Back in my High School days I drove around in a 1957 faded yellow Willys Jeep. It had an ugly metal top which I removed every summer. It was a great Jeep and we, my friends and I, did a lot of off roading even when we should have been in class. It was also ideal for lunch runs between classes. A bunch of us would pile into whatever vehicles were available. The Bagel Nosh was a particular favorite, especially if Piper Martell, the owner’s daughter and a classmate, joined us making lunches very affordable.

I am not sure where Dean and I were going one day in his Jeep, which was very similar to mine, but as usual we were awful busy harassing each other when I reached for his key, while currently in the ignition, and much to our surprise it popped right out. So I tossed it overboard. Yup, I sure did!

Even more amazing was the fact that when I inserted my key out of curiosity it fit and even worked. I “ground” the starter gear of a running Jeep just to prove it to Dean. As it turned out, that was a Big mistake, one that I would come to regret on more than one occasion. The Stapleton jeep and my jeep keys were 100% interchangeable.

The first time I was reminded of my error was when I came out after school one day and my Jeep was no where to be found. After a considerable search, I found it in the teacher’s parking lot. And so began a major game of Hide-and-Go-Seek for each other’s Jeeps. I wanted to move it to the nearby middle school one day but Dean’s gas tank was always on empty, severely limiting my abilities to relocate it. Dean never seemed to have any gas. This went on for the better part of our junior year, winter and spring, but I had not seen anything yet!

One day in late spring 1978, I came out to get my Jeep and head home for the day. It was a Friday and I had no afternoon classes. My Jeep was no where to be found! After looking for about a half hour here comes Dean tooling up the road in my Jeep, loaded to the brim with our classmates, all girls if I recall. He with his big smile and me looking rather pissed. He explained that they had gone to lunch. When I asked why he took my Jeep he calmly stated that he was out of gas…. Shocker!

I had the ignition re-keyed a few days later.