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

Chapter 4: What Are We Gonna Eat, Our Feet?

   As we were walking along the tracks, the boys and I began to sing The Ballad of Paladin, a short tune that we all knew from the television show, Have Gun Will Travel. 
     "Have gun, will travel reads the card of a man. A knight without armour in a savage land. His fast gun for hire head's the calling wind. A soldier of fortune is the man called Paladin," we all sang loudly and off-key, but none of us really cared.
     We began to talk, while Teddy continued to sing the next verse, "Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam? Paladin, Paladin, far, far from home."
     "We have to fill up at the junkyard," I told them, noticing that Chris, Gordie, Teddy and I all had only half-full canteens, while Vern's water was long gone. It had lasted only about an hour, until he finished it off, claiming that he was going to "die of thirst". Ever since, he had been taking sips out of everyone else's canteens. "My dad said it's a safe well," I explained, remembering my dad's words.
     He knew Milo Pressman, the man who ran the junkyard. When we'd go camping, we'd hike out to a little clearing in the woods. We would fill up our canteens while we stopped by for a brief hello. I had never really cared for Milo, though.
     "Not if Chopper's there," Vern said, shaking his head. I laughed quietly. I had seen Chopper and I knew that he wasn't what any of them thought he was.
     "If Chopper's there, we'll send you in," Chris shot back. He was only partially joking, but Vern didn't need to know that.
     "Ha ha, very funny." Vern was walking slowly, yet faster than Teddy, staring at the ground, bored and tired. Teddy was just finishing singing the last like of the song and we all were silent for a moment.
     "Hey, I'm kinda hungry. Who's got the food?" Of course it would be Vern to break the silence.
     "I do." I stopped and opened my backpack as the others gathered around me. I took out the bag of bread and the peanut butter, holding it out to them, along with the butter knives that I had brought. Gordie took two slices of bread and passed to Chris, who passed it to Teddy, then Vern, before it got back to me. They all spread peanut butter on their bread and Teddy made a point of smacking the slices together after he was finished, completing his sandwich and squishing the bread in the process. 
     We all sat on the tracks, eating our sandwiches and cracking jokes. When we were done, Chris, Gordie and Teddy had eaten two sandwiches each, Vern had eaten three and I had eaten one and part of Chris' second. There was no bread left and Vern currently sat licking out the peanut butter jar, as it had only been half full when I had brought it.
     "So, what did you bring for later, Liza?" Vern asked me, licking the peanut butter that was all the way around his mouth. We all stood up, ready to continue our journey. I just looked at him. He was still finishing his previous meal and he was already asking about his next?
     "That was all I brought. I expected you guys to bring something too," I told them. Surely one of them had brought something, right?
     "Oh shit, did anyone bring anything?" Teddy questioned, looking hopefully at the other boys.
     "Not me," Chris replied, then looked at Gordie, "Gordie?" But he just shook his head.
     "This is just great. What are we supposes to do, eat our feet?" Teddy complained.
     "You mean you didn't bring anything either?" Chris asked him, annoyed.
     "Well shit this wasn't my idea, it was Vern's!" Teddy defended, looking at the small, chubby boy, who just stood nervously, staring at the others, "Why didn't you bring something?"
     "What am I supposed to do, think of everything? I brought the comb," Vern said, removing the comb from his breast pocket.
     "Oh great, you brought the comb! What do you need a comb for? You don't even have any hair!" Teddy shouted angrily.
     "I brought it for you guys!" Vern shot back. Teddy was about to say something, but I stood in between them.
     "Hey, hey, hey!" I yelled, making them go quiet, "Calm down you two, we'll figure something out." I scratched the back of my neck, thinking.
     "How much money have we got?" Gordie asked. We all took out our money and handed it to Gordie, sitting back down as he added it up. "I got a dollar two, sixty-eight cents from Chris, two dollars from Liza, sixty cents from Teddy," he stopped, waiting for Vern to pass over his money. Reluctantly, he did and Gordie looked up at him, "Seven cents, Vern?"
     "I haven't found my pennies yet," he defended himself.
     "Well, $4.37 isn't bad," I tried to cheer them up by sounding optimistic, but it didn't work. "Quidacioluo's is at the end of that little road that goes by the junkyard. I think we can get some stuff there."
     "Train coming," Chris tells us, standing up.
     We all move off of the tracks and Vern said a quick "Geronimo" as he jumped. The only one who didn't move was Teddy. He stood, facing the oncoming train as it grew closer and closer.
     "Come on, Teddy," Chris told him, but he didn't listen.
     "No. Uh-uh, I'm gonna dodge it," Teddy said. His eyes looked half crazed. He threw his stuff towards us.
     "Come on Teddy, man. Get off the tracks! You're crazy," Chris tried again, but to no avail. 
     "Train dodge. Dig it," Teddy muttered to himself.
     "Get off the tracks, Teddy! You wanna get yourself killed?" I yelled at him, but he didn't respond. "Please, Teddy, just get off the tracks!" My voice was desperate. His eyesight was poor, just like his hearing and he might misjudge how far away the train is.
     He looked over at me, his eyes softening slightly, but he soon turned his gaze back to the oncoming train. His eyes once again held a crazed look.
     "Just like the beach at Normandy." He acted as if he were firing a machine gun, making the noises that were almost completely drowned out by the train's whistles. Chris threw his stuff down and run up onto the tracks. He grabbed Teddy, who struggled against him.
     "Come on, man! Come on!" Chris pulled Teddy of the tracks with much difficulty.
     "No, no! I wanna dodge the train!" Teddy protested, though it was nearly inaudible because of Chris' yelling and the train that was quickly approaching.
     Chris got him off the tracks in time and Vern held Teddy back as he tried to attack Chris. Gordie held back Chris as he advanced toward Teddy and I stood smack dab in the middle of it all. I was facing Teddy, trying to calm him down.
     I could barely make out his words as he shouted at Chris, for the train was passing behind us, making too much noise to hear anything but the rattling off the tracks and the screech of the whistle. I knew though, as I saw his mouth moving wildly, that he was shouting a string of profanities.
     "I'm just trying to save your life, man! You wanna kill yourself? Is that what you want, goddamn it? You're trying to kill yourself!" Chris looked angry, but I knew that he was just worried. As he finished speaking, the train was passed us, making it easier to hear.
     We all stood in a tense silence. None of us moved.
     "I don't need no babysitter," Teddy told us, staring over my shoulder at Chris.
     "You do to," Chris mumbled. I placed my hands on Teddy's shoulders, making him look at me.
     "We were just worried, Teddy. You can dodge the train on the way back," I said to him. I looked back at Chris for confirmation and he nodded. I turned to Teddy again, "How does that sound?" to which he just nodded in approval, looking at me, still a bit angry, but he hid it with disappointment.
     I moved out of his way so he could get his things and we could keep walking.
     "Skin it," Chris held out his hand. He was referring to our odd version of a handshake. You know, the ones that friends make up? That was ours. We would slide our hands against each other's, then flip our hands the other way and do it again. It was our way of saying "Way to go, man!" or "Nice one!" or, like in this case, "Peace".
     "I could have dodged it," Teddy claimed, walking past Chris's extended hand as he grabbed his bedroll.
     "Listen, Teddy. As Liza said, you can dodge it on the way back," Chris reassured, going after Teddy as he began to walk away. He spun Teddy around to face him, holding his hand out again. "Peace. Skin it."
     After a moment’s hesitation, Teddy did. Chris clapped him on the shoulder, smiling and picked up his bindle. We carried on walking, not speaking about what had just happened.