying 10p ice pops and sharing cigarettes. Smoking fags, climbing things and getting chased by dogs/older kids/police/gaylords was the order of the day. A day had been a waste if we didnt come home with a newly discovered porno mag or burglar paint on our clothes. Winding each other up to go into empty derelict houses and buildings and finding the message 'we are watching you' scrawled in blood red paint in the upstairs of one, a tramp chasing us from another and general scare-seven-shades-of-shite-lets-get-the-fack-out-of-here malarkeys were the mutts nuts. They also provided an opportunity to climb things, destroy stuff and smoke without fear of being seen by friends/family/gaylords.

One fine day we found a huge Edwardian type house boarded up. There was access through a back room so we crawled in, to find the staircase missing most of its steps. 'Your mission: Ascend to the first and second floor using ape-like skills'. We all made it to the second floor, investigating rooms in dark conditions as the boarding had shut out some natural light, kicking stuff about and scaring each other.

I started picking up random stuff and throwing it at my mate when I saw black plastic cylinder on the floor amongst the rest of the junk. I tried to open it but it seemed sealed, but something inside it rattled. Using my hands to twist it the cylinder cracked in half and the blood filled syringe from inside fell out of my hands and on to the floor.

Oh my holy fucking bejaysus.

With impeccable comic timing one of my friends shouted 'AIDS' and I started shaking like Michael J Fox. We got the hell out of there, half jumping down the rotten staircase and squeezed out into the sunlight. I thought I was going to die there and then.

I spent the rest of the day, week and month in a perpetual state of fear waiting for my arm to drop off or red pustules to appear over my body. Even to this day, I still wonder...

Love the length baby
( prem1um is full of life, Thu 4 May 2006, 16:05, Reply)