It's kind of like the feeling you get just before your first real kiss. Not the kind from Mom or Grandma, but your first REAL kiss. Your stomach churns, your head floats, and you heart races like two boys chasing after the ice cream truck on a hot summers day. I mean, it's just the norm when it was just the guys. No big deal, and pretty much common sense if you ask me. You didn't wanna get your clothes wet, especially since it gets cold at night.
The boys were camping, and a swim would always be the best part. The pond was only 3 miles away, just past the Grishums farm. Funny how no one ever really seemed to know what their farm was for, or what they did over there. I'd heard strange stories of odd lights at night, and weird smells in the fall, and oddly no dogs or cats to be heard of. Just Clyde and Prudence. Those two would chase you off the property faster than most dogs could. Oh, but let me be clear about this. Those aren't the first names of Mr. and Mrs. Grishum, their names are John and Ellie. Nice folks too. Always patted me on my head when they saw me in town. But no, Clyde and Prudence were the names of the Grishums goats.
Stephen got to the camp site first, set up the tent, and started to gather up some kindlin'. Mean while Jarred had to finish his sisters chores for the day, because she snitched on him for filling her pretty pink shoes with worms. So when Jarred got to the camp site he passed the paper cup to Stephen, that he dumped the worms into from his sisters shoes. "They aren't all squished are they?" Stephen asked. "Naw, just a little smelly from being where Sandy's feet have been." He replied. Stephen took a quick sniff, and started to make a gagging/choking sound, then reached over and placed that cup right under my nose. "Want some Henry?" They both just snickered, grabbed their fishing poles, and headed toward the dock. Most of the time Jarred would catch the MOST fish, and Stephen seemed to always catch the BIGGER ones. None-the-less, they were gonna eat good tonight. On his way to the pond, Stephen would snatch up and borrow his grandma's cast iron skillet, with her blessing of course. She was onto the boys shenanigans most of the time, but tolerated it cause....well just because. Grandmas Love could explain many a thing in life. Though grandma could hold her own, and had many a time evened up the score keeping them boys in remembrance of who was top dog, or queen bee. Like the time those two boys snuck into the cookie jar for some of grandmas Oatmeal Surprise cookies, and Surprise ! ! there was hot sauce in 'em. Them boys were trying to suck down water so fast, it came out a nostril or two. Anyway, to be added to the fish, later placed on some camping plates, Jarred would often bring some almost stale potato chips. They took turns bringing the quart bottle of some local brand soda.
After three hours of soaking in the sun, and having caught all the fish they wanted, the boys decided to take a long weeks well deserved swim. After all, it was Friday. They had almost cleared the week without getting into some kind of trouble (they pants another kid in gym class), and all their chores (plus Sandy's) were done. Even Saturday chores. So after a quick scan of the terrain and pond, they tossed their clothes into the tent and ran for the end of dock as if some crazy Labrador Retriever was chasing them, nipping at their legs. And there was. Me. After that cup of worms up the nose, I had to do something to show 'em I was the Alpha Male. "GERONIMO" and "BOMBS AWAY" echoed off the near by pines on the other side of the pond. SPLASH, SPLASH and SPLASH again. We all hit the water, and those two sunk to the bottom. Only eight feet deep around the dock. They splashed around and kept diving to the bottom for some kind of buried treasure. I just "dog" paddled to the shore, shook the water off, and went back to the dock to sit and watch. They swam a couple of races from the dock to the patch of Lilly pads and back, and just when they decided to call it quits and headed toward the dock's ladder...we saw 'em. Clyde and Prudence were chewing on everything in the vicinity of the tent. Clothes, the tent, and the bag of chips. All scattered around the camps site. The boys hooted and hollered, and I barked trying to scare them two goats. All to no avail. So just as the bare bottom of Jarred started to come up out of the water, coming from behind the blackberry bushes straight toward the dock was Sandy and the rest of her lil entourage of girls, known as "The BOB". There were many a theory about the origin or meaning to the name of The BOB. Was it from the Bobby socks they would all wear, or from that hair cut style? The girls just claimed it was an acronym for Bountiful On Beauty.
Quickly Stephen grabbed Jarred's arm and pulled him back into the water as the girls approached. The gar-girls (Stephen pet name for the BOB) giggled and laughed, the boys hollered, and the goats kept on chewing. The boys tried to swim to another part of the pond to try and hide in the weeds, but would get there at the same time as the girls would. Over and over for 25 minutes the girls followed them around, taunting them about being naked (going back to the beginning for a moment, the boys found out the hard way, that even if only your underwear was wet, it made for an uncomfortable nights sleep, and besides, the girls would have made more fun if they had seen the boys in their water stretched Fruit of the Looms). Finally it came down to just three choices. Stay in the water until it got too late for the girls to be out, act like men and act like it didn't bother them to be seen and come out of the water to chase the goats away, orrrrrrrrrr.............(my personal favorite) dive to the bottom of the pond, grab a huge handful of goop and slime, and start slinging it at the girls and goats.
The boys were not "men" yet, and their fingers and toes were getting to be pretty pruney, And slinging mud WAS allot of of fun. So they dove and they slung. Several times to the bottom and Jarred caught hold of an old coffee can and scooped up a load of slimy mud. Then Jarred had what he would later call a moment of brilliance. We just called it a thought. One of the boys could cover his front side with the can and chase the goats away and collect some clothing.......but who. "not it, Not It, NOT IT" echoes bounced around the area and then in unison, "ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS" they shouted. They played best 2 out of 3 and Stephen won. Or did he lose. They hadn't decided if winning meant staying in the water or wearing a Folgers Logo on your Lower parts, so they had to play again. And this time Stephen definitely lost.
Coffee can covering his privates, and Jarred fast balling mud at his back to get him moving faster, Stephen ran screaming like a lunatic toward the goats. Clyde and Prudence bolted up the hill toward the farm. Then Stephen grabbed what clothes he could find, dove into the now dilapidated tent and put his pants on backwards, and his t-shirt on inside out. Seconds later he came out and grabbed one of their dinner's fish and began to chase the girls around with it. He actually made cheek to fish contact with Viola, and then tossed it at Nancy which made her jump to miss getting hit and when she landed her feet met with a fresh goat patty. Jarred cheered his best friend on taking one step up the ladder, with every few the girls were taking away from the dock. The girls ran away laughing about coaxing the goats to follow them to the pond. The boys later decided that there were absolutely consequences to be paid for the now NOT so mosquito repellent tent damage. But no plans until tomorrow after they would have had a good fish dinner and a decent nights sleep.
While cooking the 3 fish that didn't come into contact with a girl or a goat, the boys concluded that the afternoon wasn't a complete loss. The boys spent the rest of the evening chuckling over each others face expressions, when they spotted the girls seemingly seeing them in their birthday suits. And all I can say is sorry folks, but there aren't any pictures of the whole incident to go along with the story. I am a dog after all. Yes, that's right. I am the boys dog Henry. I get to pal around with my two best friends in the world who are also best friends to each other. So much so that when I came into their lives they couldn't decide who should get to keep me so they decided to share. And we all like it, just the way it is.
Until Next time,
Henry the Dog
The boys were camping, and a swim would always be the best part. The pond was only 3 miles away, just past the Grishums farm. Funny how no one ever really seemed to know what their farm was for, or what they did over there. I'd heard strange stories of odd lights at night, and weird smells in the fall, and oddly no dogs or cats to be heard of. Just Clyde and Prudence. Those two would chase you off the property faster than most dogs could. Oh, but let me be clear about this. Those aren't the first names of Mr. and Mrs. Grishum, their names are John and Ellie. Nice folks too. Always patted me on my head when they saw me in town. But no, Clyde and Prudence were the names of the Grishums goats.
Stephen got to the camp site first, set up the tent, and started to gather up some kindlin'. Mean while Jarred had to finish his sisters chores for the day, because she snitched on him for filling her pretty pink shoes with worms. So when Jarred got to the camp site he passed the paper cup to Stephen, that he dumped the worms into from his sisters shoes. "They aren't all squished are they?" Stephen asked. "Naw, just a little smelly from being where Sandy's feet have been." He replied. Stephen took a quick sniff, and started to make a gagging/choking sound, then reached over and placed that cup right under my nose. "Want some Henry?" They both just snickered, grabbed their fishing poles, and headed toward the dock. Most of the time Jarred would catch the MOST fish, and Stephen seemed to always catch the BIGGER ones. None-the-less, they were gonna eat good tonight. On his way to the pond, Stephen would snatch up and borrow his grandma's cast iron skillet, with her blessing of course. She was onto the boys shenanigans most of the time, but tolerated it cause....well just because. Grandmas Love could explain many a thing in life. Though grandma could hold her own, and had many a time evened up the score keeping them boys in remembrance of who was top dog, or queen bee. Like the time those two boys snuck into the cookie jar for some of grandmas Oatmeal Surprise cookies, and Surprise ! ! there was hot sauce in 'em. Them boys were trying to suck down water so fast, it came out a nostril or two. Anyway, to be added to the fish, later placed on some camping plates, Jarred would often bring some almost stale potato chips. They took turns bringing the quart bottle of some local brand soda.
After three hours of soaking in the sun, and having caught all the fish they wanted, the boys decided to take a long weeks well deserved swim. After all, it was Friday. They had almost cleared the week without getting into some kind of trouble (they pants another kid in gym class), and all their chores (plus Sandy's) were done. Even Saturday chores. So after a quick scan of the terrain and pond, they tossed their clothes into the tent and ran for the end of dock as if some crazy Labrador Retriever was chasing them, nipping at their legs. And there was. Me. After that cup of worms up the nose, I had to do something to show 'em I was the Alpha Male. "GERONIMO" and "BOMBS AWAY" echoed off the near by pines on the other side of the pond. SPLASH, SPLASH and SPLASH again. We all hit the water, and those two sunk to the bottom. Only eight feet deep around the dock. They splashed around and kept diving to the bottom for some kind of buried treasure. I just "dog" paddled to the shore, shook the water off, and went back to the dock to sit and watch. They swam a couple of races from the dock to the patch of Lilly pads and back, and just when they decided to call it quits and headed toward the dock's ladder...we saw 'em. Clyde and Prudence were chewing on everything in the vicinity of the tent. Clothes, the tent, and the bag of chips. All scattered around the camps site. The boys hooted and hollered, and I barked trying to scare them two goats. All to no avail. So just as the bare bottom of Jarred started to come up out of the water, coming from behind the blackberry bushes straight toward the dock was Sandy and the rest of her lil entourage of girls, known as "The BOB". There were many a theory about the origin or meaning to the name of The BOB. Was it from the Bobby socks they would all wear, or from that hair cut style? The girls just claimed it was an acronym for Bountiful On Beauty.
Quickly Stephen grabbed Jarred's arm and pulled him back into the water as the girls approached. The gar-girls (Stephen pet name for the BOB) giggled and laughed, the boys hollered, and the goats kept on chewing. The boys tried to swim to another part of the pond to try and hide in the weeds, but would get there at the same time as the girls would. Over and over for 25 minutes the girls followed them around, taunting them about being naked (going back to the beginning for a moment, the boys found out the hard way, that even if only your underwear was wet, it made for an uncomfortable nights sleep, and besides, the girls would have made more fun if they had seen the boys in their water stretched Fruit of the Looms). Finally it came down to just three choices. Stay in the water until it got too late for the girls to be out, act like men and act like it didn't bother them to be seen and come out of the water to chase the goats away, orrrrrrrrrr.............(my personal favorite) dive to the bottom of the pond, grab a huge handful of goop and slime, and start slinging it at the girls and goats.
The boys were not "men" yet, and their fingers and toes were getting to be pretty pruney, And slinging mud WAS allot of of fun. So they dove and they slung. Several times to the bottom and Jarred caught hold of an old coffee can and scooped up a load of slimy mud. Then Jarred had what he would later call a moment of brilliance. We just called it a thought. One of the boys could cover his front side with the can and chase the goats away and collect some clothing.......but who. "not it, Not It, NOT IT" echoes bounced around the area and then in unison, "ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS" they shouted. They played best 2 out of 3 and Stephen won. Or did he lose. They hadn't decided if winning meant staying in the water or wearing a Folgers Logo on your Lower parts, so they had to play again. And this time Stephen definitely lost.
Coffee can covering his privates, and Jarred fast balling mud at his back to get him moving faster, Stephen ran screaming like a lunatic toward the goats. Clyde and Prudence bolted up the hill toward the farm. Then Stephen grabbed what clothes he could find, dove into the now dilapidated tent and put his pants on backwards, and his t-shirt on inside out. Seconds later he came out and grabbed one of their dinner's fish and began to chase the girls around with it. He actually made cheek to fish contact with Viola, and then tossed it at Nancy which made her jump to miss getting hit and when she landed her feet met with a fresh goat patty. Jarred cheered his best friend on taking one step up the ladder, with every few the girls were taking away from the dock. The girls ran away laughing about coaxing the goats to follow them to the pond. The boys later decided that there were absolutely consequences to be paid for the now NOT so mosquito repellent tent damage. But no plans until tomorrow after they would have had a good fish dinner and a decent nights sleep.
While cooking the 3 fish that didn't come into contact with a girl or a goat, the boys concluded that the afternoon wasn't a complete loss. The boys spent the rest of the evening chuckling over each others face expressions, when they spotted the girls seemingly seeing them in their birthday suits. And all I can say is sorry folks, but there aren't any pictures of the whole incident to go along with the story. I am a dog after all. Yes, that's right. I am the boys dog Henry. I get to pal around with my two best friends in the world who are also best friends to each other. So much so that when I came into their lives they couldn't decide who should get to keep me so they decided to share. And we all like it, just the way it is.
Until Next time,
Henry the Dog
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