Toothbrushes and tires.

Jarred turned 3 shades of ghost, and Stephen nearly wet himself, as the car drifted slowly backwards toward the pond. "stop it. Stop It. STOP IT!" Stephen screamed in a pitch that made my ears duck for cover. Everything was happening in slow motion. Except for the boys heart beats. "Jaaaarrrrreeeed, Juuuump baaaack iiiinnn annnnnnnd puuuuuuush theeee braaaaaake." Stephen hollered. thumpthump thumpthump thumpthump thumpthump thump.......... Jarred's heart raced. But his feet weren't moving. He looked over at Stephen, back at the car, and back over to Stephen who was motioning for Jarred to jump in the car. I had raced around the car about 7 times yelling for them to see what was happening. I tried to warn em'. But would they listen to me? NO WAY. Goofy boys. thumpthump thumpthump thumpthump Stephen's heart must have been pumping 900 gallons a second. And I think at one point it just stopped all together as he watched his life flash before his eyes.

See, earlier that day, Stephen and Jarred begged and finally convinced Stephen's older brother to let them use the car to pull some of the junk out of the pond. You know, a shopping cart some kid "borrowed" from the market, a few bicycles, and what ever else they could find. Two weeks prior, Stephen had jumped in the water and struck his knee on one of those bikes and split it wide open. He had 5 stitches and a black and blue mark that made even his dad cringe. The boys figured that what ever they couldn't salvage as parts for their bikes they could take to the dump and look like hero's to the rest of the community for cleaning up the pond. And well, it was about time they look good, rather than look guilty.

Stephen's older brother would drop off his "beater-mobile" (That's what Stephen called it) and leave it with the boys while he visited with his girl friend. Joyce lived just beyond the little grove of trees on the other side of the pond. She loved wild flowers and the little forest always sprouted up a few thousand in the center where there was a nice mini-meadow. So Paul, Stephen's older brother, dropped off the car and told them "Do not take this car out of the area of the pond. When you park it, put it in neutral, and put the parking break on 'before you get out'." He turned to leave, and then turned back toward the boys. " And leave my radio alone. If I come back and the station is changed I'm gonna pound you both." He finished with a closed fist and a little smirk. No, they weren't old enough to drive, but Paul had been teaching Stephen and Jarred how to drive stick shift on the back roads between Gruberville, and Willoby. They would go to Willoby to fish sometimes. They went to a hidden lake, and it was supposed to be off limits to the public, but no one really enforced the law. They would sometimes see the Chief of Police from Gruberville there too.

So the boys started their task. Jarred brought a rope from home. They took turns jumping in and tying the rope to the junk at the bottom of the pond. Seven bikes in all. What was it about riding your bike off of the little dock that appealed to these kids. Anyway, three of them had gotten tangled up together and proved to be a "real deep mud booger" (Jarred's term) to get out. The handle bars from one of the bikes seemed to dig deeper and get stuck in the mud. 7 bikes, 1 shopping card, 4 fishing poles, (one with a GI-Joe and Barbie tied to the end , and 2 coffee cans full of dead worms and mud. Yum yum. Don't ask me to explain the GI-Joe and Barbie. It must be a human thing.

Their task complete, the boys decided to go for a real swim now. Stephen's knee carving had healed shut and was okay to get wet now. They untied the rope from the bumper, tossed it with the other junk in the trunk, and headed for the dock. "Smallest canon ball splash gets two punches in the arm." Jarred hollered, ( BARK BARK - Hey you goobers - BARK BARK) "You're on." Stephen answered back. The punches would never get thrown. Since neither boy could see his own splash, they couldn't agree who's was smaller. And besides that.........(Rrrr-ruff Bark BARK - Somethings wrong over here - Bark BARK) "Well come on Henry." Stephen said without turning back. So he didn't see me racing around the car like a maniac. Stephen reached the dock first, but stopped as he caught Jarred out of the corner of his eye. "Hey you guys, c'mon." I stopped running and just sat down. Jarred's face had turned 3 shades of Ghost. Stephen got a glimpse of what Jarred was looking at and nearly wet him self from the inside of his shorts. The "Bubba Beater" (Paul's nickname from the football team.) was headed for the pond. "You forgot to set the break." Stephen cried out. Jarred was the last to drive it. If you can call moving 30 feet 'driving'. It wasn't much of a hill, but with the trunk stuffed with all the dismembered bike and other findings (Minus the shopping cart. They had plans for the cart) there was just enough extra weight to give it a little momentum. Both of the boys hearts were racing. It wasn't the greatest car in town, but Paul bought it with his own money and that meant something. 'He's gonna kill us.' The boys both thought to themselves. Stephen headed toward Jarred and the car. Finally, I thought. Maybe now you guys will start listening to me more often. Jarred looked at the car, looked at me, looked at the car again, looked back toward Stephen, looked at the car once more, looked at me again, and finally after 3.8 seconds and almost getting whiplash Jarred darted for the car. He fumbled with the door handle for what seemed like an eternity, popped open the door, jumped in, landed both feet on the foot brake, grabbed the parking brake with both hands and came to a sliding on wet grass halt. Just 2 inches from the water sat the tires.

Whew!!!! That was close. Bar rar rar ruff - 'Hey guys!?! Why are the tires sinking?' I asked.

Well, when Stephen's brother returned they tried 2 bags of sand, and a 2 x 4, but ended up calling one of Paul's buddies to come tow the car out of the mud with his truck. Paul wasn't angry, but he did have the boys scrub his new wheels and tires with two old toothbrushes until they sparkled again.

Henry the dog.