I Won't Be Afraid Just As Long As You Stand By Me

Chapter 2: Gordie Did It!

     That got our attention. We all looked at him, waiting for him to explain. "Well I was under the porch digging, you know?"
     We did know. At the beginning of the school year he had buried a quart jar of pennies under his front porch. He had drawn a map so he could find it, sort of like buried treasure. But a week later when his mom cleaned his room, she threw out the map. He's been looking for the jar ever since. That was nine months ago. Nine months. Poor old Verno didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
     He told us about Billy's conversation with Charlie Hogan. We had all followed the Ray Brower story very closely because he was a kid our age. I had met him a few years ago; our mothers were friends and he had attended Mom’s funeral with his family.  Three days ago he went out to pick blueberries and nobody had seen him since.
     "I know the Back Harlow road! It comes through a dead end by the Royal River," Teddy told us once Vern was finished, "the train tracks are right there! Me and my dad used to fish for cosies out there."
     "Jesus Christ man, if they had known you were under there, they would've killed you," Chris said, looking at Vern.
     "Could he have gotten all the way from Chamberlain to Harlow? That's really far," Gordie spoke up.
     Chris shrugged his shoulders, "Sure. He must have started walking on the train tracks and followed them the whole way."
     "Yeah, then after dark, the train must have come along and," Teddy brought his fist to his palm, "el smacko." Vern shook his head and I could tell he was feeling sick picturing it. Chris suddenly sat on the edge of his seat and looked at us all.
     "Hey, you guys I'd bet anything that if we were to find him, we'll get our pictures in the paper," he exclaimed. I knew he saw it as an opportunity to show people that he wasn't like his family. But I wasn't too excited to go look for the dead body of an old friend.
     "Yeah! We could even be on TV!" Teddy was excited about the possibility.
     "Sure!" Chris only encouraged him further.
     "We'll be heroes!" Teddy said, making Chris nodded his head.
     "Yeah!" he agreed.
     "I don't know," Vern disagreed, "Billy will know where I found out."
     "He's not gonna care, cause it's gonna be us guys that find him, not Billy and Charlie Hogan in a boosted car. They'll probably pin a medal on ya Vern," Gordie persuaded.
     "Yeah, you think so?" Vern was hopeful.
     A bit hesitantly and less energetic, Chris replied, "Sure!"
     "What will we tell our folks?" I asked, still not sure about going.
     "Exactly what Vern said," Gordie told me, "We'll all tell our folks that we're tenting out in his back field and he'll tell his folks that he's sleeping over at Teddy's then we say we're going to the drag races the next day. We're rock solid until tomorrow night."
     "Man, that's a plan and a half." Chris and Gordie swiped their hands together. It was sort of our version of a special handshake.
     "But if we do find this kid's body over in South Harlow, they'll know we didn't go to the drag races and we'll get hided," Vern pointed out.
     "Nobody will care!" Teddy tried to get us to agree, "cause everybody's gonna be so jazzed about what we found, it's not gonna make a difference."
     "Yeah!" Chris said, "My dad will hide me anyways, but hell it's worth a hiding. Let's do it, what do you say?" he asked us.
     "Alright!" Teddy was pumped about it.
     "Gordie?" Chris questioned, to which he got a simple 'sure'. "Vern? Liza?" 
     "I don't know," Vern said again, shrugging his shoulders while I stayed silent.
     "Vern," Chris dragged out his name. There was a chorus of things like "c'mon Verno!" until Chris got up and started to give him a noogie and Teddy squeezed his cheeks. "Okay, okay," Vern gave in. They all turned to me and I scratched the back of my neck.
     Chris took Vern's spot and slung his arm around my shoulders. "Just think, Liza! Doesn't Ray deserve better than to just lay out there forever?" I thought about it.
     He did deserve better. He was a great person; he was willing to do nearly anything for anyone, which wasn't common to find. Plus, he had saved my ass on more than one occasion from Ace Merrill and his gang. I nodded my head, replying softly, "Yeah he does. I'll go as long as I don't have to touch him."
     "Don't worry, we'll take care of him," Gordie reassured me as the others cheered. I could tell that he wasn't nearly as excited as them; he was still thinking about Denny.