And they had power, not much power, but enough to abuse. There was a crosswalk right in front of our bus stop. But that wasn't the crosswalk that was patrolled by the crossing guards. So when we ignored their crosswalk, and used the unguarded one, they were upset. Again, this really shouldn't have been a problem, except the principal of the school didn't like us.
Principals are territorial that way.
Howard was a year older than me, black, and at the top of his class in BMX racing. My memory of Howard is seeing him with his arms around his friends, with his Grover puppet on one hand, walking around the schoolyard. I still don't know his last name, but I remember someone calling him Howard Cosell once. So anyway, the principal kept us in her office just long enough for us to miss our bus. No problem, I had my bus fare in my lunchbox - except my lunchbox was not there.