Seven of use decided to go out to Holly High School for the monthly Rochester UE meet. I had never been there and was looking for a good time. I had no idea how exciting it was going to be. It was a cool place, an old three story elementary/high school. Most of the hallways and classrooms were pretty well run down. The auditorium with a balcony was fun to photograph, but was also in really rough shape. Overall it's a nice old building - probably the biggest building in Holly. It sits right in the center of town surrounded by the main streets and lots of neighbors.
When we arrived we went to go enter down in this 'pit' which connects to the basement on the most nondescript side of the school, but that had since been sealed up. We then went around to the [REMOVED] of the building where we were in view of [REMOVED]. There we found [REMOVED] which created an opening just large enough for people to [REMOVED[ though. So right in the middle of this little village we're sneaking into this building for all to see. [REMOVED]. We made it in, and started to spread out and check out the building.
After about an hour we started seeing these little teenage girls inside too. Probably like 8th or 9th grade. Gerry was the first one of us to see them. I guess when they entered the auditorium, they saw Gerry, got scared, and started to run out, but he told them it was cool and there's a few of us taking pictures. Meanwhile I had no idea they were in the building until I got up to the 3rd floor, saw them, and said hello.
I continued on and did my thing walking around photography junk and decay. After exploring the part of the 3rd floor I was on, I cut through the ground floor to get to the other side of the building so that I could look for access to the roof. As I happened to look out a window I saw a police car parked in the parking lot to the school. Oh crap...obviously he was here for us. I didn't know at the time, but apparently the girls were yelling out the windows stupid things to pedestrians. Soon as some of the residents saw this, they obviously called the cops. And in a small little village, this was probably headline news.
This begins the my frantic process calling and text'ing people who are all spread out across the building. I only have the phone numbers of about half the people I'm there with. I try calling my buddy Nick, but had bad reception for being down in the basement area of this old building and the call dropped. Right away in response I receive a text message from him: cops!
Immediately in this situation you start going through options in your head. Some are wise, some are very dumb. Do I get out of there and run? Do I try to warn others to get out while delaying me and putting myself at risk? Do I casually walk out? Do I hide and wait it out? What's my story I tell the cops? Etc, etc. I decided since I called / received a text from Nick, the "the cops are here" memo was already getting passed around to everyone else in our group. With that I quietly snuck down to the first floor - the riskiest one because that's where the cops will check first. I made it down there unseen and hid in a little bathroom by our entrance/exit hoping the cop won't walk right in and find me. There frantically packed up my gear. Of course in this situation, camera's wont fit in camera bags properly, straps for cameras and tripods get tangled, tripod legs won't retract quick enough, etc, etc. I'm just trying to get packed up quickly and quietly as possible.
After packing up, I decided to make my move. I look out the windows where we entered and didn't see anyone. Once I hit the first window of no cars/pedestrians to see me, I crawled out, slung my gear over my shoulder, and casually made my way out to the sidewalk...the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street. While walking back to the car I saw the cop parked in the back school parking lot, but he was out of his car and was beginning to walk around the building in the opposite direction from me. I see no one at our cars and I somehow was the first one out. I call up Nick and tell him to hold tight while the cop is walking the perimeter and almost approaching the entrance and to hold tight for a minute.
We weren't parked on the school lot, but right next to it. I decided that this would also be a good time for me to get my car out of there rather than hanging out near where the cop was parked. I go drive around the block from the backside of the school where me and the cop was parked around to the front while attempting to blend in with the village traffic. As I'm approaching the front of the school, I see the cop! He's waving at the two girls on the opposite side of the street who were in the school with us. He got them! The cop was on the left sidewalk, the girls where on the right sidewalk. I see the cop flagging them down and I be a nice guy and stopped my car so that the cop could cross the street to talk to the girls. So there I am stopped in the middle of the street letting this cop cross right in front of my car while he's clueless that I am also one of the people he's looking for. I'm sure the cop probably was just telling the girls not to go in the building like they did.
Once the cop was out of the street and talking to the girls I continue on and take a left turn to continue circling the block. Just as I turned the corner I see Nick and the 'new guy' attempting the casual walk across the lawn from the school. As they turned left to go to the sidewalk, they had no idea that the cop was actually to their right side across the lawn with his back turned yelling at the girls. I took the opportunity to drive right up to the guys, open my door, and tell them to "GET IN...NOW!". They run up, jump in and we drove a block away from where the action is going down to go hide a minute. Three people out, four more to go.
So we pull over just to collect ourselves for a moment and think what to do next. We try contacting more people still inside on our phones. All I'm getting is voicemail...dammit. After our little pause, we dare to take another spin around the block while the cop is still on-site looking for people/giving the girls a talking to. As I take another spin by the entrance, I see Gerry, doing his casual walk out of the building too. I stopped in the middle of the road and he jumps into the car too. Four down, three more to go...
At risk of being spotted by the cop as that suspicious car that keep circling the abandoned school, we take one more final spin around. There we spot our remaining three people: Nan, Bill, and Jim walking down the other side of the street. We call them on the phone, and tell them to meet up at the parking spot.
Sometime around the my last spin around the block the cop finally left. We all met up at the cars and traded quick stories of the excitement. We all kinda laughed at the 'dumb' kids that shortened our little excursion and were also coincidentally the same ones to get busted by the cops while we managed to get 7 people out of there unseen. I guess we're pro's.
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