Recess

Everybody knows it’s not just the monkey bars that break bones and bruise egos on school playgrounds. Slides alone can break a heart a hundred different ways.

Perhaps it’s the newly crisp fall air that caused me to recall the giant tire in a remote corner of the playground at my elementary school north of the river in Kansas City. Even half-buried, it was big enough to completely conceal two kids in each side of its massive hollow.

In sixth grade, the "bad" kids would squeeze into this crevice to sneak a quick smoke or, much more daringly, make out. It wasn’t until the following year in junior high that I would understand the appeal of such illicit activity.