-------------------------- FIJI'S LIST OF 33. 1. Calisthenics 2. Nudity 4. Dropping food in the mouth 10. Individual interrogations 11. Providing alcoholic beverages 12. Line-ups 15. Eating spoiled food 22. Calling a pledge names -------------------------
By Whitey Awl
Poker Night was the next Monday, and included the assignment of big brothers. My big brother was a junior, Zerman from Lexington, KY, and he told me about his big brother, our "fraternity family", and our family's favorite drink, Jim Beam Bourbon. I was told to celebrate my new family by drinking nearly a pint of "Jim", which he called Kentucky's finest, and a few beers too.
After nearly an hour of Poker Night socializing, the pledges were ordered to strip to boxers and T-shirts, tuck in their T-shirts, line-up, and chug a warm beer. Then we had to stand on a 4x4 piece of wood, with our heels off the edge, and answer fraternity history questions. Missed questions brought push-ups for everyone, and then we were put in the diamond push-up position, with our elbows bent and forming a diamond, the shape of Fiji's badge.
After a bunch of diamond push-ups, we were back standing on the 4x4, and forced to drink another warm beer. Several pledges were barely able to stand on the 4x4, and they seemed to be as close to barfing as I was, when a box of onions appeared and each pledge was given two raw ones.
Then Grasso and two brothers put a mixture of hot sauces and salsa on one of them.
Now the penalty for missing a question was a bite ("a Giant-size bite", in Grasso's words) of onion, and Grasso asked if anyone was feeling sick?
He saw a lot of nodding heads. "If you are going to barf, and we know you all will soon, you must barf inside your T-shirt."
The first question was the old one: "What does GOM mean?" No one knew, and Grasso said to take a big bite of the hot-sauced onion. I usually like hot wings and hot sauces, but this combination was way past hot, maybe heading into the "nuclear" range I had never tried.
The ever-friendly brothers were close by, with a pitcher, pouring paper cups full of some beer-colored stuff, which they handed us. It didn't smell bad, but a sip was all I could handle. It didn't cool my firey mouth.
Several pledges gulped down the liquid, seeking any relief, but the liquid was just a trigger for their stomach, and I could see three pledges trying to hand the cups back to the brothers, grabbing their shirt neckbands, and barfing. Barfing seems to stimulate others to barf, and soon all eight of us had soaked our chests and stained our T-shirts with half-digested chunks, onions, and dinner's remnants.
Darryl, confirming my thought that he was the least-smart of the pledges, raised his hand and said he had to take a leak. An astonished Grasso handed him an empty cup, and was totally amazed when Darryl filled it nearly to the top as the brothers cheered and the pledges watched.
"You'll be known from now on as Leaky," said Grasso as he dumped it in the pitcher.
Poker night ended in a sloppy rhythm: impossible to answer questions, bites of hot onion, drinks of warm beer and piss, and more barf. Soon my boxers' elastic waist couldn't stop the barf's downward trip, and my pubes were shampooed with the smelly and sticky mess.
When the onions were gone, the brothers told us to head for the basement, and the cold hose washed us down again. I smiled at my beat-off buddies Eric and Scott as we were together again, eyeballing the other five naked boys. All of our wet underwear and dirty T-shirts were put in a box, and Jules said he would get the stuff washed. We found our clothes, and went commando back to our rooms.
-------------------- FIJI'S LIST OF 33. 6. Throwing water on pledges 9. Pledges awakened during the night 17. War games 23. Less than six hours sleep 24. Not permitting adequate time for studies 28. Non-allowed house duties 31. Requiring uncomfortable clothing 33. Polling, dunking, or showering any pledge -------------------
By Whitey Awl
The next day, at lunch, Grasso told us there would be another pledge meeting at 7:00 that night, and to bring warm clothes and a flashlight. He wouldn't tell us anything else.
As we tried to guess what was up, the dummy Darryl thought he knew, because he had overslept and had not raised the fraternity's flag on time that morning.
One ongoing assignment for the pledges was the Fiji flag, and it had to be raised every morning at 6:48 a.m. and lowered every evening at 6:48. Each pledge was assigned the job on a rotating basis. "Leaky" had not gotten the flag up until about lunch time.
At the meeting, Grasso said to put on our warm clothes, and to follow him out to the flag pole. He made Darryl raise the flag, and then we all sat on the ground circling the flag pole. Our punishment was to stay around the flag all night, with the flashlight shining on the flag.
Eric asked if we could at least have some of our books, so the time wouldn't be totally wasted, but he said no, and we were soon glad he did, because the weather quickly changed.
Almost as soon as Grasso stepped away, a rainstorm of water balloons hit us. Then brothers started dumping buckets of water off the nearby balcony. The water hose, which had been our cleaning friend in the basement, now sprayed for the other side.
All through the night - perhaps according to a schedule - some smiling brothers would come out on the balcony, ask us something stupid like "how's the weather?", and then dump a few buckets of water and throw a few water balloons. Occasionally a water balloon didn't break, and we threw it back, but accuracy failed us.
At 6:48 a.m., with the Fiji flag flying, we headed back to our warm dorm.