I wrote another chapter of this. I posted it on my fan fic page, and on my Tumblr .I talked to my sister about him today and she remembered him and we had a good laugh about all the craziness that went on. These are fictionalized accounts of my youth, so I have taken some liberties with some things, but most of this stuff? It really happened, just so you have a little better understanding of why I am so damn weird. Found a picture of the little cutie that made me laugh, because you lighten the hair a bit and turn up the nose just a little on the end, and they looked pretty damn similar. I guess its just a look. Funny to think I woulda probably whooped his butt for the hell of it just based on appearances back in the day.
A/N This particular vignette will be in several parts. I am glad to see that I am getting folks who are adding this to their follow list. Thank you! I am sorry it still doesnt have a consistent updating schedule, but these stories are based on memories and I am a bit old, so sometimes its hard to remember some of the good stuff.
The heat coming up of the blacktop road was almost too much for my bare feet to handle, but considering I had just made fun of Jasper for scooting off into the grass and hopping from foot to foot like some crazy assed lizard I had seen on tv one time, I wasn't about to admit it. "Come on you big ole baby, you are slowing us down by trying to dodge all the stickers. If you would just cowboy up and keep on walking, your feet would get tough and you wouldn't notice it anymore." I was so annoyed at him for slowing me down on today of all days. My folks had taken Rose and gone to Longview for the day for some modeling thing, so we had the entire day to ourselves to just raise hell. I was planning on us hiking down to the Sulphur River bottom and looking for the Indian mound that we had heard that our neighbor had found when he was clearing some land for his cattle. If we cut across the highway and took the old railroad line that had been abandoned for so long it had trees growing up in the middle of it, we would have time to look for the mound and then also explore the old Waldrum place on our way back, but NOT IF HE KEPT DAWDLING! I picked up a rock and threatened to chunk it at his feet, "Come ON!" " Jeeze Bella, I'm coming already. I'm sorry my mom made us put on sunscreen and answer all those questions. You know how she is. If you hadn't shot me…"Hey! You shot me too! I still got the pellet to prove it!" I jerked my shorts down and showed him the bump in my butt cheek where the pellet was easily felt. Jasper grinned his goofy gap toothed grin and poked it with his finger. "That'll teach you." I gasped in mock outrage, " I knew you did it on purpose! Prepare for wedgie attack!" I tackled him into the grass on the side of the road and administered the required wedgie and a couple of noogies for good measure while he shrieked a little bit like a girl and tried to get away, until one of our neighbors drove by and stopped and asked if "Everything was okay?" I stood up and said, "Yes. everything is just fine. I just had to administer a couple life saving wedgies." They called me a 'Smartass " and drove off as Jasper threw grasshoppers and pebbles at me until I helped him get up, and we finally headed back out on our journey.
Crossing the highway was usually against the rules. It was so remote and so quiet that I didn't understand why, but my father had told Rose that someone named , "Henry Lee Lucas" had been down that very highway hunting people to kill and he didn't want her anywhere near it when there wasn't an adult around. I figured that if my father cared enough to warn Rose away from it, that there must be something pretty damn scary about it, but we were going to just cross it really fast and then head straight to the old railroad and walk down it.
When I first found the old railroad, I was amazed to see tracks that had trees growing up through them. One of the baby neighbor kids parents told me that our property had been a big old slave plantation back during the Civil War, and that railroad had been used to haul the cotton and the lumber to Galveston as well as to other parts of the Confederacy. Once the war was over, the track had been abandoned along with most of the old structures that were along it, and even a few old houses that were way back deep in the forest because either their owners had died in the war and it was too hard to get to them without the railroad, or they were rumored to be haunted. It was one of these old houses that we were going to investigate after we went looking for the Indian mound.
Jasper nervously stood at the side of the highway, holding onto his pecker like he was prone to do when he was scared. "Bella…I don't know if I should. My mom is not going to be happy if I cross the highway." I was already across and glaring at him across the narrow expanse. " Oh Come ON! We told her we were going to see the Indian mound" And we did, but we just kinda neglected to mention that we were crossing the highway and walking a few miles into the Sulphur River Bottom. She probably would not be really happy about that, but she was working a 12 hour shift so we were going to be alone all day long. I decided to just act like I didn't care and start walking, " Fine Jasper, Be a baby! Go sit in your house and watch nothing on TV. I am going to go see the Indian mound by myself and if I get disappeared, its all your fault." "Bella! Wait!" He stomped his foot, (still holding onto his pecker),looked up and down the highway like he was seeing if his mom was going to jump out and catch him being bad, and then he scooted across the highway like his ass was lit on fire. "FINE! But if we get in trouble, I'm making sure my mom spanks YOU first."
I held the fence so he could get through it without catching his shirt on it, and then we were into the trees and out of sight of the road. It was eerily quiet walking along the old railroad and I had the bright idea of telling ghost stories to each other while we walked along to make the trip seem shorter. Turns out Jasper knew some pretty dang scary ghost stories and one about some thing he called the, "Leaf Man". Let me tell you, something was seriously wrong in a boys brain that could come up with a monster that masked itself as a bed of leaves and moved along the forest floor and into the yards of unsuspecting suburban families. I vowed then and there to never look at a pile of leaves the same again. I used to think that dog turds were the biggest hazard, but a pile of leaves that would eat you? and then move onto the next yard or town or even back into the forest where it would eat woodland critters? I stopped and looked at Jasper. "What the hell is wrong with you? Do you NOT see where we are?" He smiled at me, "What's the matter Bella? Are you skeered?" I bent down and picked up a stick and started walking towards him, "NO! But you should be!" He laughed and took off running ahead of me, dodging the missing ties and trying to do a scary voice over his shoulder and failing miserably as I chased after him, threatening to beat him within an inch of his miserable life when I caught him.
We ran for a few minutes until we both caught the smell of water. I knew a creek ran near the railroad, but I wasn't sure where, and I didn't want to get too far off from the trail, but it was hot and this was too good of an opportunity to pass up. "Lets find it Jasper, maybe we can wade and cool off for a bit and then head on into the Sulphur." Jasper grinned at me, "Truce?" "Yeah you big baby, you got a truce, but I am keeping the stick in case of a snake." Jaspers eyes got big, "Do you smell one?" Ever since his finger got broke, he was all jumpy about that, " No, I don't smell one, but I want to be ready, and this is a good stick." Truth is, I was planning on whacking him across his butt when he bent over to take his shorts off for swimming, but he didn't need to know that.
We walked along the railroad a little further and then when the ground started to slope away from it a little, we saw the telltale glint of water in the distance. We both grinned and whooped, jumping over the rail and heading towards the glint at a run. I wasn't sure what we were going to find, but it was like the perfect kids swimming hole. It wasn't stagnant at all, in fact, it was a place where the creek simply widened into a perfect bowl for swimming. There was even grass on the edge of it so you wouldn't get too muddy getting in or out of it. Trees overhung part of it and there were some rocks on the far side. "Jasper, I think we have found heaven." He just nodded at me. "Well? Lets do this!" I started stripping and Jasper began pulling his shirt up over his head. "Do you think it will be okay?" I stopped and looked at him, " Who is going to care, nobody is around, we have this pool all to ourselves, I don't smell a snake and its perfect! Im going in, now hurry UP!" I got finished stripping and stood waiting for Jasper as he dawdled along. He got his shirt off and seemed to debate his shorts. "Oh come on Jasper, if you go in with your shorts on, your mom is gonna know we went swimming and we are gonna get in trouble, now come on, don't be a chicken." He grimaced at me and pulled his shorts down with his tighty whiteys, "Okay, but don't laugh at me Bella." He was so weird about that, I never got why he thought I would laugh at him. Boy parts were different, just like bulls were different from cows. I didn't care he was a dangler. "Jeesh Jasper, The only way I would laugh at you would be if a catfish grabbed aholt of that, so you better keep one hand onto your ding a ling." I took off into the water and splashed up at him as he squawked his outrage at me, but came wading in gingerly anyway,(keeping one hand on it the whole time), we waded and swam for a couple of hours in that little pool, enjoying a break from the crushing East Texas heat.
When we finally got hungry, we sat on the grass, drying off in the sun and eating the PB&J sandwiches his mom had packed to go along with the I had smuggled out of my house. It was a perfect break on our trip and I could tell by the sun that it had not even reached noon, so we still had the majority of the day left ahead of us to reach the mound and see if anything was left to find and rescue before the rancher bulldozed it all. I wanted no further part of Jaspers scary assed stories, so we started telling jokes and planning further adventures for the rest of the Summer. Jasper grinned at me and said, "Well, mom has said she wants to take us to 6 Flags one weekend! Do you think your mom will let you go?" I had no idea, and I couldn't imagine them having any big objection other than the expense, but I knew my father got free tickets for everyone in the family that we never used, so I told Jasper I would ask if I could get them. "Well, don't make him mad at you Bella, you know how he gets." Jasper looked worried and he reached over and took my hand. Jasper had been at the door one day when my father had been mad at me. He had a hard time forgetting that. I guess rich folk didn't beat their kids with belts very often and it took him a while to stop crying when he saw me after that. The scar on my head still made his lip quiver, and that was something that he was just going to have to get over, hell, I did.
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