One of my favorite stories from the field was the day that all the kids in the neighborhood went on an adventure that changed our lives. The word went out through our neighborhood. We were to meet out in the field at the area between the the dump and the trees at the edge of the little forest. Excitement built as we followed the trail all the kids in the neighborhood were very familiar with as we all had explored the wonders of the field. When we got to the wooded area everyone who was strong enough was dispatched to the dump. We all were in on it. While out exploring one day we had come upon a humongous tree that was most perfect for climbing. It had little knots on it. Perfect to not only climb with our hands and arms, but our legs and feet as well. It was kinda like crawling but doing it up a tree. I guess you would call it a shinny up the tree. It was awesome how high we could climb. You could get a good 60 feet or more. Highest tree I ever climbed. Very scary but you were a big sissy pants if you couldnt do it. My little sister was a sissy pants prior to that day. She was one of the younger kids that were left by this huge tree to wait on the others to come from the dump. I am not sure who came up with idea of the promising fun but we all were working to bring mattresses from the dump so we could place them under this tree that we all decided to name The Parachute Tree. Took some work thats for sure as we didnt know how many mattresses we had to stack on top of one box spring to cushion our jump from the heights of the Parachute Tree. The mattresses all double bed size were piled so high that the last few we had to scale up the side of the mattresses to the top while others lifted the mattress up, Having to jump down to allow each mattress to be put in its exact spot. Took about 12 mattresses. Way over top of my head for sure. We were all singing and laughing, joking around,so excited to prove how brave we were. All of us shouting with laughter telling thrilling tells of things we had done before, oh the excitement of it all. Finally it was GO TIME. Who was gonna test it. Thank goodness one of the older boys stepped up and agreed to be THE TESTER....hahahaha...We All held our breath as we watch him climb. Higher and higher. Promising to go for help if he didnt make it, he reached the limb we decided we would jump from. It was about 30 feet in the air above the top mattress. We cheered our friend on. As he jump from that limb in mid-air he gave out the holler PARACHUTE AWAY !!! We held our breath as his body free falls from the limb so very high up from the ground. He landed with a huge thud on the mattress and bounced what seemed to be a few feet in the air and landed squarely in the center of the mattress. We All squealed with delight and glee as his body came to a rest on the mattress. Once again a cheer went up he was okay !!! YES he made it...he did it...he lived to jump off that mattress and run over to the Parachute Tree and climbed right back up it. We All lined up to take our turns. Climbing that tree taking great care so as not to fall I took my turn. I was scared as hell but I wasnt gonna be no sissy pants ! as I shifted my weight from the trunk of the tree to climb out on the branch to jump, I looked down. Oh man my heart was beating so hard it felt like it had stopped the moment I looked down. Way down to where I would land. OH, how scared how thrilling...I gave a huge shout PARACHUTES AWAY !!! I jumped off that limb and the thrill of flying through the air free falling to the mattress was such a feeling I had never had before. As I landed on the mattress I felt the euphoria of the moment. Oh it was bliss. I DID IT ! I DID IT!! I was alive to tell the tell. I bounced so hard on that mattress. I finally came to rest after about the fourth bounce. Relief and excitement washed over me. YEP...I jumped down off that mattress and rushed to the bottom of the tree. A feeling like no other...I had to experience it again and again. My little sister still watching and worrying that she would be called a sissy pants finally worked up the nerve to try it. She was half-way up the tree...she stopped and started to cry. She was scared and crying that she couldnt do it. She started getting teased that she was a sissy pants. She was stuck. Afraid to come down and afraid to go up. What a dilemma ! Finally it was up to me to say something. After all I had brought her with me and she wasnt the youngest kid there either. I hollered up at her with all the encouragement I could muster and finally said to her. I cant get you down ...your just gonna have to jump. She cried more. Everyone was yelling at her. They wanted to take a turn and she was a sissy pants and in the way. Finally a friend and I decided to give her the only assistance we could. We both climbed up this old knotty tree, trying to reassure her at the same time. I climbed over her, my friend stayed just below her. With us there with he,r she got up the courage to climb higher to the branch where we jump from. I helped her move out on the limb to the spot where we jumped from. Oh she was so scared looking down once again she could see the mattress below. I could tell how scared she was. All I knew was I couldnt go home without her and it would be big trouble for me to go for help from the grown ups. It would be whippings all around for all of us. So I stepped up next to her and said Hey, why dont we jump together, she looked relieved somewhat to hear this. I told her to close her eyes and hold my hand, when I counted to three we were gonna jump. I told her to holler as we jumped. Holding tight to her hand down we went. Me afraid she would get hurt, she scared to death.PARACHUTES AWAY we both yelled. It was over in an instant. Our hands coming apart as we bounced on the mattress. She sat herself upright and looked at me and hollered with glee I DID IT. I DID IT !!! we hugged. All was right with the world at that moment. She did it. I was proud of her. We all were cheering her on. She looked at me as we climbed down from atop all those mattresses and said to me I aint no sissy pants I chuckled and said No you arent. Would you like to try again with that she and I went back to that huge tree and climbed up it again. She jumped many times by herself after that. We all of course came back the next day to have more fun. Sadly by the third day all our Moms were really wondering where all the children were. They sent out there calls to each other. No one knew where the kids were. The alarm went out...the Dads were called in...my dad in the lead of all the Dads followed our little path through the field and came upon us all at once. Yelling and hollering at us all. If your Dad wasnt there you were still in trouble....BIG TROUBLE !....with no way to scatter away we were caught. CAUGHT IN THE ACT !....we watched in horror as they began to take our mattresses apart till none were stacked and none were left under our precious Parachute Tree. Oh man were we ever in trouble...spankings and whippings all around for all of us when we made it home. That was just from the Dads the Moms punished us too. Yelling and lecturing, some of us also got a smack from our Moms. Whew ! What an adventure that we all agreed was well worth the whipping. Laughing about our exploits and troubles to each other we sat right there and starting to think of what we could do for our next adventure in this wonderful field of ours. The playground of the kids who lived on a DEAD END street.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 06:09:45 +0000
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