| Suddenly they were surprised to see two vehicles, a car followed by a pickup truck which was full of high school kids. When they got closer it became obvious they were all girls. Brian’s oldest sister had come home with her soccer team and they were headed for the pool. After they had pulled up the driveway, parked, and then went racing for the swimming pool, some of the girls stripping off shirts and pants to reveal bikinis, Jake looked at Cory and said, “Its not that late. I think I might hang out a little longer.” Cory replied in a calm, matter-of-fact tone, “I believe you are right. It is too early to be going home now. My mother would think I was either sick or that I had done something I should not have; yes, I also will be returning to Brian’s room to spend some more quality time with my … er, Jake?” He was gone. Cory looked toward the front door of the house and saw Jake racing for it, big fat rear-end trying to keep pace with the rest of him. Cory laughed , jumped off his bike and also, ran for the front door as fast as possible. A few minutes later the two were wrestling with Brian for a spot to see out his bedroom window. They watched as all the high school-aged girls went splashing, diving, running and jumping around the pool. After a couple of hours and the sun was making a serious drop toward the horizon, the three boys snuck out to the pool. Some of the girls had went home by then but there were still half a dozen hanging out in the water or next to the pool. The guys just kept quiet and felt lucky to be there. Occasionally they would get a question from one of the girls which they answered with the eagerness of a puppy to a bowl of milk. Jake got in trouble for coming home late. So did Cory. Brian got to enjoy four of the girls that ended up spending the night. He was happy to tell the guys all about his evening with the high school girls. That Brian was luckier than a guy with a two-headed coin at a coin flipping contest. That night about two hours past the midnight hour, Brian got a visit. It was Jake. He had snuck out of his house and walked through two miles of pastures complete with cows sleeping in them, to get there. Brian woke up long enough to tell him he was too late. The girls had went to sleep hours ago. “Oh well. It was worth the walk. A guy never knows.” “Be safe walking home Jake.” “I will.” The next day Brian asked Jake when he arrived in the morning, “Did I see you last night? Or did i just dream it?” “No you saw me. I couldn’t sleep so I decided to walk over. Looks like you had quite a night, based on how the down stairs looks. There’s two girls sleeping in the living room. Or I should say there were. They probably are up by now?” He said in a questioning tone. Brian replied, “Yeah, they went home. I made sure to get up in time to see them off.” “Don’t you love the things girls sleep in?” Jake asked. “Yeah.” Brian answered. “Well don’t just stand there. Tell me what they were wearing?” Jake said. “Okay but then you tell me what a two mile walk, each way, was like in the middle of the night?” Brian countered. “It’s nothing really. Ever since my folks broke up I have been unable to sleep so I sometimes sneak out of the house and do various things. Mostly I go fishing but other times I go on walks. I’ve made it over to the intersection before, I just didn’t see any reason in waking you up so I turned around and walked home.” “You remember that night last year around Christmas when you walked over and it was freezing rain?” Brian asked. “Sure.” “My mom thought you were crazy. She had never had to chip frozen ice off any of our coat hoods so that we could get our heads out.” Brian laughed. “I never saw my mom so shocked that a kid could end up that way.” “Yeah I was surprised she let me walk back home but it was way too slick out for cars. Did you know when I walked home that I went through the pasture at first to take the shortest route, but then when I got out on the blacktop road, I tried to walk down the middle of the road because it kept wanting to slide me off toward the ditch. Later I found out that the roads are something like six inches higher in the middle than they are on the side, so that water will run off and not pool. Well that six inches must have been enough when the road was ice slick, because that is exactly what it did. It kept trying to force me to slide off the road.” Brian said, “I guess you didn’t have to worry about any cars coming down the road.” “Not a chance that night. When I got home my mom had to do the same thing again for me to be able to take off the coat. She had to chip away the ice that built up on the hood. You know when that coat is zipped way up it creates a hood that has almost a tunnel that your eyes look out. Of course the further up you take the zipper, the more closed the tunnel becomes. So by the time I got home I had complete tunnel vision. Anyways, that was an experience I won’t soon forget. The way that it was so slick that I was literally unable to stay on the road even in the parts where it was level ground. Just that six inch difference was enough to cause me to slide off the road.” “Hey.” It was Jeff. He had arrived. A few minutes later Cory came strolling in. The guys decided they would hang out at Brian’s that day, his sisters were going away with friends so he had the pool to himself and his older brother. “Me an’ Cory can run up to the quick-stop and grab something to drink and maybe some munchies.” Jake offered. “Sounds good. We’ll be here when you get back.” Brian said. Cory and Jake fired up their bikes and took off for the quick-stop. When they came out they were forced with a decision. They could either throw out their arsenal of water bombs to make room for all the stuff they bought, or they could risk carrying it in the grocery sacks while balancing it on their laps. They did the sensible thing and tossed the water bombs. Then they headed back to Brian’s house. |  The late June summer morning was giving way to the heat that was to come in the later part of the day. There was a slight wind. It was another beautiful summer day in Kansas. Cory and Jake took turns speeding ahead of the other. Suddenly there was the sound of motorcycles approaching quickly. Then they saw the Northers coming after them. Splat! Splat! Both boys were hit but they gunned their bikes and arrived at Brian’s house a few minutes later. “What stinks?!!!” Jake cried. “It’s us!” Cory replied, shaking his hands and taking off his shirt. “They had something that stinks in those bags!” “Lets grab the hose and get cleaned off.” Jake said. He and Cory marched around the house until they found the hose and spicket. Brian walked out and cranked the water on and then first Cory, then Jake, used the hose to get rinsed off. “What happened to you two?” Brian asked, standing next to the spicket ready to turn off the water. The two boys explained how they had been ambushed. That the bags they were hit with, must have had something stinky in them. “Which ones attacked you?” Jeff asked. “You won’t believe it. When I heard the sound of a bike coming up behind us I didn’t think anything about it at first cause I was pretty sure it was Denny’s bike.” “He had Mike Berlin riding shotgun and Phil was on the second bike by himself. He obviously has fashioned his own version of a means for carrying his ammunition. We only saw the two bikes.” Cory said. “So Denny is playing for the other team now. The only true loss of that is that it gives the Northers a safe base down here in our territory. They must have been on their way to Denny’s when they saw you guys leave the quick-stop.” Brian said. “So we will have to be on our guard even when in our own territory.” The boys did spend the rest of that day at Brian’s house. They discussed different strategies and different things to use as ammunition. The use of something stinky just elevated the war to a whole new level. ———– Chapter ———————– The Fourth of July celebration in Staywell consisted of a daytime parade of locals showing off their tractors and hay trailers which were decorated to various degrees. There was a three-legged race, egg tossing contest and several other family-orientated games which were to take place just before the preparation for the shooting of the fireworks. Basically it meant that about the time people would normally be caught in rush hour traffic, that on this day they would be in a three-legged race or perhaps a relay race that involved how much water a person could carry in a tablespoon while racing across a field. There were some stands set up for drinks, snacks and even a few carnival games like pop the balloon with the dart, the ring toss and even a target shooting stand. People were everywhere, some walking, some sitting in groups and some riding around on their tractors, bicycles, scooters and of course, motorcycles. Both the Northers and the Southers were making the rounds. If someone had bothered to look closely, they would have saw that each of the gangs had their own versions of water bombs. Each had their own version for a way of carrying the bombs. Each side knew the other was armed but neither side was sure what the other was using for ammunition. Next Page |