The Wagon, the Boys, and the Wild Ride

The Wagon The Boys and The Wild Ride

After our experience with the barrel our intrepid group needed a challenge. We could conquer space; we needed more excitement more danger. How could we improve on that that experience, we thought if the three of us could get into the barrel, we would have an Apollo mission? The question was who would then launch us? Who would be mission control? We would have to wait to try that mission when we had additional help. It probably wasn’t a good idea to try it again so soon since Pappy’s lesson was still fresh on my bottom and in my mind.

We walked past the old oak tree by the driveway. The old oak tree was one of the hurdles we had to over come in our last adventure. Our journey continued past the nest of yellow jackets. The yellow jackets were at peace today so we would have to do something about that. I grabbed the bat and began swinging. The result was as predicted the insects pored out of the nest. We ran twenty-five feet away. Normally that was enough, but today they were a little more motivated. We had to run down the hill past the second old oak tree. We ran past the wire fence full of wild blue morning glories vines. We ran further to the bottom of Pappy’s property. On our way there we past the two clothes line poles that held up Pappy’s grape vines.

At the bottom of the hill there was yet another large oak tree. After the oak tree there was another hill to descend. It was so steep it might trap a wayward explorer due to its severe angle. We didn’t have to go there as the yellow jackets had given up on us. We didn’t have to, but what explorer would pass up on a chance like this. We decided we would risk being trapped and mostly fell down the hill. We came to a stop by a small a foul smelling creek. It was full of leaves and not flowing very well. The shade provided by all the large trees was welcome relief from the hot North Carolina sun. As we looked around we noticed the birds and squirrels in the trees.

This would not do, we would have to show these enemies of the country, who was boss! We began searching for anything we could fire at those creatures. We threw dirt clods, sticks, and rocks at these intruders. We would cheer any near miss as a victory against these devils. The truth is our aim was bad and each attempt to bean the creatures failed. The animal population was not overly concerned with our attacks as they leisurely relocated until the excitement subsided. We soon ran out of targets so we had to find another adventure for the day. That’s when we saw it, the wagon by the back of the garage.

The old rusty wagon had a black handle that was chipped from many hours of joyful rough play. The black tires still rolled and were in working condition. The rims were shinny white once, and had over time had faded to a flat off white. The base color was an aged muted red, which had several healthy colonies of rust. The rust added a brownish tint. The rust was thriving on the old sheet metal hull, and would one day the rust would win, and make the wagon unusable. It was not be pretty but today it could be our vehicle to outer space and beyond. We dumped the leaves and water out of it and began pulling pushing it up the hill. I put Tommy in it. He was deserving of the first ride, besides his pants would soak up some of the water and gather up some of the mud.

We past the marauding yellow jackets who had since calmed down and lost interest in us. We eventually arrived at the top of the driveway.

Tommy got out of the wagon, and confirmed my theory, his pants we were wet with mud and water. The wagon was not yet dry so I graciously offered the next ride to Eddie.

Eddie saw the potential problem with the water and dirt and was about to protest when I said, “10,9,8,7…” When the countdown got to three I interrupted it to say, “get in or it goes with out you.”

He jumped in and complained, “Why don’t we clean it first?"

The countdown was at 2, one, ignition, and then blast off! A thunderous jet engine sound provided by Tommy interrupted the quite day and Eddie was off on his way down the hill. I was the engine. Eddie steered the wagon with the handle, which folded nicely back to make a steering arm of sorts.

Eddie steered past the oak tree in the drive way and down to the second half of the yard. He wisely called, "stop here"! The engine responded a little slowly, but it did stop. The second half of the yard was separated by two levels of old railroad ties. The drop would not have been fatal, but those fourteen inches would have hurt quite a bit.

“Ok I stopped! Don’t worry do you think I would keep pushing you?” I asked.

Eddie replied “yes, let me out of here!”

Tommy arrived as Eddie had just completed his exit; from the vehicle, Eddie was still shaking, as he was sure the wagon and the ride almost become the method of his doom.

Smiling I asked, “Tommy do you want to go down the next hill?”

Eddie growling interrupted, “Why don’t you go down the next hill?”

I confidently replied to this challenge and said, “ok, I will!”

Eddie smiling said a little too wickedly, “Get in I will push you.”

I sensed a need for caution. This hill was much steeper than the driveway. The hill had a large oak tree at the bottom and after the tree was another hill even steeper with a nasty old creek at the bottom.

These were problems that could be solved. We had to find a way to stop the wagon from going too far. I had to avoid the old oak tree at the bottom of the hill. If I missed the tree then I needed to stop before the steeper hill began. I was not going to end up in the creek.

“I know you aren’t going to do it,” Eddie said taunting me.

“Yes I am,” I replied in my command voice.

“Where are you going?” He asked perplexed.

“I need to get something,” I said. I went into the garage and found some old cotton rope Pappy had bought at a flea market. He would use it as an anchor rope for his fishing boat. I reasoned if it could hold a boat then it could hold a wagon.

I explained my plan to Eddie and Tommy. They were very excited about this mission. They weren’t the ones who had to take the risks this time.
The plan was to tie the rope to the handle of the wagon. We would also tie the other end of the rope to the first metal clothes line post at the top of the hill. I tied the knots myself, this will be a great mission and could make history, I kept thinking, if all went as planned. I checked the knots twice just to make sure the rope would work correctly.

Eddie’s role in this mission was mission control and the engine. Tommy would make sure the area down the hill was clear of civilians and enemies of the government. Tommy was also the engine sound for the mission. The ropes were tripled checked and I got into the wagon. That’s when things started to go wrong. The handle was on the ground in front of the wagon as I climbed in.

I commanded, “Hand me the handle for the ship.”

Eddie did not get a chance to hand me the handle as the slope of the hill the wagon was on was severe enough to start the wagon down the hill on it’s own.

I screamed, “no, not yet!” It was too late, I was picking up speed and had no way to steer the wagon.

I was not concerned; we had tied a rope to the handle of the wagon and to the metal post of the clothesline. Our back up systems had been well planned and engineered. I decided to ride out the mission and let the backup systems work. The cotton rope line tightened as planned. In fact it tightened quickly. Too quickly! The handle jumped up and struck me in the top of my forehead. I immediately feel something warm streaming down my face. It was blood, my blood!

I screamed, "I'm bleeding!"

My ride was continuing as I had more hills in front of me. The triple checked knot holding on to the clothesline had come loose. (To this day I think the enemies of the government had sabotaged my mission and loosened the knot.)

The next concern was the oak tree at the bottom of the hill! The handle after it struck me just bounced away from me and was once again in front of the wagon. It was, until it hit the oak tree, which projected it into my head again. The warm feeling and the sting of another strike to the top of my head, continued until the front of the wagon hit the oak tree throwing me violently forward.

When I was in the barrel and hit an oak tree the metal of the barrel protected me from the rough bark the tree. The wagon offered no suck protection; the side of my face suffered a severe scrape from the aged hardened bark of the old oak tree. The glancing blow on the tree failed to prevent me from being tossed all the way down the very steep hill. I came to a stop and found myself sitting in the mud and water of the foul smelling creek. I was crying by this time and Tommy and Eddie came tumbling and sliding toward me. They helped me up and we started up the hills to get some help.

We were half way up the driveway hill when I saw Pappy coming toward us. He again was moving quickly. There was no switch this time. He was very concerned. He saw the blood and quickly put his handkerchief on my head. He was constantly wiping and checking for the severity of the injury.

“Boy what did you do to yourself?” Pappy asked.

Pappy instructed Tommy and Eddie to get the wagon and bring it up the hill. Pappy took me into the house and cleaned up my wounds. He gave me a washcloth with ice in it to hold on top of my head to make sure the wound not start bleeding again.

"You are a site," he said while smiling.

Pappy was sure I would not need stitches and he said, "Go see granny in the kitchen."

I ended up at the kitchen table and Granny provided something to drink, and a small snack for the boys and I. As Granny was preparing our refreshment she was mumbling and quietly chuckling to herself.

Pappy had questions and wanted to know how it happened. I told him my story and he found parts of it funny enough to laugh at. At least I wasn’t in trouble. I thought to myself, if I had been in the barrel I would not have been cut or hurt. If I had used the barrel I further reasoned, I might have felt the sting of Pappy's switch again.

His final thought on the day's excitement was, "Boys what am I going to do with you?" He followed it up with a big sigh and a growing smile. "Eat your snacks and finish your tea,” He said.