“The Fall Writing Contest is hosted annually by the Harriton Writing Center. Each year, any Harriton student is invited to submit a creative short story addressing a general prompt, with this year's prompt being to end the story with "...and that's how the nachos ended up on the floor." With submission from many students of all grades, Aruna Balasubramanian won the contest, and a $50 Amazon gift card. Sam Catania won honorable mention.” - Charisma Hasan.

Ration Waivers

By Aruna Balasubramanian

I started getting Ration Waivers when I was seven. They were left on the doorstep of my house, in thin, see-through envelopes with that ugly brown government stamp. Back then, out of pride, I left the envelopes to collect outside, and wouldn’t care if they got rained on, stepped on, and ruined. My family didn’t need them. And my parents didn’t want help from the government.

Things changed fast. The war, the regime change, and the epidemics spiraled out of control. Electricity stopped. Schools closed. People died. My mother disappeared on a Friday when I was ten. I don’t know where she went. But I didn’t search for her, because there was no use. People disappeared a lot around here–it was nothing out of the ordinary. I remember, the November after my mom disappeared, I set out to look for an easy job that a kid like me could pull off, like all the other kids my age had already done. Dad and I needed the money. But I didn’t find any work. It was around that time that we started using the Ration Waivers.

As the war worsened, life did, too. The government newspapers, the ones handed out at Ration Collections and printed on the same thin, see-through paper as the Ration Waiver envelopes, always carried stories of bombings and famines on the front page. But I didn’t read the news. Mostly, it was because I couldn’t read that well. But it was also because I knew that the papers were made by the government, which made them unfit to be trusted.

Just when I thought life couldn’t get any worse for us, news broke that an invasive insect species had ravaged the government farms, drastically reducing fall harvests. The Ration Collections became more sporadic. We were hungry constantly. Every day, after Dad went to work, I stayed home alone, in our cold house full of empty rooms that once contained the furniture that Dad had exchanged for Ration Waivers. The only thing that I would do regularly was stand at the window near the front door, waiting for a government postman to deliver a Ration envelope. Every time the postman came, I threw open the door, grabbed the Ration Waiver, and rushed to stick it in the safe in our kitchen. I’d been doing that since my neighbor got shot in the leg when a robber broke into his house and stole his Waivers. I wouldn’t let something like that happen to us. Our Waivers would be safe.

At eight o’clock every day, Dad would come home, and we would eat small portions of the Rations for dinner. We’d eat tiny “meals”, mostly freeze-dried vegetables, bread, and bottled water. We ate on the couch. But the meals left us hungry, and we got skinny. One day, huddling on the couch, under a blanket as rain poured outside, Dad turned to me and said, “Your birthday’s next week.” His teeth chattered from the cold. “You’ll be turning twelve.”

“Oh yeah,” I responded. I hadn’t celebrated my birthday for a couple of years, so I had totally forgotten about the occasion.

“What do you want? A present, I mean.”

I gave my dad a weird look and tried to wrap my mind around his question. What did I want? Nothing that I would actually have the means to get, surely. Just then, my stomach growled.

“I want a good meal. Just one.” My mouth watered, and I suppressed a hopeless chuckle. I knew my dream was unrealistic. And my dad did too. He didn’t respond.

The next Wednesday, Dad didn’t come home at eight. I was worried. I sat outside in front of the door and waited. He was never late. I started to panic. The last time I waited like that was the day Mom disappeared. The day I desperately waited for her to come home, and never saw her again. But at nine thirty, Dad did show up. He rushed up the path, looking excited. Relief flooded my veins. I ran to him and threw my arms around his chest, for a hug. I didn’t notice that he was holding a box.

“Let’s go inside,” he whispered to me.

I did as he asked. We went inside, to the couch. Dad placed the box on my lap. It was warm, and smelled amazing. My eyebrows raised. A birthday present! I opened it gingerly, and stared with my eyes and mouth wide open, at a pile of chips covered in cheese... nachos. Tears flooded my eyes. All I wanted was one good meal. I hadn’t had one in years. I looked at Dad gratefully.

“Thank you,” I whispered hoarsely. I couldn’t say anything else. I had run out of words.

“Don’t thank me,” he answered, smiling. He paused, then stood up. “Come, let’s get plates,” he said.

I quickly stood up and followed him to the kitchen, cradling the box of nachos like a baby in my arms. But when my dad stepped over the kitchen threshold, he stopped, frozen. “What?” I said. He didn’t answer. I realized that he was unnaturally stiff. He wasn’t breathing.

“What?!” I exclaimed, louder, starting to feel scared. I pushed him aside and stepped in front.

I found myself staring at my mother, standing in the middle of the kitchen, dressed in a clean white suit. She was smiling warmly. In shock, I dropped the birthday present.

And that’s how the nachos ended up on the floor.

Student Council President Prompts Food Fight Following Controversial Comments

By Sam Catania

November 15th, 2019 ROSEMONT —

A large food fight broke out during lunch in the JSL on November 14th after Student Council President Graham Branscom stated that fights between Harriton students “build school spirit” in a town hall event. Students and faculty engaged in the fight, which began just minutes after Branscom’s comments.

After attending Branscom’s event, IB Coordinator Tom O’Brien and Athletic Director Tom Ferguson began the fight while squabbling about who was the better ‘Tom,’ according to eyewitness accounts. Harriton Student Max Harris was walking by as the fight started and recounted the event: “TOB just handed Ferg this like four-page manifesto and would not stop talking and Ferg just kept responding with ‘Okay.’ It was not a good combination.”

Security camera footage revealed that after a three-minute verbal confrontation, O’Brien slipped on food that was on the ground and fell. Upon standing up, he grabbed a food item from his tray and smashed it in Ferguson’s face.

Following the initial confrontation, “all hell broke loose,” according to Harris. Security camera footage showed students breaking into “The Hut” where lunch is sold in the JSL and taking entire pizzas to ‘frisbee’ at other students. One student reportedly removed multiple live tilapia from the JSL tank and hurled them at other students. Harriton TV was unable to confirm this report.

Campus aid Mr. Driscoll told Harriton TV the two teacher suspects are in custody and will remain in the In-School Suspension (ISS) room until further notice.

Harriton TV reached out to President Branscom to ask if he stood by his comments and their effect. Graham responded that his “primary duty” as a student council officer was to “promote school spirit” and that he “absolutely” stood by his remarks.

Principal Scott Weinstein told Harriton TV he disagreed with Graham’s sentiment: “It’s our goal at Harriton to foster an environment where every student feels safe and supported. No student should have to fear a physical encounter after entering our doors.” Harriton TV asked Principal Weinstein if the school would take disciplinary action taken against Graham for his remarks. Weinstein declined to comment.

Many students, however, seemed to agree with the President. “Our football team never wins, we have to call [Mr. Harriton] Dr. Harriton now, and everyone is stressed, depressed and sleep- deprived. I think a good fight spices up the day,” said one student, who wished to remain anonymous.

Another student, a self-described “JSL-regular” recounted his experience watching the “fun” unfold. “The one bald buhl just walked up to Ferg and started pickin’ at his food,” reported the student, who wished to remain anonymous. “It was a mega ‘bruh’ moment.”

Harriton TV caught up with the Student Council Advisor Mr. DiPaul to ask his thoughts on Graham’s remarks. He replied “No. No comment. I have nothing to say. You can email me.” DiPaul did not respond to multiple emails from Harriton TV.

At a school board meeting the evening after the fight occurred, we asked Superintendent Robert Copeland for his thoughts on the occurrence. Copeland felt the issue was representative of greater problems in the district: “Enrollment growth is the single most pressing issue for our schools. This fight shows what happens when you cram too many students into the same building. I hope the community and especially the Board of Commissioners take notice.” It should be noted that Harriton High School is currently at intended capacity, while Lower Merion HS has exceeded its designed ideal capacity.

School Board President Dr. Gilbert also weighed in, saying that “Our teachers are the highest paid in the state, just got a contract raise, and still pull bull-sh*t like this on us. Guess what? No more new LMEA contracts suckers.”

Other students and teachers had input on the fight and on Graham’s comments. Noah Salmanson, a previous candidate for Student Council Officer, reached out to Harriton TV with a statement: “Any student who gets in trouble for any of this needs to email me at s012381@students.lmsd.org immediately. An unknown fact about district policy 132 is that it protects students from acting out when under intense stress. Excessive homework is clearly to blame for this issue. It is time for the students to rise up, unionize, and revolt against the cruel practices of our teachers and administrators and assign blame where it should be assigned. Graham spoke the truth and I stand by him. I expect an administrative plan of action within two hours.”

English teacher Mr. Donald Plump felt the events reinforced the need for more “understanding” teachers like “him.” When asked what he would tell his students to prevent future fights he responded that he would declare it was “time to meditate.”

Immediately following the fight, students from Science Olympiad began an analysis of the food that initially caused Mr. O’Brien to slip. According to club advisor Mr. MacNichol, the team performed three titrations before determining the substance was nacho cheese.

Following the release of these results, the chess club launched an investigation, generating a 600-page report within hours. Though Harriton TV has been unable to confirm it, the report found that Ms. Marcuson had ordered the nachos before lunch started, then heard the bell, and then ran to ensure no student saw her with the “unsophisticated” food. In the process, she dropped her plate. The chess club’s report bluntly states “that’s how the nachos ended up on the ground.”