Post by Two Tales on Mar 7, 2007 4:06:21 GMT 12.75
I don't think I have ever told this here but thinking back on it makes me break out in a cold sweat...
When you are a child of 7 or 8 years of age you don't really grasp the mortality thing with a real good understanding...during kids games you are shot 100 times and scalped just as many crashed in the fastest car in the world and all the great stuff that make kids games fun...
During one of those lazy hot late summer afternoons when the sky opens up and all the water in the world comes dumping out of the sky and you run for the nearest cover...our refuse was Grandma's big ol'barn...standing so tall with the sweet smell of wheat straw and hay...well this ol barn had a hidden treasure...a kind of hidey-hole with a trap door...it hadn't been opened in many years and and it's black gapping maw seemed like the entrance to the tunnel to the center of the earth to 2 young fellows like my brother and I...so the adventure was set into motion
some rummaging around above ground found us a coal oil lamp with just enough oil to make it last the whole the trip...if we didn't turn it up too high...some rope, and a couple of old wax candles...
we climbed down into the black void on an old rickety latter and scanned our surroundings..we were somewhat disappointed to find that we were only in a room about 8 foot sq with earthen shelves all around the outer walls about 3 feet high and just as deep...it was basically empty save a few wooden baskets and some old leather straps that used to be harnesses...sadly this seemed to end our "Journey to the Center of the Earth"
But as young minds tend to do we were hatching new and wonderful ways to make this a spectacular hide out for the ruthless outlaw band that sometimes terrorized my sisters and their friends
On the way back up the latter my brother spotted and old wooden box way back in the farthest reaches of one of the shelves covered with dust and age looking every bit the pirate's treasure chest ...
dragging it out and dropping it to the floor, we pried open the frail lid and found only mis-shaped tubes made of what appeared to be cardboard with a slick, slightly sticky wet surface...at first we were just going to leave it there but thought we had better put it back well the box being very old just seemed to kind of fall apart so we picked up the tubes and were stacking them on the shelf...
this is when we discovered that the sticky wet stuff would do neat things like "pop" when slung against the wall...we kept running our stubby li'l fingers over them tubes and slinging it against the walls and floor and even tried to hit each other with it a few times..it was great fun making this "popping water" snap and pop...
How long we were down there I have no idea, but it was long enough for the Big Folks to wonder were the heck we had gotten off to..and they came looking for us
We were both hauled up out of there by the backs of our t shirts and dumped unceremoniously of the barn floor..that's when my Uncle shouted up for every one to get the HE77 Out of there in a hurry..I couldn't figure what all the excitement was about and said something to the effect "it's just a li'l popping water..."
Well it turns out that we played in the Devil's back yard that day and walked (or rather, were drug) away...luckly none of our mad slinging deposited itself on the whole stack of tubes or I would not be here typing this in a cold sweet...
When you are a child of 7 or 8 years of age you don't really grasp the mortality thing with a real good understanding...during kids games you are shot 100 times and scalped just as many crashed in the fastest car in the world and all the great stuff that make kids games fun...
During one of those lazy hot late summer afternoons when the sky opens up and all the water in the world comes dumping out of the sky and you run for the nearest cover...our refuse was Grandma's big ol'barn...standing so tall with the sweet smell of wheat straw and hay...well this ol barn had a hidden treasure...a kind of hidey-hole with a trap door...it hadn't been opened in many years and and it's black gapping maw seemed like the entrance to the tunnel to the center of the earth to 2 young fellows like my brother and I...so the adventure was set into motion
some rummaging around above ground found us a coal oil lamp with just enough oil to make it last the whole the trip...if we didn't turn it up too high...some rope, and a couple of old wax candles...
we climbed down into the black void on an old rickety latter and scanned our surroundings..we were somewhat disappointed to find that we were only in a room about 8 foot sq with earthen shelves all around the outer walls about 3 feet high and just as deep...it was basically empty save a few wooden baskets and some old leather straps that used to be harnesses...sadly this seemed to end our "Journey to the Center of the Earth"
But as young minds tend to do we were hatching new and wonderful ways to make this a spectacular hide out for the ruthless outlaw band that sometimes terrorized my sisters and their friends
On the way back up the latter my brother spotted and old wooden box way back in the farthest reaches of one of the shelves covered with dust and age looking every bit the pirate's treasure chest ...
dragging it out and dropping it to the floor, we pried open the frail lid and found only mis-shaped tubes made of what appeared to be cardboard with a slick, slightly sticky wet surface...at first we were just going to leave it there but thought we had better put it back well the box being very old just seemed to kind of fall apart so we picked up the tubes and were stacking them on the shelf...
this is when we discovered that the sticky wet stuff would do neat things like "pop" when slung against the wall...we kept running our stubby li'l fingers over them tubes and slinging it against the walls and floor and even tried to hit each other with it a few times..it was great fun making this "popping water" snap and pop...
How long we were down there I have no idea, but it was long enough for the Big Folks to wonder were the heck we had gotten off to..and they came looking for us
We were both hauled up out of there by the backs of our t shirts and dumped unceremoniously of the barn floor..that's when my Uncle shouted up for every one to get the HE77 Out of there in a hurry..I couldn't figure what all the excitement was about and said something to the effect "it's just a li'l popping water..."
Well it turns out that we played in the Devil's back yard that day and walked (or rather, were drug) away...luckly none of our mad slinging deposited itself on the whole stack of tubes or I would not be here typing this in a cold sweet...