The noise of the drunken cabal of teenagers grew as Gabe and his father silently made their way down the path, hid in the bushes, and watched the wild action in front of them. The four teenagers who had stolen the canoe were splashing the paddles in the river, yelling and hooping as they did so with no idea they were being watched. They had foolishly thought they wouldn’t be followed.
A crowd of teenagers were gathered around a fire, drinking beer, telling stories, and laughing uproariously. An inner glow of envy broiled within Gabe as he watched kids who were not much older than he was. Within a couple of years, I’ll be doing the same thing, he thought to himself, but today, he really wanted to get their canoe back in good shape.
Bruce elbowed Gabe in the ribs, nodded and motioned for him to stay where he was. He then stood up and walked into the fire light and loudly cleared his throat. Most in the crowd of teenagers instantly dropped their bottles and ran in all directions. The ones in the canoe, dove into the river and swam across to the other side, clamoring up the banks and running as fast as they could toward the county road.
Three tough guys didn’t panic, standing calmly while holding their beers in their hands. The tallest one tossed a slug of the warm brew down his throat and then looked at Bruce.
Buoyed by the effects of several beers, the tall one said, “Huh, one guy! Whatcha gonna do, old man. There’s three of us.”
The other two laughed and tipped their bottles into their mouths and took swigs of beer.
“I don’t think I’ll have to do anything by the looks of you three. You can barely stand up.”
One of the others snorted, “Let’s take him, Slack!”
All of them tossed their empty bottles onto the ground and pounded their fists into their palms. Bruce crossed his arms and sighed.
“If you’re going to do anything, start now, because I’m a little impatient and not willing to wait all night.” He kept his arms crossed as he checked his watch. “Besides, it’s past my bedtime.” He waited for their response.
Their eyes danced from one to the other reflecting the indecision they felt. Slack began to say something when they noticed a sheriff’s car with flashing red lights tearing down the dirt road leading to the spring. Instantly, all three bolted and ran south along the river path and away from the spring.
Gabe emerged from the bushes, wide-eyed. He felt a surge of pride well up inside of him at the way his father had handled the situation. He felt confident that his father could have taken all three, regardless of their state of inebriation because he was a well-built six footer who had been in the Navy. Gabe had been ready to throw himself into the battle if it occurred just because he wanted the action and excitement. In fact, he craved it and was disappointed when the sheriff’s car had shown up and scared all of them off.
While Gabe and his father spoke to the sheriff, John Klipper and Smiley Wilson were slowly cruising the county road with their eyes peeled for any drunken teenage boys running away. Their headlights shown upon the railroad crossing and two figures straggling along the tracks.
Two boys started waving their arms at them as their car approached. Klipper pulled off the road onto the two-foot wide dirt shoulder. The breaks screeched a little as they came to a stop and Wilson rolled down his window.
“Hey mister, can we catch a ride back to town? We had a little accident down at the river.”
“Sure thing boys, jump in the back, Klipper said.
The boys gratefully opened the back door and piled in.
“You look pretty wet. What kind of accident did you have?” Wilson asked.
“We tipped our canoe and just barely made it out of the river alive. Alan conked his head on the gunnel and almost drowned.”
“My, my, you boys had a bad one, it sounds like. Tell you what, we’ll pull into my place here and get you some towels, dry you off and let you call your parents to come pick you up.”
“Uh, that’s alright. We’ll be okay if you could just take us back into town.” The boys were shivering now.
“Nonsense, we’ll get you boys all warmed up first.” Mr. Klipper slowed down to pull into his driveway. The boys recognized the area at once. With their hands on the door handles they looked at each other and nodded. They exploded out the doors at once and took off heading east across the golf course.
“Well, I guess they didn’t want to experience our hospitality,” Smiley chuckled.
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