More misadventures of the Brooks’ family
In last week’s column I related some misadventures of our family. These happenings were just the tip of the iceberg. I thought of other even more misadventury than previously told.
I know. There is no such word in the English language as “misadventury”, but I like to make up words occasionally. This is one of those times.
When Heather and her friend Kelli took off for the woods in the “Back 40,” I thought nothing about it. They had wandered all over Causby Farms and knew every hill and valley. They knew where fox dens were and where wild turkeys wandered. They saw deer and found hornet nests hanging high up in trees. They weren’t afraid. They trusted their place of childhood make believe adventures with wood fairies and sprites.
I heard them before I saw them. Something made me go outside. I had an instinct as many mothers do when something is amiss with their children.
These two young 12-year-olds were running at top speed down Pine Chapel Road, yelling for help and crying. I sprinted out after them.
They were in hysterics by the time I got them inside babbling about some white thing chasing them. Heather, through desperate gulps of air, said that they had gotten lost and couldn’t find their way back. I was puzzled by this. They knew every inch of ground where they had ventured.
“Mom,” Heather told me in all earnest, “I believe we went to another realm. I really do. Nothing looked right. Nothing was where it should have been.”
Kelli just nodded her head in agreement. She just couldn’t speak. She had no color in her face and her eyes were wild with fear.
“Some white thing started chasing us!” she managed to blurt out.
Heather described some hairy creature and they could hear it running after them almost on their heels. They heard it breathing. I got them calmed down and gave them cold drinks of water. To this day, they never went back to where they started out.
Heather is grown with kids of her own, but she still believes that she had gone through some kind of portal ... and I can’t dispute her. It has been a puzzlement for 30 years.
No, this was not amusing, but Heather and Heath teaching their little brother how to ride Old Blue, the wonder bike was. As I watched them out the window, they put 5-year-old Hayden on the bike and gave him a shove, sending him careening into a fence post. He got a black eye for that.
Do you ever have these moments when you are trying to stop something and all you can do is hold out your hands and say “no way!” This was one of those moments. Hayden gave them another chance. What was he thinking? I tried to stop them, but it was too late. This time they sent him down an embankment. He got a second black eye for that misadventure. Two black eyes on the same day. This is a record.
Whenever Hayden got mad he became a whirling dervish. This was one of those times. He came up out of a pile of leaves, scrambled up the embankment and headed toward his siblings calling them the ugliest thing he could think of, “You stupids! You stupids!” And they all took off running.
In case you’re wondering, his daddy taught him to ride Old Blue. He never quite trusted his two older siblings again.
One time, Hartwell and a friend got tired of watching their older brothers at baseball practice at the Calhoun Recreation Department. The last time I saw them, they were playing at the edge of a wooded area. This was several years ago and I’m not sure if those woods are even there anymore.
His friend’s mother and I were half way keeping an eye on them, but also watching the practice. When I looked over where they had been, they weren’t there anymore. After a bit, we decided to call out to them. We did and got no answer. We called louder and the next thing we heard were the screams of children calling out “Mama!”
I remember the hair on the back of my neck stood up. No mother wants to hear that. We both ran for the woods and when we got to the edge, two little wild eyed boys ran into our arms. They had seen a dead dog in the woods and it must have been pretty gross. Their description told about blood and guts. And I think they heard another dog barking.
It’s getting close to 800 words. I need to stop now, but I have so much more!