| Further up the path the Southers were continuing to hurry their escape from the gang that chased them. They came to another hill, this time Jake who was in front, raced his bike over the hill at a top speed. Brian followed and then Cory and finally Jeff, all went flying over the crest of the hill getting enough air under their tires to miss the board with nails driven through it. Racing behind the Southers but now in front, leading the Northers was Tommy Wiehner. Next came David Green followed by Denny Oatman. The two that had been scratched up the worst, had caught up with the other three and were right behind them. When Tommy got to the hill he remembered how his friends had raced right on over the hill and right into the thorn bushes. He backed his bike down and approached the crest of the hill at a pace which would allow him to adjust to having to veer to the right or to the left. Unfortunately for him and the next two bikes following, that was the wrong choice to make. All three of the bikes which were out in front, had their tires popped by the nails in the board. the guys had to move their bikes out of the way so their friends that still had tires which were not flat, could get by to continue the chase. Meantime Jake and friends had come to yet another hill crest which required a choice be made. Either go over it at a pace fast enough to jump a board with nails hidden on the far side of the hill or go slow enough to allow you to veer if the path on the other side of the hill has not been cut and cleared of the thorn bushes. Tommy chose poorly as did his followers. They all went over the hill at a fast pace to jump a board with nails and found out the path had not been cleared. They went right into the thorn bushes. Further up ahead the Southers finally came out off the path they had been following. It kicked them out onto a gravel road that they were able to follow which eventually led back to Brian’s house. The Southers all got quite a laugh once they arrived up Brian’s driveway safely. Obviously they had sent the Northers home stinking of a combination of foul-smells which would have made a buzzard think he had stumbled upon his version of a Christmas dinner buffet that was serving all his favorite dead things. “Gonna be a long, long ride home for the north boys. What special new odors were added to that particular batch of bombs?” Jake asked Brian and Jeff. They had been in charge of whipping up the most recent batch of bombs while Jake and Cory spent their time getting the escape routes cleared and booby-trapped where necessary. Brian got a look on his face like he had just opened a jar of catfish bait. “We had some beef liver that went bad, plus some more rotten eggs, some raw chicken that had spoiled, and what dog crap we could find. Oh yeah, and there were still some pieces of dead fish swilling around in there. I’m certain it was an odor to remember.” “No paint for color?” Cory asked. “No. I have to say we were all-natural stink water bombs. No artificial colors or flavors. Oh yeah, and we had a half-bottle of corn syrup that was thrown in for stickiness.” Jeff added. “You guys think of everything.” Jake said jokingly. “When your planning for such special people, it isn’t hard.” Jeff replied. —————- Chapter ———————— The Fourth of July ended without further incident but the days and weeks that followed were anything but calm and uneventful. The very next day Cory and Jake were caught in town by the Northers who were expected to be throwing some very nasty water bombs in retaliation. As such both boys did all they could to avoid getting hit. Jake having the smaller engine bike knew he couldn’t outrun the chasers so as soon as they reached a housing development he turned into it and raced down the street looking for a clothes line. Tommy Wiehner and David Green were right behind him. When he saw a backyard with sheets hanging to dry, he veered into that yard and headed straight for the clothes line. Under it he went with his smaller size bike. The other two attempted to go under and instead hit the clothes line knocking them off their bikes. Jake sped away in search of Cory who might need his help. Jake searched up and down the gravel road that went around and through the housing development they had entered. About ten minutes later he spotted his first police car. A county sheriff or deputy sheriff was patrolling the development. He wondered if the cop saw him since he saw the cop? Jake gave up on finding Cory and started concentrating on getting back to Brian’s house without any trouble with the law. He made his way to the gravel road which went around the outside of the development where he was then able to sneak back to Brian’s house. When he arrived he could see that Cory was already there. He didn’t have to ask what had happened when he saw that Brian was holding the hose and was drenching Cory in an attempt to get whatever they had used for their bombs: off of him. “Whatever it is, it stinks! And its sticky.” Cory said. “Sounds like they took a page out of our playbook.” Jake said. “The difference being that we didn’t start this war. We just took it to a higher level than they did. They threw the first stink bombs. We just retaliated with a better product.” Jeff argued. “I believe the saying goes … we didn’t start this fight but we sure are going to finish it.” “I’d say the official tally is still out.” Brian said. “Right now if you are keeping score, this most recent attack on us means it is our turn to retaliate.” “I remind that we tried to let things go at being even. Since they started it, for every side to be even, it should end with us being the last ones to retaliate. I’m certain they won’t see it that way but that is how I see it.” Jeff pointed out. “Yeah but much like is the case with almost all these types of situations, in order to achieve peace, one side may be required to be the bigger man. So to speak.” Jake said. “I know it sucks that it seems like it always has to be us.” He smiled. “But in this case isn’t the effort one which would appear obvious from an outside perspective? What I am saying is that any intelligent person would look at the parties involved, and come to the conclusion that if this foolishness is to ever come to an end which doesn’t involve violence or the police, that it will be because the Southers were willing to be the bigger man.” “I can’t argue that logic.” Jeff said. “Those guys are all a bunch of idiots who are just the type to refuse to take a high road out and instead insist on the opposing side to have to lose face in order for THEM to be able to stop chasing something which is resulting in them getting their butts kicked on a regular basis.” Cory properly washed off, the guys spent the next hour in the pool swimming and talking about what was to come. As lunch came and went, they discussed a way to put this war to bed, once and for all. “We need to put an end to this war.” Brian said, while jumping into the pool. When he came up he said, “Anybody got any ideas on how to make peace. Things have definitely gotten out of hand.” Just then John, Brian’s older brother came out of the house. “You guys know what happened to Tommy and David?” “Last I saw of them they were chasing me and they got caught in a clothes line I was able to go under. I spent the next fifteen minutes searching the neighborhood for Cory but when I saw the cops I headed for here.” Jake replied. |  “Well they got caught and are being charged with trespassing and destruction of private property.” John said. “I just got off the phone with Phil who was the one who told me what happened to Tommy and David.” “Do us a favor John. Call Phil back and see if their side won’t agree to some kind of cease fire?” Brian asked. “Or if that won’t work, then how about an end date?” Jake said. “We can agree to a balls out battle between now and the end of July or maybe the end of the first week in August, but after that anybody that breaks the cease fire gets some sort of terrible punishment. Any you guys got any ideas for that?” “How about a good butt kicking.” Jeff offered. “It has to be something that everybody has to lose, and something that everybody can be forced to give up. Butt kicking is the only punishment I can think of that will be fair to everybody.” “It shouldn’t come to that.” Brian said, climbing up on the diving board. “We’ve got football season right around the corner. I know I will put all this behind me so fast it will make heads spin. Football!” “Yeah. If any of us breaks the cease fire it will be the same as being a traitor to the team. I don’t think anybody, even Denny or Jake, who probably won’t play, would do anything to harm the chances for the team to be winners.” Jeff said. “I know I wouldn’t do anything regardless of whether I was playing. Its a matter of school spirit and all that; plus if you ever want to date any girls in that school, you better not be doing anything against it.” “Fair point.” Cory said, speaking up for the first time since being hosed down. “If I can agree to a cease fire, then everybody else ought to be able.” “I’ll make a call. Be right back.” John said. He disappeared into the house and came back a few minutes later. “I talked with Phil. He’s calling the others but unless there is a balk, then the cease fire in in effect the first Sunday of August, which gives you guys plenty of time to get your shots in. Them too. But twelve oclock Sat midnight, you are no longer allowed to fight.” Everybody agreed. The war had a date to end. However between now and then, the worst could be expected. The solution put into the bombs was so offensive that the alligator bags were doubled to help ensure they didn’t pop open before they hit their targets. They were poured into the alligator baggies using soup ladles and the ones holding the bags had rubber gloves on up to the elbows. The smell was ridiculous. The whole war was becoming ridiculous. Still as long as one side was using their nasty version of bombs, the other side felt obligated. “Man I am tired of riding around with that stuff.” Jake noted one morning when arriving at Brian’s house. “I’m going back to just water. Maybe they will agree to the same.” “How are they going to know?” Cory asked. “I guess we could have John contact them and ask.” “Yeah, that sounds like the only way.” Jake agreed. About that time Jeff came pulling up. “Hey I saw David Green headed for Denny’s. We could do a driveby.” “Sounds good. I can talk to them about cutting back to water.” Jake said. Cory and Jake headed to Denny’s and ran into Jeff on the way. The three continued on toward Denny’s house. Once they turned onto Denny’s road it was a dead end. The enemy was waiting for them. They were already on their bikes and they gunned them after the southers. All the boys knew that they were likely dodging rotten eggs, dead fish, corn suryp and possibly paint. For that reason they did anything and everything to avoid getting hit. For Jake, who had the smaller engine thus smaller framed bike, it meant he did not have the overall speed and not quite as much acceleration as his enemy but the smaller bike did offer more maneuvering plus he could much better man-handle the bike than the others. Most the others struggled to stand their bikes up if they fell over. Not so with Jake. So when the northers attacked he was taken by surprise which meant he was in trouble. He couldn’t out run the ones chasing him so he did the next best thing. He took his bike where the enemy could not, which meant he had to find either something that had a low ceiling or a very thin place to fit through. He saw a clothesline. Jake wheeled the little dirt bike into a front yard and then down the side to the back yard where he went right under the clothes line. Behind him was David Green with Denny riding on back. Denny was throwing their water bags while Jake had his where he could reach them himself. Jake had one other advantage over everybody else. He was left-handed. That meant he could maintain, or adjust the speed of his bike without him having to have both hands on the motorcycle. The others could not throw and manage the speed of their bikes because both required the right hand. Jake did not suffer that problem. After he went under the clothes line he wheeled the little bike around so that he was facing the bike that David Green was riding. Green did not have time or room to adjust to the seeing the clothes line so he was forced to put his bike down on its side so they slid under the clothes line. Jake plastered them with two bags of what they were lucky to have just been clean water. Still he had accomplished a major win considering they were set up to ambush him and his friends. Next Page |