If you heard a dull roar emanating from on Tuesday, it may have been the collective grumblings of all the senior guys who aren't Brady McHale.
That's because McHale, a volunteer in the , set the prom-invitation bar pretty high, standing atop a ladder truck Tuesday outside an LMHS window to show fellow senior Franny deMuzio a sign reading, "Franny—Prom???????"
Yes, she said. Prom.
The "yes" wasn't a surprise to him, McHale said; they had unofficially decided to be dates to the May 5 senior dance earlier in the year. Still, Tuesday's payoff was sweet.
"She had no clue I was going to ask this way," McHale said via Facebook message. "I planned for about a week, finalizing her schedule and knowing where she would be."
That was the library, with windows facing the parking lot between the school and Montgomery Avenue. McHale had gotten permission from principal Sean Hughes to pull a fire truck in there. Gladwyne Deputy Fire Chief Andy Block and Assistant Chief Chip McLean helped maneuver the ladder into place, with McHale on it.
"She was surprised, even though she became skeptical when all our friends started funneling into the library 'coincidentally'," McHale said.
Later in the morning, the fire company's Twitter feed showed a picture of the big moment, and word spread about the happy result.
"It went great, and hopefully prom itself in May will be just as exciting," McHale said.
