Under Peter's yearbook photo there is a description of him as the "Terror of Taroko" and I can't help but wonder if Peter still is the Terror of Taroko! You see, Taroko refers to Taroko Gorge, the sight of our senior class trip in Taiwan. It was back in 1977 and we had all been couped up in the bus that transported us from Taipei to Taroko Gorge. This was a very scarey trip through the narrow, steep mountains and we were all relieved to arrive at our destination. Our accommodations - a Catholic retreat with segregated sleeping quarters (although nothing could have stopped those midnight raids on each other's rooms)- was in a beautiful spot, next to a rapidly running river and within hiking distance of steamy, hot sulphur springs.
As our bus left the hostile and headed over the bridge, we caught sight of "The Terror of Taroko" - there, jumping up and down on a big boulder in the middle of the river was Peter, wooden "spear" in hand, chanting at the top of his lungs, wearing nothing more than his BVD's !!!
So, Peter...inquiring minds want to know if you still frequent Taroko Gorge from your not-so-distant home in Taipei, and if there have been any recent sightings of the "Terror of Taroko"?!? I do apologize if I have incorrectly re-counted this tale but I swear that that is exactly how I remember it (or want to remember it)!
P.S. Amat's yearbook photo also mentions Taroko Gorge! I suspect he made an appearance in his BVD's as well!!!!
In search of something to do, they wandered up onto the roof. There, they noticed, was a new girl--Laurie Miller--alone, unsuspecting, and just trying to adjust to the new culture she found herself in. She was sunbathing. Relaxing. Completely unaware that she was being watched.
Who can explain what goes through a teenage boy's mind when he sees a girl in a bathing suit? In this case, the sight made them want to dress up like Ninjas.
They jumped out of the shadows, and began "fighting" with eachother,all around her, over her, rolling, kicking and jumping. They showed off, giving her their best American-kid version of a Bruce Lee imitation.
It never occurred to them that this kind of a display might be positively FRIGHTENING to a young girl, new to the colony, who was used to boys who amused themselves with more tradtional pastimes like baseball and football.
After several minutes of fighting and grunting, they ran off, leaving Laurie to wonder what kind of place this was and "who were those masked men"?
The following story comes from Chris Collins
Sure enough, word got back to the head master and we were instructed that "The mooning must STOP!"
Somehow, we interpreted that as, "The mooning MUST go ON." In actuality, the mooning did stop on the day that a few of us tentatively had our cheeks out the window, and as we were going by the bus stop, somebody yelled - "She's got a branch!"
I wish I could remember who it was that didn't remove their butt from the bus window (maybe Peter?) quick enough, because they might still bare the scars, even today, from and where that branch raked across the tender and unsuspecting skin of that buttocks. Next reunion, we'll have to do a cheek check to see who the victim was.
