Post-It Protest.

Head Girl Hannah, Joel Amos Obadiah and Joanne just got back from a mission trip to Zambia.  Before he left, Joel Amos Obadiah instructed me to mention him in a blog entry while he was gone.  I didn’t do it, but if I know him, he’s forgotten that he ever said that.  Anyway, I’ve done it now – he, oddly enough, is a key character in the story I’m about to tell.

Before The Whole World Except For Billy (who was too stupid to apply for the trip) set off to Zambia, the team organised a pub quiz to raise funds.  Joel asked me to be on his team, and I agreed, even though I knew he would insist on calling the team “Janet”, a name which has never, in my experience, brought us success.

I arrived at the Bowling Club on the evening of the quiz, having digested the whole of “The Book of General Ignorance” that afternoon.  Joel, of course, was nowhere to be seen, but I approached Joanne, and she said that I could sit with her family until such time Joel should arrive.  When he hadn’t appeared by the end of the first round, I gave my lookout up as a lost cause.  Joanne’s family and friends made an awesome team, anyway.  If I hadn’t joined them, they would probably have won. 

We were discussing team tactics before the commencement of the last round, when a slight commotion towards the front of the hall caused me to look up.  There was Joel, looking harassed, wearing a heavy outdoors coat.  I didn’t want to draw any attention to myself, so I waited until the quiz was finished before I confronted him.

“Where on earth have you been!?” I shouted. I almost added “I’ve been worried sick!”, but dismissed that comment on the grounds that a) it wasn’t true and b) I didn’t want to sound like my mother.  I was actually quite keen to hear his excuse, because I was sure it’d be hilarious.

“I was in Belfast,” he started.  I said “huh”, and he continued.  “I missed the bus home.  I was up there because…well, because I was protesting against George Bush!  He’s a maniac, you know.  I definitely think he got the message.  I made a banner – look…” and with that, he pulled the “banner” out of his pocket.  For a second, I thought he was being serious.  Then I remembered who I was talking to.  What he was holding in his hand was a yellow post-it note.  It was hard enough for me to see that without my glasses, nevermind to read what was written on it. 

“The war on terror wasn’t very nice,” I read aloud.  Joel nodded proudly  and turned the Post-It over.  On the back were the words “Please don’t do another one”.

You know, sometimes I think the people in my life sit right on the line between “Genius” and “Insane”.  I’m not quite sure which this was, but it certainly made me laugh.  The memory of it, even now, almost has me in stitches.  I really hope George Bush read that Post-It note.