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The
Human Ladder
Robert
D. Booth
©
Copyright 2014 by Robert D. Booth
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“Pride
goeth before destruction and
A
haughty
spirit before a fall.”
Proverbs
16:18
I
clung to
the sheer shale rock cliff for dear life. I was not sure if the fall
to the solid slate river bottom below would kill me or not, but I was
sure, that if it didn’t, it would give me something to
remember
for a very long, long time. How had I gotten in this situation? I
would come to tell my own children years after this day that one of
the best ways to avoid trouble was to not get in bad predicaments in
the first place. Boy, if only someone had told me that a few hours
before. I hugged the face of the near vertical cliff as tight as a
teenage couple on a second date. My only hand grips were tiny
protruding pieces of brittle shale rock and the smallest of possible
bush roots. I could not remember ever being this afraid in my short
life of seven years. I was not sure if I was going to start bawling,
pee my pants or both.
This
infamous adventure had started earlier that day as we were rousted
from bed at an ungodly hour, lined up in military style by none other
than the leader of the pack my older Brother Fred. It is strange to
consider that he turned out to be a drill instructor
“DI”
in the Air Force many years later. Fred was the fifth brother from
the bottom of a family of eleven siblings. In total there were eight
older brothers and two sisters, and unfortunately, in too many ways
that made me the “baby” of the troop.
After
reveille and the call to arms in the middle of the
back yard by Brother Fred on a very hot summer morning, we were off on another Booth
Boys adventure. We march in a totally disorganized fashion across
the back yard like a row of Mallard Ducks, past the infamous two-hole
outhouse and on to the lane which ran south along the west line of
our old farm and the east line of our neighbors, the Kish’s
farm. We proceeded south down a long gradual slope to the river
bottom of the Grand River, located in Northeast Ohio. Here we
turned west, down the river to the spot that would lead me to my
cling-for-life.
The
Grand
River is a tributary feeding into the Great Lake Erie. The river ran a
mile or two along the south border of our farm which was situated in
Perry, Ohio. It formed a valley that in some places on an outward
flow would leave one bank a gradual slope and the other a straight up
shear dirt and rock bank. Some of these banks would reach the
terrifying height of a hundred plus feet. It was at the bottom of
one of these steep banks that brother Fred brought his small
battalion to a halt.
Up
to this
point my three older brothers and I had little idea of what would be
required of us next. Brother Fred took little time holding us in
suspense as he laid out the daunting task that lay ahead.
On
the first pass of the explanation none of us, starting at Brother Bill,
the next older brother to me, then Brother Chuck, and
then Brother Gurn, could believe what we had just heard. We
looked at each
other in total disbelief and were absolutely sure that what we had just
been told was some sort of joke or the ranting of a wild and
crazy man. We were to scale straight up the sheer face of the bare
river bank cliff using of all things brother Fred’s latest
nightmare “The Human Ladder.”
This
insane concept would mean that starting with the oldest and biggest
brother, that being Fred, we were to climb up the backs of each
succeeding brother until we reached the top of the river bank. Thus
the human ladder looked like this: Rung one was Brother Fred, and
rung two was Brother Gurn who would climb over Fred and then stand on
his shoulders and head clinging to what ever protrusion he could
find and prepare for the ascension of Brother Chuck. Here Chuck
would stand while Brother Bill took his spot on top of
Chuck’s
head. Of course, the “baby,” that being me was the
last
to go. I had to proceed over Fred, Gurn, Chuck and Brother Bill to
reach my untenable position at the very top of the human ladder.
It
would
have taken one of the most obnoxious bunch of drunken sailors to even
think of matching the cursing being emitted by the participants of
the human ladder. Boy, if mom had heard this she would have used up
at least a box of soap cleaning out our dirty little mouths! You
have to remember that each succeeding participant was standing on the
shoulders, and head of the brother below. Of couse it does not take
much imagination to think of all the inappropriate places the bare
footed heels and toes of the brother above were digging into on the
brother below. The ears were being stuffed with bare toes, as none
of the brothers would ever think of wearing any kind of foot wear
during the summer. The nose, eyes and all other parts of the head
were being pummeled as each brother did his absolute best to stay
attached to the cliff. Rains of stones, dirt and other
unattached debris showered down on those below.
So
here I
was clinging for my very life a good thirty feet off the rock solid
river bed. One slip by any of the supporting cast and we would all
end up in a big broken heep at the cliff bottom. It was at this very
moment that a bad situation that I thought could get no worse just
did. The nearly bald, crew cut head which was providing me major
support from below suddenly disappeared. This generated a near
numbing feeling that what I feared the most, the disastrous fall to
the bottom of the cliff was now unpreventable. I struggled to gain a
better purchase onto the face of the cliff but too little avail as
every tiny piece of shale rock simply snapped off. I felt myself
begin a slow desperate downward slide. I dug into the side of the
cliff with as much clawing effort as I could muster. In the
meantime I tried desperately to reattach my flailing bare footed toes
onto Brother Bill’s head. When I had given up all hope and
was
preparing myself for the eventual drop to oblivion, I felt the
strange sensation of bristle hair on the bottom of my feet. I was
saved and spared from destruction for at least the moment.
Now
began
the real task as Brother Fred, who was the bottom rung of the human
ladder, began to crawl up over the backs of each preceding brother.
When Brother Fred had reached his anointed position at the top of the
ladder, this after the second go around, I thanked God he was able to
reach some small tree branches and lock in the human ladder.
Then each lower brother made his way up the human ladder to the
trees and
safety above.
At last it was my turn. Clinging desperately to
Brother Fred’s feet, I began my ascent up his legs, over his
back, onto the bank, and finally into the trees. With the helping hands
of the brothers, we all made it up through the trees and bushes to
the top of the bank and safety.
We
were
totally spent and exhausted but exhilarated with our successful
challenge of climbing the river cliff with our squad leader’s
“Human Ladder.”
After a short respite we were off
and
moving again, this time headed to the spring. Here we stopped to consume
large volumes of cool, fresh spring water.
To complete the morning
exercise we scampered down the farm lane to the river for a relaxing
dip in the deep hole, and then home to eat – of course.
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