Teen Funs Nansy - [work]
Day two, she woke us at 5:00 AM with a bullhorn she’d borrowed from the neighbor’s garage. “Morning, losers! Today’s fun: dumpster diving for discarded corporate secrets.” Maya, who wanted to be a lawyer, was horrified. I, on the other hand, found a broken neon sign from a pizza place that Nansy later rewired to spell “FUN” in our treehouse. She called it “reclamation artistry.”
But it wasn’t just the chaos. It was the way she saw us. At night, after the stunts, she’d make us instant hot chocolate and tell stories about her own teen years—sneaking into drive-ins, starting a rumor that a local lake monster was real, forging a permission slip to see The Beatles. She’d pull out the same tattered notebook and say, “The point isn’t to break rules. The point is to remember that you’re alive. Your phone won’t remember the feeling of orange soda in your nose.”
“Teen funs,” Nansy announced on day one, mispronouncing the group chat name on purpose because she thought it was funnier that way. “I have reviewed your itinerary. Mini-golf? Escape rooms? Mall food courts?” She shuddered, pulling a battered notebook from her fanny pack. “No. We are rebranding.” teen funs nansy
Thus began the summer of Nansy’s Grand Teen Funs Extravaganza .
On the last day, Nansy sat us down. “I have one final fun,” she said softly. She handed each of us a small, handwritten card. Mine said: You are braver than you believe. Go get lost on purpose. Day two, she woke us at 5:00 AM
We never played mini-golf again. But that fall, when Leo felt too anxious to try out for the school play, I texted the group: What would Nansy do?
Nansy wasn't a place. She was a person. Specifically, she was my best friend Leo’s 74-year-old grandmother, who had recently discovered a YouTube channel about "extreme urban exploration." When Leo’s parents shipped her off to our suburban cul-de-sac for two weeks, we expected quiet evenings of tea and cookie recipes. Instead, we got a manifesto. I, on the other hand, found a broken
Leo went to the audition. He got the part. And somewhere, probably in a different CVS parking lot, Nansy smiled, opened her notebook, and wrote a new line: Phase two: The senior center break-in. For fun, of course.