A night in the cold

AIt must have been 4 feet long and must have weighed at least 30 lbs.  It was one of the slimiest ones we ever caught.  The tentacles were almost a foot long and the scales where the size of quarters.@  AYeah right, we believe you, (Paste your name here).@   While my peers were playing video games or hide-and-go-seek, (a friends name) and I were out ether exploring the unknown, or sleeping from staying out all night.  None of the students in my sixth grade class Ashow and tell@ believed me when I told them about the unforgettable experiences (a friends name) and I endeavored. To tell the truth, I didnt really want them to believe me. 

If one of them told my mom what (a friends name) and I did then our little butts would have been grounded for a serious amount of time.  The fishing stories that I told where true, all true. 

(a friends name) and I had gone on many explorations to far off places.  We had sneaking out at night down to such an art that if we could put it on paper then it would be more famous then Leonardo da Vinci=s painting, The Last Supper.  We would sometimes make dummy bodies that would lie lifeless all night under tightly nitid sheets.   The Abig yellow house@ is where we met.  From there we would do whatever sounded like the most fun.  Sometimes it was hanging out and eating ice cream all night. Other times we would go tick someone off by tee-peeing their house.  And yes, there were even times when we would go fishing at this lake that was out in the middle of nowhere.  We called this lake the back-lake because it was the lake way in the back of the golf course.  One night (a friends name) and I had an experience there that would shake us up for a long time to come.

The night started out like a lot of other nights.  First we went to go eat some ice-cream from Foster-Freeze, then we would get on our bicycles and pedal our little butts all the way to the golf course.  Once there, we would get on this road that golf carts use to drive around. The road was very windy.  When we arrived we would just throw our bikes down and run like little rabbits down to the lake.  We would start casting as fast as we could.  We would cast so fast that I don=t think we remembered to put bait on the hook.  After the first few minutes of fishing, (a friends name) and I would start getting into competitions with each other.  Who ever caught the most Large Mouth Bass one.  I being the younger one, usually lost. 

Later that night, we had an experience that would excite us for the rest of the night.  Howling Coyotes were a normal sound for two in the morning. But hearing them get louder and louder was not.  It was almost like a train, at first there is just a quiet hum then the amplitude of the whistle would rise a little bit until eventually the train could be seen.  But seeing a train coming is not as bad as seeing a bunch of blood thirsty dogs running full speed at you in the middle of the night.  So, our instincts took for a little run.  We ran and ran and ran and ran.   I was the younger of the two of us and I always told (a friends name) that I was going to live longer then him.  As (a friends name) got farther and farther ahead of me, I started to wonder if I would really live longer then him. 

The distance we ran was about a quarter mile.  It did not seem like a quarter mile though, it seemed to be more like a mile.  I still wonder if we ran around in circles.  I felt like one of those young wilder beasts that I always see get chased down by giant Lions on the Discovery channel.   My body pumped so much adrenalin in me that I felt like I could jump over a six foot fence.  Well guess what happened, there was a six foot fence.  I could not get over it by myself, I had to have (a friends name) stick his hands through the fence so I could get over.  Behind the fence was someone=s backyard.  We ran to the house and rested next to a large window to catch our breath. 

About ten minutes passed we caught a glimpse of a man getting a cup of coffee in the middle of the night.  We were sitting right under the kitchen window and the light coming from inside lit our sox up like two flourescent beacons.  I am glad he did not see us.  I could almost hear my dad=s belt snarl.  After the man had his midnight coffee the lights went out.

It was about four in the morning when the shrubs breakfast woke us up.  We were sitting right in front of a two sprinklers. It took us about two seconds to depart out of the backyard.  We went back to where we were fishing.  All the hot dogs that we used for fishing bait were gone.  It was OK that the dogs devoured our hot dogs because we were probably not going to fish in the morning, anyway. 

I learned that it is not always a good idea to think about my self.  Just think, I could have been a giant hot dog.  My entire body could of been used for a snack.  We should all treat others how we wish they would treat us.  (a friends name) showed me that he did not only think about himself, he also though of me.  If (a friends name) did not help me over the fence then I would have turned into chop-stewy, or more accurately, grade AA@ chop-stewy.

Although I didn=t get everyone to believe my Ashow and tell@ speech, I did undisputably get everyone=s absolute attention.

For when I am 65 years old and am laying in a hospital bed and hear the hart monitor fo from a beep to a hum, I will end my journey to the Big-Bright-Light with the thought of my mom, my dad, my sister, my brother, my wife, and that one special best friend, (a friends name).  And maybe, just maybe, I will be able to go fishing in a place and in a time that is oh so familiar once more in a place called haven.