𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐁𝐘 𝐌𝐄

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓

We get further into our walk, walking along a set of rusty train tracks.

Me, Teddy and Vern are walking a good couple of metres in front of Gordie and Chris. I was humming along to the tune "Lollipop" that has been stuck in my head for ages, and suddenly started a chain reaction where the other two walking alongside me started singing it aloud, dancing as they walked.

It got to the 'pop' sound of the song, which we made with our mouths. "Ba-dum dum dum" we sang in unison.

Our singing came to a stop. "Do you think Mighty Mouse could beat up Superman?" Vern asked randomly.

"What are you, cracked?" I said with disbelief.

"Why not?" he said defensively. "I saw the other day, he was carrying five elephants in one hand!"

I rolled my eyes. Teddy spoke "Boy, you don't know nothin"

"Mighty Mouse is a cartoon. Superman is a real guy. No way a cartoon could beat up a real guy" he elaborated.

Vern looked to the floor. "Yeah..maybe your right"

"Would be a good fight though!" he nodded. Teddy shook his head in disbelief.

There was a moment of silence, before Vern spoke, again. "You two banging yet?"

Me and Teddy stopped walking in shock, blurting in unison:

"What the fuck, man?" Teddy criticised.

"The hell Vern?" I frowned.

He raised his hands defensively. "Just curious, jeez"

"What sorta question is that?" I scowled.

"Oh come on, you two obviously like each other, so I might as well have been the first to ask!" he inquired, voice slightly high pitch.

"You never know when to not cross boundaries, do ya?" Teddy scolded.

"Oh, shut up!" Vern snapped.

"No you shut up!" Teddy spat.

They contained bickering as I rolled my eyes. I looked over my shoulder to see Gordie and Chris had stopped walking. They were so far down the tracks compared to us.

I turned back to Teddy and Vern. "Guys, guys!" I separated the two.

They stopped bickering. "Look" I jerked my head behind me, and they focussed their attention on Chris and Gordie further away.

They seemed to be having an intense conversation, Chris's expression was tough as he spoke. I decided not to go over and intervene, it wouldn't be my place.

"Whaddya think their talking about?" Vern questioned.

"Not a clue" I shrugged.

Chris stopped speaking, the two staring at each other for a few seconds. Until Gordie sighed, and they both continued walking again, me Teddy and Vern doing the same.

———————————

We stop as we approach a bridge overlooking a river. We view the tracks going along it, assessing our options.

Vern looks over his shoulder, checking for any incoming train, then turns to us again. "Any of you guys know when the next train is due?"

"We could go down to the Route 136 bridge" Chris suggested.

"What? Are you crazy? That's five miles down the river" Teddy says with disbelief. "You walk five miles down the river, you gotta walk five miles back" he elaborates. "It would take us till dark"