| On the other hand the younger group stayed vigil about not bringing up something they didn’t want used against them at some time later. This wasn’t their first rodeo with these guys. When you grow up together through elementary school and some of your friends have brothers or sisters that are a grade older, there are bound to be times when you spend time with one of them alone, just the two of you. Sometimes they are ignoring or cruel, but most times they drop the tough, ‘I’m older’ act, and just talk to you like you were an equal. Every kid that played the younger part, knew that the older kid could be nice that moment but later when you saw them again, they would go back to treating you badly. Jake knew better than most, what that was like. He was the oldest in his family, so naturally any attention from an older peer was appreciated, even if Jake hid his excitement. Or perhaps he didn’t hide it, even when he was trying, and that was why he so often fell victim to a friend’s older brother, … or especially sister, since he didn’t have any sisters. If they asked about his playing football, or baseball, he just fell all over himself to be nice and answer in a manner that encouraged further conversation. Perhaps Jake was lonely. The funny thing about life when you’re a kid. You don’t know that you are lonely. You don’t even know there is a word for it. This remains as true now as it was in the days of Moses. A kid only knows what he knows. If he grows up lacking in attention from a father, mother, or some other niche in the social order; they do not recognize that they are missing something, not something they can assign a word. Perhaps the only thing worse than experiencing something unpleasant, is not being able to express words or to communicate in some manner what it is that is happening. In the days of the bicentennial, there wasn’t an internet for a kid to surf to help them to discover that not every kid gets beaten by his father every night before bed. Or that not every kid has a mother who drinks herself into a slurring, stumbling embarrassment every night. Or that not every kid goes to sleep without being fed supper. It can get worse. And no matter how terrible it is; that kid will not know what is happening to them isn’t the normal way people do things. So for Jake, he wasn’t aware that older kids sometimes didn’t tell the truth. He learned they sometimes didn’t tell the truth. One of his very earliest memories was that of sitting in the back of his parent’s friend’s car. Across the seat from him was their boy. He was several years older. The trick he played was very cruel. Years later thinking about it, Jake realized that on that day, the cigarette lighter must have been broken on the older boy’s side of the car. The one on his side was working. The older boy pushed his cigarette lighter in, waited a few seconds, and then he pulled it out and stuck his thumb into the end of the lighter. Nothing happened. Jake followed his lead. He did everything exactly like the older boy had done, only when he pulled the lighter out of its socket and stuck his thumb on the end of it, the thing was searing hot. Jake severely burned his thumb that day and carried the scar with him all his life. He did not let his pain happen for no reason however. He made sure he learned from that experience. It was the first of many betrayals he would experience through life, much like many others. It was the reason he kept a distance, so to speak, when it came to being buddies with the older boys from the north. He didn’t know what Brian was thinking, but he could have guessed that Denny and Cory were being careful. Probably Jeff too. Whenever Jake shared a glance with Denny, Cory or Jeff: he was pretty sure their eyes were saying the same thing his were saying. What they were saying was that we’re in a large cage with some wild animals which we need to be on our guard at all times because they are entirely unpredictable. As long as we are in front of them, we are going to be on their minds. They may attack unprovoked but are certain to if we make any sudden or wrong moves. As such the guys moved with a bit more of a slowness, more deliberate approach while seldom taking their eyes off the opposition. There was a lot of discussion about the upcoming fourth of July bicentennial celebration. Before that they talked about Jaws being shown again at one of the really big movie theaters located in downtown KC. The previous summer they had went and seen it at one of the big theaters and of course were thrilled. That summer the movie enjoyed Star Wars level celebrity. |  So it was decided. Cory’s mom had volunteered to drive them downtown. All the guys just had to meet at Cory’s house in the morning and they would all leave from there. Cory’s mom even offered to pay. The Northers overheard all the plans being made but they said nothing about it. It would have been something not even worth mentioning if not for what happened to Jake and Brian on their way home from going to the movies. Jaws had been nearly as scary the second summer watching it as it had been the first time. A year passing was just enough time for the guys to have somewhat forgotten what was going to happen exactly when it did happen. That was enough for them all to be properly scared at the key points in time. Jake was no fan of the scary movie where the slasher guy is hiding behind every door. Whenever someone opens the door he cuts them in half with a chainsaw or something just as disgusting. For him a scary-type movie only worked if the scary thing was an animal or maybe an alien. People killing people was just sick. Sure anybody can kill a bunch of people who are not expecting to run into such a situation. In fact when you live in a civilized world it is a waste of resources to spend any energy on being prepared for running into a crazed chainsaw-wielding killer. Just not very likely. Chances of running into an angry bear however … not so unlikely. At least not so if you are spending any time out in the woods where they live. So he liked the scary movies which may happen, a bigger than normal shark, octopuses or bear was possible. The other not so likely. At least not for another fifty years. When they arrived back from the movie it was time for everybody to ride home even though there was three or more hours left before the sun started to set. Brian having the bigger, therefore faster motorcycle, was out in front. Jake was following behind. Neither was going very fast because they were both lost in thought about what they would have done to kill the shark. There was no wind and the sun was warm on their faces, shoulders and arms. Due to a lack of rain in recent past, the gravel road they were on was putting up a small cloud of dust. Naturally being in front, the dust didn’t bother Brian. Jake on the other hand was forced to speed up so he was beside Brian, in order to avoid the dust. They slowed down when they came to a four-way intersection. Funny thing about riding a motorcycle when it is a warm summer day and there is no wind. When you let your bike’s engine slow you down you can feel the loss of the breeze and the warmth from that summer sun immediately return to your shoulders, arms and face. It is like stepping outside into a really warm day from an air-conditioned house. So when they let off the gas their bikes went into that engine-brake mode. Both of the boys felt that rush of heat return to their bodies. Just then, as they began to turn their bikes so to make a left turn, all that warmth was rudely splashed away by a water-balloon thrown from one of the Norther’s motorcycles as two of their bikes went racing past with two guys to a bike. The one not driving the bike was the one that threw the water balloon. Next Page |