"I know the Back Harlow Road!" Teddy said.
"It comes to a dead end by the Royal River. The train tracks are right there!" He seemed to be getting exited.
"Even my dad used to fish for cossies out there," he said, which left me surprised. Teddy usually doesn't talk about his dad much. But when he did, he only spoke of the good things. Never the bad things.
Vern told us about Ray. He had been blueberry picking 3 days earlier and never returned. I only knew of him because I had heard my parents talking about it over dinner. Vern had been under the porch at his house, and over heard his brother and his friend talking. If your wondering why he was under the porch, he was looking for a jar of pennies. He drew a treasure map so he could find it later, but his mom cleaned out his room and threw it away. He'd been looking for his pennies for nine months. It sucked to hear that Billy and Charley had seen his body. It made me feel sick.
"Jesus Christ, man," Chris said. "If they knew you were under there they would have killed you," he sounded worried. What if they had found Vern? "Could he have gotten all the way from Chamberlin to Harlow?" Gordies voice interrupted my thoughts. "That's really far," he said looking dazed. I wonder what was on his mind. "Sure," Chris said and shrugged. "He must have started walking on the train tracks and followed them the whole way." Chris held his cigarette in his hand, like everyone else. "Yeah. Yeah right," Teddy said as he was thinking. "Then after dark, the train must have come along, and - " Teddy hit his hands together. " - El smacko," he said as he shook his head. We were silent for a couple of moments. "Yeah." Chris put his head down. Not even a second later it popped up.
"Hey, hey guys! I bet you anything that if we find him, we'll get our pictures in the paper!" I sat up straighter. Teddy's eyes got wide. "Yeah, we'd even be on TV!" Teddy said excitedly. "Sure!" Chris said. "We'll be heroes!" I almost yelled. I smiled. My parents will trust them. "Yeah!" Chris said, sounding like he was thinking the same. Vern didn't look like he was into it. "I don't know. Billy will know I found out," he said with a sigh. "He's. Not gonna care," Gordie started. "Cos it's going to be us guys that find him. Not Billy and Charley Hogan in a boosted car. They'll probably put a medal on you, Vern." Gordie said. Vern smiled and looked up. "Yeah, ya think so?" Vern said childishly. "Sure!" Gordie said. Vern sighed and slumped in his chair.
"What'll we tell our folks?" He said disappointedly. "Exactly what you said. We all tell our folks were tending out on your backfield. You tell your folks your sleeping over at Teddy's. Then we'll say we're going out to the drag races the next day," I looked over at Chris, who's mouth was open while he listened to Gordies plan. His lips. "We're rock solid until dinner tomorrow night." Everyone was silent. Then Chris started to laugh. "Man, that's a plan and a half," Chris said as he and Gordie did this special hand shake. They sometimes would say "give me some skin," but they automatically did it without a second thought. Vern still didn't look convinced.
"But if we do find the kids body over in South Harlow, they'll know we didn't go to the drag races! We'll get hided!" Vern whined. When he wasn't all happy, and cute, and childish, he was whining, or complaining. "Nobody would care cos everybody is gonna be so jazzed about what we found, it's not gonna make a difference!" I could tell Teddy was getting hyped for this. I smiled at his enthusiasm. "Yeah! My dad would hide me anyways, but hell thats worth a hiding!" It sounded like they were about to revolutionize America. That's how exited they were. "Shit yeah!" Teddy exclaimed. "Let's do it! What'd you say?" Chris asked. I realized I had been sitting here the whole time. That just happened. "Alright," Teddy said. "Gordie?" Chris asked. One of Gordies hairs was starting to fall in front of his eyes. "Sure," Gordie said simply. As if this wasn't a big deal. "Dez?" Chris asked me hesitantly. I nodded. "Yeah. Let's do it." I looked over to Vern.
"Vern?" Chris asked. He looked at the ground. "I don't know.." He said unsurely. "Vern!" Chris said. "C'mon, Verno!" Teddy chimed in. "Vern!" They said continuously, while giving him nuggies and pinching his cheeks. He finally agreed. "Alright, alright," Vern said as he pushed them away. "Too cool! Super cool.." They both celebrated. I laughed and looked over at Gordie. He looked lost. Not physically lost, but lost like he was in an ocean of thoughts. He looked like he was drowning in them. I nudged him. "Yo Gordie, you ok?" I whispered. He snapped back to reality and blinked. "Yeah..I'm fine," he said. I smiled and ruffled his hair. "Okay guys," I said while standing up. "I'll go with Chris to get his stuff and we'll meet at the culdesac. Sounds good?" I asked. Everyone nodded. "Okay. Let's go," I said as everyone started to head down the ladder.
We were really doing it. We were doing to find a body. Not just a body. I mean yeah, it was a body, but Brower, he was different. He was someone we knew personally. And it wouldn't be like my grandma in her casket. He didn't die peacefully. His life ended abruptly. No-one-ever-saw-it-coming kind of death. But it was happening.
I wasn't really looking for fame, or being known as a hero. I was doing this for my friends. For my parents to understand.
For Chris.
