Long Islanders

6 - Javelin Toss

The weekends in autumn were glorious days, with just the right temperature, not too hot but not cold enough to warrant a jacket. The leaves were turning brilliant shades of red, orange and yellow, creating beautiful patterns in the trees as cool breezes blew through the air, seeking to chase away the humidity of summer.

Jimmy and his friends trooped out onto the trail behind their houses one Saturday in midmorning, eager to find something exciting and fun to do.

"There's a store of bamboo rods back here," Andrew said to everyone. "I found them yesterday. We could do something with those."

John's eyes lit up and Jimmy knew he was coming up with some genius - or stupid - plan including those bamboo rods. No matter what, all the boys would be in. John's schemes may be outlandish, but in the risk was the potential of great fun. That's just how the cards were handed out.

The pile of bamboo came into sight and the boys all crowded around it. "What's the plan, John?" Jimmy asked. "Is there a plan?"

"We throw them at each other," John declared after a quick moment of thought. "Divide them up equally and throw them. Like javelins."

Tim raised an eyebrow. "Sounds a bit much."

"No," Jimmy said slowly, thinking. "Not if we keep one rod each to deflect incoming missiles."

The other boys all nodded. Andrew crouched down beside the rods and began to count, his lips murmuring silently as he rummaged through the pile. Then he glanced around at the others, counting the number of boys there. "There's enough for each of us to have five," he summarized, standing. "Four to throw, one to guard."

The boys rushed forward, grabbing up their allotted number of bamboo rods. As John ordered them into two lines, they backed up towards their positions, placing their rods down at their feet. Jimmy picked up one in his hand, swung it around a few times experimentally, and grinned. He felt like some kind of warrior with his staff.

"All set?" John called as everyone tested out their own bamboo rods.

"Yes!" came the unanimous response.

John bent down to scoop up a second rod as everyone else did likewise. "Ready....Set....Go!"

Jimmy hurled his rod towards the other line, bringing his other rod up to deflect the incoming missile as soon as his javelin had been tossed. He managed to block the rod thrown his way and picked up another rod to throw, adding to the tumult of flying bamboo.

Yelps echoed up from the boys as some of the poles, being poorly deflected, struck them, but no one stopped the constant barrage. Jimmy ducked under one rod as he whipped another at Tim before deflecting a third. This sort of game required keeping one's wits about you at all times or else you might get struck - the perfect kind of Stanwich game.

Jimmy didn't know how long the game was kept up, but it was a sharp cry of pain from Donnie, followed by Andrew's shout of "It's in his leg!" that ended the bamboo toss. Everyone turned towards Donnie, at the end of the line, and gaped to see the bamboo rod sticking up out of his thigh.

"It really is in his leg," Tim observed as the boys grouped around Donnie, eyeing the pole warily. Donnie had his teeth gritted together against the pain as he sat on the ground, the pole wobbling slightly.

John pushed his way forward and crouched down beside Donnie, examining the point of entry. Then he stood. "Brace yourself," he told Donnie, and before anyone could say anything, he grasped the rod and yanked it out.

Donnie cried out in pain as the pole slid out of his leg, leaving a deep, circle shaped wound behind. Andrew and Jimmy moved forward, helping Donnie up onto his feet. "Want to go home?" Jimmy asked.

Donnie nodded, and the two boys helped him limp back to his house as the rest gathered the bamboo rods back up into a pile. Explaining to Donnie's mother exactly what had happened left Jimmy, Donnie, and Andrew with a quick, brutal lecture while they helped him inside before they were dismissed.

"Why am I even surprised?" she asked as Andrew and Jimmy headed for the door.

"I'm not sure," Andrew replied as soon as they were outside and the door was safely closed behind them. "We do stuff like this all the time."

"If there was no danger, there'd be no fun," Jimmy said with a grin, and he and Andrew gave each other a high five.