In early 2004, Mike and I were in high school, and like all high school kids, we were writing a musical about 9/11.
The plot involved a group of outcasts who had planned a school shooting for the first day of school, which is also the morning of the attacks. They show up with guns drawn and everyone is so shell-shocked that they remain ignored.
There was also a sub-plot about two friends who make a pact to lose their virginity by the end of the school year and, thinking the world’s ending, decide they have to lose it by the end of the day.
The main character was an Indian kid who had just moved to town. Ajee Rab, was his name. Everyone thinks he had something to do with it and he winds up in front of a mock trial board, composed of people from mock trial. The big showstopping number at the end when he’s acquitted is “Though The Buildings Are Coming Down, Things Are Looking UP!”
Also none of the Jewish kids come to school that day, and the principal goes all Ferris Bueller crazy trying to find them. It turns out it’s Rosh Hashanah.
It never got finished, and like all things, its moment has passed. We face a different set of problems now. But I hear so much reminiscence this week, and rather than think about my own piddling reaction to something too big to care about me, it’s nice to be reminded that there was a time when I was convinced I had the funniest thing in the world.
