stand by me

chapter six

^^^play the song while you read^^^

"Well what do we need a pistol for anyway?" Vern asked as we walked on the grass. "It's spooky sleeping out at night in the woods. We might see a bear!" Chris said. "Or a garbage can.." I teased. They all laughed because we had told them what happened as we were walking to the tracks. We didn't tell them about the encounter with Ace and Eyeball though, I am not sure why.
"I brought a comb!" Vern said. "What do we need a comb for?" Chris asked. "Well if we get on TV, we wanna look good, don't we? And I know how much girls love to brush their hair," Vern said looking at me. "That's a lot of thinking, Vern!" I was being sarcastic but I don't think he could tell. "Thanks," He smiled.
Teddy made Vern flinch and said, "Two for flinching," as he hit him twice. Teddy had gotten all of us with that trick but he got Vern with it the most.
We stood at the beginning of the railroad in silence for a bit until Teddy broke the silence by asking, " How far do you think it's gonna be?" Chris sighed and said, "If we follow the tracks all the way into Harlow, it should be about 20 miles. Sound bout right to you Gordie?" He asked for reassurance. "Yeah, might even be 30!" He said.
"Gee! Maybe we should just hitchhike," Vern suggested. "No way! That sucks," Teddy told him as all of us started walking down the tracks. "Why not? We could go out to route 7 to the Shiloh church, then down the back Harlow road. We'll be there by sundown!" Vern explained to us. "That's pussy!" Teddy argued. "Hey! It's a long way!" There was silence for a second and I heard Teddy stop walking as he asked, "Did your mother ever have any kids that lived?" Me, Gordie, and Chris were a few feet ahead and giggled at the comment Teddy had made but Vern didn't understand it.