After a couple minutes, Teddy seemed to forget about the whole thing. He's such a wild kid, despite all he's been through. We've all been through a lot. I guess that makes us crazy, I thought as I giggled to myself.
After following a dirt road through the brush and trees for about 5 minutes, we came into a small clearing, facing the fence of the junkyard ahead. "Hey Vern, looks like your ma's been out drivin' again." Gordie broke the silence and I laughed at his remark, as so did everyone else. "Oh, that's so funny I forgot to laugh," he said sarcastically. Vern started to climb up the fence, while Chris, Gordie and I wait till both him and Teddy get over. "Stand back, men!" Teddy chants as if he's in a war. "Pkooooowwww! Paratroops, over the side!" He throws his bedroll over, acting likes it's a bomb. He climbs up after it.
'No Trespassing' was enforced by Milo Pressman, the junkman, and his dog Chopper—the most feared and least seen dog in Castle Rock. Legend had it that Milo had trained Chopper not just to sic, but to sic specific parts of the human anatomy. Thus, a kid who had illegally scaled the junkyard fence might hear the dread cry: 'Chopper, sic balls!' But right now neither the dread Chopper nor Milo was anywhere in sight.
After they had made it over, we followed them in pursuit. Me and Gordie started to climb, but Chris stayed behind. I looked back to see what he was doing, and he was watching Teddy. Gordie had already climbed over the fence, and started to the pump. "Are you coming, Daydreamer?" I asked. I got Chris's attention and he smiled. He started to climb the fence.
"Teddy's crazy," he said as we jumped to the ground. "Where's the B.A.R.?! Come on! Come on, men! Move it out!" I heard Teddy yell in the distance. "Yeah," I said as I smiled. "He won't live to be twenty, I bet," I added. Even though I was joking around, it was probably the truth. "Remember that time you saved him in the tree?" I had heard Gordie and him talk about it sometimes. "Yeah. You know, I dream about that sometimes. Except in the dream I always miss him. I just get a couple of his hairs, and down he goes. It's weird." He sounded slightly bothered, but he didn't show it. "Yeah, that is weird. But you didn't miss him. Chris Chambers never misses, does he?" I asked. He smiled. "Not even when the ladies leave the seat down." He made a circle with his index and thumb, and proceeded to spit through it. I laughed at this. "Hey, I'll race ya," he said, as we started to walk. "Nah, I don't think so." He's gonna lose. "Aw—right to the pump. Come on." He kept on trying to convince me. "Ahh, I'm kind of tired ... GO!!" I screamed as I threw my bedroll down and sprinted.
"Oh! You're a dead girl, Carter!" I had a head start, but I knew Chris was fast. "It looks like Carter has got him this time. He's got Chambers beat! But, what's this?" Chris started to gain on me. "Chambers is making his move! Carter's fading on it! Chambers at the tape! The crowd goes wild!" Chris barely beat me as we stopped after we had reached the pump. We stood bent over and panting. I looked up at Chris, and he soon looked up at me. His mouth stretched wide, and it spread into a smile. I felt mine do the same, and my cheeks felt hot. I walked over to him and he stood up. He reached out and out his hands on my hips, and I put my arms around his neck. I leaned in and out my face inside of his neck.
"I think I love you."
--------------------------------Later
After the guys had finally stopped repeatedly talking about what they saw (followed by many ooh, Chambers), we filled up out canteens and took shelter in the shade of a car.
"Hey, you guys been watching the 'Mickey Mouse Club' lately?" Teddy asked. "Yeah," everyone including myself had answered. "I think Annette's tits are getting bigger," Teddy said. I felt my face grow red, and I crossed my arms. I could tell Chris had noticed, and he started to laugh. "Think so?" He asked. I could tell he was doing this on purpose. "Yeah, I think so," Vern answered. "Yeah, I think he's right. I've been noticing lately that the 'A' and the 'E' are starting to bend around the sides," Gordie symboled this by cupping his hands and put them up like he had boobs. Everyone was laughing, except awkward me, who was red faced and looking at the ground.
"Annette's tits are great," Vern added as he threw a rock. "Yeah," all of the guys answered. "You know who also has nice tits?" Chris asked. Oh god oh god oh god. "Who?" Asked all of the guys. Chris looked up and smiled at me. "Dez." Everyone started to laugh and nod their heads. I punched Chris in the arm, which only made everyone laugh harder. "This is really a good time," Vern said as the laughter died down. "Yeah," I agreed. "The most," Chris added. "A blast."
Vern didn't just mean being off-limits inside the junkyard, or fudging on our folks, or going on a hike up the railroad tracks to Harlow. He meant those things, but it seems to me now it was more, and we all knew it. Everything was there and around us. We knew exactly who we were, and exactly where we were going. It was grand.
We had all started taking sips of out of our canteens, and attempt to spit a stream of water into the can. Teddy had taken a big sip, acting like he was about to also spit it in the can, and ended up spewing it right onto the side of Vern's face. "Great. Spit at the fat kid. Real good," he said as he wiped his face off. "What time is it, Gordie?" Vern asked as we were all still laughing. "Umm, it's quarter after one," he answered bluntly. "We better go get the food. The junkyard opens at three. Chopper will be here." Vern said it with a mysterious look. "Ooh. Sick balls!" Chris joked. "You go. You can pick us up on the way back," Teddy said in a weird tone that made me laugh. "I'm not going alone," Vern said, sounding scared. "We should all go." His idea was immediately turned down. "I'm stayin' right here," Teddy said. "Yeah, man I'm not goin'. I'm not goin' all the way out there," he said sounding like it would take longer than how far we had already walked. "Girls, girls, girls, cool it. We'll flip for it," I said. Chris flashed a smile at me. "Okay. Odd man goes?" Geordie asked. "That's you, Gordie. Odd as a cod," Teddy said as he laughed. "Flip or eat lead."
"Five tails! Oh Jesus man, that's a goocher!" Vern said, sounding exasperated. "Come on, Vern. That doesn't mean anything! Let's go again," Chris said, brushing it off. "No man. No man. A goocher—that's really bad!" I rolled my eyes as he continued, and looked around to see all of the other guys looked the same. "You remember when Clint Bracken and those guys got wiped-out on Weed Hill in Durham? Billy told me they was flippin' for beers and they came up with a goocher just before they got into the car, and BANG! They all got totaled! I don't like this. Sincerely." I snickered at the thought that he still believed in that stuff. "Verno! Nobody believes that crap about moons and goochers, it's baby stuff! Now come on, flip again." We all flip out coins, except for Vern. "You gonna flip, or not?!" Teddy was loosing his patience. Vern sighed. "Come on, Vern. We don't have all day," Chris urged. Vern finally flips his coin. "You lose, Gordie and Carter! He-he-he-he! Gordie and Dez lose! Ole Gordie just screwed the pooch!" Teddy laughed his obscured laugh. "Does the word retarded mean anything to you?" Gordie asked. I smiled. "Gordie, Dez, go get the provisions, you morphodite," Teddy said. "Don't call me any of your mother's pet names," I called back to him. What a wet end you are, Carter!" He said, laughing. "Shut up!" I yelled. He could really get on my nerves. "I don't shut up," Teddy had started the chant, and Vern and Chris joined in. "I grow up. And when I look at you I throw up. Aaaaaaaaaaaa!" They followed by putting their fingers in their mouths, as if they were gagging.
"And then your mother goes around the corner and she licks it up." I smiled and looked at Gordie, and he smiled back. "Ooooooooh!"
Finding new and, preferably, disgusting ways to degrade a friend's mother was always held in high regard.
The boys proceeded by tackling each other and giving one another noogies, as me and Gordie made our way to the small store at the end of the road.
