at first he thought it was just one of those wacky rumors which spread with simple minded feverishness through a small town paradoxically , the fewer the people , the more rampant the rumor but one afternoon in the parking lot at joness ice cream he bumped into chad miller , the senior class treasurer , who confirmed it : principal jennings and superintendent perry had taken the quote unquote class reunion fund , and they had used it to finance this damn pool .