Dumb Idea
Paula Drake
©
Copyright 2018 by Paula Drake
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This is a true story.
Jackie and I are now seniors, but often laugh and shudder at what we
did when thirteen.
“Jackie, dive
behind the hedge, now!” I yelled plunging right behind her into
the mud.
At about 3:00 a.m.
sailors in a car were circling the empty four lane street yelling out
the windows at us.
“Come on girls;
let’s have some fun! We won’t hurt you!” they
hollered over and over.
My extroverted
personality needed major control at that time in my life. I had no
fear and no smarts.
We got into that
predicament because of my hair-brained scheme.
“Jackie let’s
go to the stables Friday night and sleep over in the haystack fort
under the bridge.”
“Oh, Diane, my
mother would never let me do that,” she whined.
“I know that!”
I snapped. “You tell your mother you’re staying all night
at my house and I’ll tell mine I’m staying at yours.
We need some summer fun.”
“Gee Di it sounds
scary.”
“No, it sounds
like an adventure!” I animatedly spun around my blonde pony
tail whipping every direction. Jackie, my opposite, timid and
shy usually followed me around no matter what I dreamed up.
So
two thirteen year old stupid out-for- thrills teenagers made our
adventure plans. “Nuts! The cupboards are nearly bare.
What are we going to eat? I sighed and reluctantly gathered
up
some tootsie rolls, dry pasta, and limp celery. “This will
barely stave off starvation,” I groaned.
My bus tokens assured
us of passage to the California Griffith Park area and back. I kept
my colt Juneau, at the Lighthorse stables. Due to a fractured
tailbone I couldn’t ride horses for a year, so I got a colt to
raise and play with. I got the name Juneau because I was born in
Juneau, Alaska. My father had stowed away on a liner ship to Juneau
to look of work. It looks like I took after his penchant for
adventure. Within a month he secured a job as editor of a local
paper, and sent for my mother and brother. I was born there.
I heard of the
“Midnight Sun” periods of darkness in the summer in the
northern hemispheres, so considering my colt’s rich black coat
I gave her the name, Juneau of the Midnight Sun. She glistened due to
my devoted grooming.
Jackie and I giggled
with excitement on the bus ride to the stable area and our adventure.
We hiked about four blocks to the Lighthorse stables, passing the
Ride-a-While stables, a coffee shop, a honky tonk bar, and some empty
lots. Lighthorse stables stored their huge hay bales under a bridge,
an ideal place for teenagers to build hidden forts, our hotel
accommodations for the night.
“Hi, Slim,”
we yelled at the skinny, scraggy, bearded stable keeper in the arena.
“Girls, I’ll
be closing up here by dark. Be gone by then,” Slim yelled back.
“Gotcha!”
We took Juneau out and
walked her around the property. Jackie was allowed to groom Buster a
bay horse, so she took him out too. We spent hours enjoying the colt
and horse, leading them throughout the area, pretending we were rich
horse trainers.
The setting sun
threatened our time with our charges. We stalled them and snuck
behind the stables and climbed up into the haystack
fortresses.
“Keep quiet,”
I whispered to Jackie using my zip the lip finger.
After Slim drove away I
said, “I wonder why they don’t have someone stay here all
night just for safety of the horses?
“They should.
But, then they’d discover our plans and boot us out,” She
beamed a smug grin.
“Good thinking,
Jackie.”
“Okay, dinner
coming up, and actually it may come up after we eat it,” I
cracked up laughing. “Sorry, no silver ware or napkins
just reach in the bag and eat whatever comes out.”
We sucked on the dry
hard pasta, gummed the limp celery, and savored the tootsie
rolls.
Boys and horses filled our conversations. Neither
of us
had boyfriends I guess still being tomboys and gawky we hadn’t
arrived yet. Jackie stood about 5’2”, skinny, with
stringy washed out sandy blonde hair, but beautiful blue eyes that
were two shades. The outer rim was dark blue and the center bright
sky blue – impressive. I knew in a couple of years she’d
be a knockout.
I already stood 5’9”,
banana blonde hair always pulled tight back in a pony tail, and acne
that started worrying me. We looked like a Mutt and Jeff comedy act.
“Diane, do you
think the little bathroom at the stables is open?”
“Let’s go
see. I wish I’d thought of a flashlight.”
We scooted over bales
of itchy alfalfa feeling our way down to the bottom. The tiny
bathroom was open.
“Diane, whispered
Jackie. “I can’t see anything.
“Well, its small
enough you can’t miss the pot,” I joked.
On my turn I took a
piece of the broken wall mirror off that reflected from the moon when
the door was open. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have a weapon.
We climbed back up to
our fort.
“If only we had
something to put over the alfalfa; it’s so scratchy,” I
complained.
Neither of us could get
to sleep. The noise from the bridge overhead didn’t help.
“Jackie, I’m
miserable. Let’s go over to the Brandon stables and sleep in
their haystack; I think there is a tarp over the alfalfa.”
“That’s a
long way, Diane, and it’s probably after midnight.”
As usual I got my way.
We passed the honky tonk bar. I staggered tipping an imaginary bottle
to my lips. We danced a gig to the western music blaring
through the big double doors. “The alcohol smell is getting to
me,” I giggled and staggered some more.
We hiked around the
long “L” shaped hedged bend, that surrounded a park. It
would have been easier to go through the park, but with no flashlight
we couldn’t see our hands in front of us. We made it to
the Brandon stables. Once in their haystack – no
tarp, it itched just like Lighthorse’s haystack.
“Jackie, this is
awful. Maybe the Ride-a-While stable’s bathroom is open. It’s
sorta large.” On the way passed the arena I climbed up on the
flat railing and lay straddled there for a few minutes. It wouldn’t
have taken much to fall asleep there.
“Diane, get down,
and let’s try the Ride-a-While,” she begged. We plodded
down to the big four lane street and started across.
“Oh, trouble!” A lone car flashed their lights at us.
“Jackie, dive
behind the hedge, now!” I yelled plunging right behind her into
the mud. The night sprinkling system was definitely working. I
guessed it to be about 3:00 a.m. A bunch of sailors in the car were
circling the empty four lane street yelling out the windows,
obviously not drinking just sodas.
“Come on girls;
let’s have some fun! We won’t hurt you!” they
hollered over and over.
The hedge was about
four feet high and maybe two feet wide. It went all the way down to
the intersection and in the “L” bent to follow the park
towards where we came from.
“Jackie, I
whispered, keep your head down and keep moving fast,” our knees
and hands slimy with oozing mud. We could hear the sailors yelling
back near where we entered.
We stopped to catch our
breath. If I weren’t so scared I would have fallen over
laughing.
“It’s not
too far from the stables now. Keep going another half a block. As
soon as that street sweeper gets far enough away let’s dart
across the street when no cars are in sight.”
We scurried across the
wide street and up the driveway and behind a building where the
bathroom was located. The door unlocked we barged into the
bathroom, shut the door, and slid to the ground our backs to the
door.
“That was a close
one, Jackie.”
She had tears in her
eyes. “Too close.”
We collapsed on a long
bench - dreamland came quickly.
Bang! The door shot
open. We jumped up!
“What are you
girls doing in here?” a hefty man shouted, a wad of keys
dangling from his belt.
“Oh, we came
early to ride today,” I said as cool and collected as possible.
“Well, hurry out
of here and get going,” he ordered. “As soon as we wash
our hands we’ll be out.”
Our caked hands and faces
took some scraping. Drying with a paper towel proved a new experience
not to forget. My jeans could have walked without me.
“Let’s go
to the coffee shop for hot chocolate and then go home,” Jackie
suggested.
I agreed.
On the bus ride home we
weren’t as chipper as the ride over, but we did manage a few
laughs.
I wouldn’t admit
to Jackie, but I realized what a dumb dangerous idea I dreamed up
this time.
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