The weather was warming up and St. Albert’s decided to clean up the field by having a rock festival. The rules were simple; each class would have 20 minutes to pick up as many rocks as they could and put them in a bag. The bags would be measured, and the class that collected the most rocks would be deemed the winner. The prize this year was an afternoon movie in the meeting room.

The Class of ’75 was in 6th grade at the time and were not considered a threat to the 7th and 8th grade classes who seemed to be in a league of their own. They were older and bigger and would be able to carry many more rocks than their smaller 6th grade competition so for the most part the little friends were ignored leading up to this competition.

The 7th and 8th graders were favorites to win. Between these two the 8th graders were favorites and for one simple reason; they had Rusty and Rusty was big and strong. Legend has it the year before Rusty lifted a huge rock out of the creek and won the competition for his class as a 7th grader. The creek was off limits of course but no one would dare tattle. If Rusty found out it would be bad news and you would be looking over your shoulder the rest of the year.

This year Rusty bragged openly how he was going to win. He was going to bring a hammer out and break up the cement and black top behind the gym and win the contest that way. This bragging was mostly toward the 7th grade class but it trickled down to the mere mortals of the 6th grade anyhow. One thing that can be said for the Class of ’75, they were extremely competitive at everything. They knew it would take a lot to take out the 8th graders and Rusty, but they were going to do their best. The contest began on a warm spring day. The 5th graders went first and gathered rocks for the contest. If the 6th grade class was a long shot, then the 5th grade class was a no shot. That is why they got to go first, giving them a chance to find the biggest rocks first.

Next up, the Class of ’75. Their logic was to have the entire class run all the way to the creek, not stopping even if they saw a rock, then slowly make their way back, picking up everything they could on a policing style the marines would have been proud of. Since they were not running everywhere like the other classes they felt if they used their time wisely, they would have a shot at winning. After the walk back from the creek they had their stones weighed and they were now in first place with their weight total being much higher than the 5th graders.

The class was excited as the 7th graders went out for their rock hunt. Twenty minutes later they came back and their total was a little less than the Class of ’75. The only team that could beat them was Rusty and the 8th graders.

Once the 8th graders got outside everyone in the school could hear the banging of a hammer on the cement. Legend has it when the nuns went to investigate they found Rusty in a kneeling position hammering the edge of the sidewalk and just like that the 8th graders were eliminated.

A week later the Class of ’75 was enjoying their movie with popcorn and chocolate milk. Life is good!