FOUR: TRAIN DODGE

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We all met at the tracks, and Gordie and Chris told us about the gun firing, and how one of the Tupper-Babes almost caught them

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We all met at the tracks, and Gordie and Chris told us about the gun firing, and how one of the Tupper-Babes almost caught them. I've never loved guns, I wasn't against them by any means, in fact my dad had a rifle of his own, however, a gang of twelve to thirteen year old kids having a gun? That's just not safe. However, Teddy and Vern thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread.

"What do we need a gun for anyway?" Vern asked.

"We might see a bear." Chris replied, then adding with a smirk, "or a garbage can."

I chuckled lightly and walked next to Teddy, my shoulder ached and felt swollen. Can shoulders even swell? Is that possible? That's what I thought about while we walked in a comfortable silence down the tracks. I didn't have much to say throughout our journey. It was dawning over me that we were going see a dead kid. We lied to our parents to go see a dead kid that hasn't been found besides Billy and Charlie Hogan. But, to the boys it seemed to be a party.

The sun was beating down on all of us, sweat brimmed my forehead as I took a sip of water from my canteen. I wiped my mouth off and continued trudging along next to Teddy. The hike to the back of Harlow Road was twenty, or maybe thirty miles.

"What did the elephant say to the naked man?" I asked, when silence fell over us.

"What?" They queried.

"How do you breath out of that thing?" I smirked, and all, except Vern, burst out in laughter.

"I don't get it." Said Vern.

"Oh Verno... just use that brain of yours and you might." I smiled.

"I brought a comb." Vern said after a minute, holding a white comb up proudly.

"What do we need that for?" Teddy questioned.

"Well if we go on TV we wanna look good, don't we?" He replied, "and besides, I've seen Lydia's hair in the morning. It's not pretty."

"Excuse me?" I asked, turning my head at Vern and glaring at him.

"I- I meant it looks r- ravishing, Lydia. Yeah, ravishing." He said nervously, and I smiled and chuckled.

"I'm just pullin' your leg, Verno, I brought a hair brush with me." I said.

"Oh." Vern says.

I chuckled once again and readjusted the strap on my backpack. We all carried on for another hour, my stomach was beginning to rumble, however, I kept quiet, because all I brought was a little box of raisins.

"Hey you guys, I'm getting kinda hungry." Vern said, and we all stopped. He thought of a comb, and he has a crew cut, but didn't bring some sort of food?

"Shit, did anybody bring anything?" Teddy questioned.

"I have a small box of raisins." I said.

"Raisins? That's like the elderly of fruits, Lydia." Chris said.

PRIME OF MY YOUTH • T. Duchamp  ✔︎Where stories live. Discover now