Take off your hat, I want to stand up.

Chapter 20: The Lake.

Chapter 20

June 30, We turned into Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn

We spent every summer at the family cottage at the lake, we were truly blessed.

I ran out of the Transcona elementary school at 11:00, June 30, I had successfully passed into the next grade. No more school for two whole months. There before me was the promise of a clean, pure blue, prairie sky. It was the best day ever. The warm weather and my three speed bike, it had white wall tires and the added feature of a clothes pin attached to a piece of cardboard that gave a really cool tick, tick, tick sound as I pedalled home.

I was the best bike rider in the world, Superman has nothing on me, look ma no hands, bad idea, hands on the handle bars.

I skidded to a stop, Harvey and my mate Keithy were kicking dust by the front steps. What did you get on your report card? I do not know, who cared? Summer was here. That summed up school when we were young, we really did not think about school after that moment.

Mom told us to get ready we were going to the lake for the summer. The '52 Chev was loaded to the hilt. I pushed my bike behind the fence and grabbed a few things to take, and off we went to the lake.

It was about a thirty minute trip, but the way mom drove it could take us longer, never less. We managed to maneuver to the outskirts of town after stopping at the liquor store for a bottle of Lemon Hart Dark Jamaican rum. We sailed own Pasqua Street to the double lane highway, and sort of aimed for Regina Beach.

We had almost made it to the halfway point, Five minutes before the Lumsden valley when I heard my mom say, oh shit. Just then she had looked in the rear view mirror, it was the red light flash of the Police cruiser.

She slowed to a stop, rolled down the crank window and waited. We must have been all ears and eyes as the officer walked beside our car. It was like being in a car accident, everything happened in slow motion, we all smiled in awkward silence.

Lady he said this is the reason I pulled you over, this is a highway you need to go faster. I clocked you at 44 miles per hour you need to go at least 60. You were going way too slow, you could cause an accident, so please speed up.

Thank you so very much officer, I have the kids in the car, three dogs, all the groceries and supplies for the lake. We, meaning the kids, were somehow always either the cause of trouble or the direct result of some type of shenanigans. This was how it was. But all in all we were good with it. Say good- bye to the officer kids, bye officer. On to the lake.

As we crested the hill to the village of Regina Beach we were thrilled to see the lake, it was as smooth as glass. Officially summer had arrived. Ev would turn the car off at the top and coast all the way down to the pier. We passed the hardware store, by the Corner Cupboard, Cope's Red and White on the right, look there is Butler's fish and chip, I hope it is open, we stopped at the edge of the water. The beach looked good, we were happy.

We abandoned our shoes, wore cut-offs, tee shirts and basically Tom and Hucked around the lake like a bunch of goofs.