This has nothing to do with RPG’s, but I recently came across it on my computer and think it’s pretty good. If anyone wants to read it and let me know what you think i’d appreciate the feedback. If not, feel free to ignore and we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled RPG content soon.
~Michael
30,077 Minutes
“But Mom,” Evan elongated the second word so much he almost didn’t finish before he had to take a breath. “I promise I’ll be careful,” he pleaded with both his words and eyes. Marie Powell’s gaze lifted from her son, whom she did trust to be careful, to the three boys standing just beyond the screen door on the porch. Bill Stevens, Josh Hardin, and Doug Giles. Bill and Josh were decent kids. Their parents weren’t the brightest people, but they seemed nice enough. Not Doug though. At fifteen he was a couple years older than Evan and the other boys they hung out with. He was a big boy, not tall or muscular, but heavy with a dull face that was presently covered with acne. She should feel sorry for him, perhaps. He didn’t seem to have any friends his own age, so he was always playing with the younger ones.
As if on cue, he spoke up; “We’re just going up to the flats to play some ball,” he held up a old, slightly dinted aluminum softball bat and a neon green ball as he said it. After a pause he added, “Ma’am,” quickly.
Marie nodded her head but couldn’t shake the feeling that this was an Eddie Haskell to the bone. But she didn’t have any real reason to say no. Today was the first day of Evan’s summer break. It had been a bad winter and the school year had stretched almost two full weeks longer than scheduled. Evan had been infected with summer fever for days. And as far as summer days go, this was one for the books. Bright blue, cloudless skies. A slight breeze that moved the leaves softly. Seventy-eight degrees. It was a day made for thirteen year old boys.
“Ok,” she relented at last. “But just to the flats. You know you’re not allowed up to Big-Rocks without your father.” She said this loud enough to ensure the other boys heard it too.
Evan nearly jumped and said yippee. He probably would have if his friends hadn’t been there to see. He ran to the door and through the screen door said, “Let me get my stuff,” and then turned and ran toward his bedroom at the end of the hall.
While he was changing clothes and digging out his glove his mom went to the front door and invited the other boys in. They declined. “Just the four of you?” she asked and raised an eyebrow at Doug.
“Oh no, Ma’am,” Doug said after Josh and Bill turned to him. There are some other boys that are supposed to meet us up there. Not sure how many. We really need Evan to make sure we have enough.”
“Well, if you don’t end up with enough, you boys can come on back here and play something in the yard.”
“Sure thing,” Doug said with an awkward smile. His teeth were yellowish; he hadn’t brushed them in days.
Evan came around the corner from the hall. He had his faded blue UK hat turned backward and his glove already fitted on his left hand. “Let’s go, guys,” he said as he passed his mother on the way out.
“Evan,” Marie said as she hooked the back of his shirt collar. If he had been moving any faster his feet might have left the ground as his upper body stopped.
“What?” he gasped through a slight strangled choke.
She just looked at him for a moment. His eyes went to the open doorway, where he could see Doug and the others had already started off the porch expecting him to follow. He quickly kissed her cheek. “Love you,” he said.
“Love you too.” She straightened him up and turned his cap around right. He had started wearing it backward after he saw that was how Doug wore his. She didn’t like it. “Be careful. Ok?”
“Ok,” he said. “I gotta go.”
She let him leave then and watched as he caught up to the other boys. Doug tossed the softball over his shoulder. Evan caught it. From here she could see him beaming. She didn’t care for Doug, but Evan seemed to worship him.
#
“Your mom’s a bitch,” Doug said to Evan as they started up the rocky rut that was once a road that led to the flats. “Every time I come by there she eyes me up and down like I’m going to steal something.”
“Maybe Evan’s dad isn’t home enough to give her what she needs,” Josh said with a laugh.
Evan’s face reddened as the other boys spent a few minutes discussing in detail the things they would do to his Mom if given the chance. Thankfully their imagination was not that great, and they quickly ran out of things to say. By then they had made it a quarter of the way up the old road. Doug had started to wheeze and without saying so, called a short break. Evan stayed standing and tossed the softball to himself as he waited for Doug to get his breath back.
“Bill,” Doug said, “you got the cigarettes?”
“Right here,” Bill replied as he pulled a crumpled pack of Marlboro Lights from his back pocket and held it aloft so they could all see it. Evan hadn’t ever been to Bill’s house, but he knew from Bill that his mom and sad both smoked. Bill would take old packages that had been thrown away and then swipe one or two cigarettes at a time to fill his pack up. He watched as Bill pulled one out and handed it to Doug, who produced a lighter from his pocket and lit up. A moment later and Bill and Josh had one lit as well. Doug gestured to Evan, and Bill pulled one more out and held it out toward him.
“I don’t think I can,” Evan said. “Mom mentioned something about my clothes smelling last time.” It was a lie. His mom hadn’t said a thing, but Evan hadn’t liked the way the cigarettes made him cough. Doug had laughed at him last time and then he didn’t feel good afterward; dizzy and sick like he was going to throw up.
“Evan’s just a little girl,” Doug laughed, but he didn’t force him to take one.
Doug sat there and smoked half of his cigarette and then stood up with a grunt, and they started walking on. Doug started using the old bat as a walking stick, and it helped him set the pace. Any of the other three could have passed him and got to the top quicker, but it was understood that Doug was the leader. No one got in front of him. Especially if he was holding a bat.
Soon enough they cleared the road and could see the flats laid out before them. Three corn fields laid out side by side. They hadn’t been used in years, but they were the only flat place around after you started up the mountain, at least flat enough for them to play. He guessed that was why they were called the flats. It made sense. At least as much sense as Big-Rocks, which was named because of all the big rocks up there. It had been one of his favorite places to play. The rocks made great forts and there were all these small caves and crevices to play in. He used to go there all the time with Doug and the rest until another friend of his, Joe Helton, fell and broke his leg. Once that happened his mom had forbade him from going there unless he went with his dad. Which of course had never happened.
Doug had finished his first cigarette as they cleared the road and was lighting up his second when Evan noticed that there weren’t any other kids around.
“We got more coming?” he asked.
Doug screwed up his face and mocked Evan,.“We got more coming? We got more coming?” Josh and Bill laughed at him.
Doug took a hit from the cigarette. “We’re not playing ball, dumb-ass. We’re going to Big-Rocks.”
“But I promised that I wouldn’t . . .” Evan started but was cut off as Doug once again started to mock him, “but I promised, but I promised.”
Doug grabbed a hold of Evan’s shirt and twisted it up in his fist pulling him closer and onto his tip-toes. “Listen, pussy, we’re going to Big-Rocks. You can go home or you can come with us. I really don’t care. But if you tell anyone what we’re going to do while we are there, I’ll have to beat you.” Doug pushed him away and Evan fell to the ground on his back.
Bill and Josh took up positions behind Doug, and they all glowered at Evan as he picked himself up from the dirt.
“You know I won’t tell,” he said.
“Really? Then why does Junior watch me like a hawk every time I walk in there?”
“I never said a word.” Evan shook his head. “I swear. I didn’t tell anyone. I’d be in as much trouble as you.” Evan had agreed to help Doug shoplift from Junior Payne’s Grocery a few weeks ago. Evan kept Junior busy with questions at the counter as Doug took some candy and a soda. He was supposed to get enough for Evan too, but he didn’t. Or at least, he didn’t share anything he had taken. But Evan really hadn’t told.
“He’s an asshole,” Doug spat after a moment of consideration. “He never did like me in there.” Doug grabbed Evan’s hat and turned it around on his head sharply. It kinda burned a bit as the fabric rubbed against his skin. “So, coming or not?”
Evan risked a glance back toward the old road. He couldn’t see his house but knew it lay at the bottom of the road. “Yeah, let’s go.”
“On one condition,” Doug said as he narrowed his eyes. He got Bill to pull out the pack of cigarettes and got one out and lit it up and then held it out toward Evan.
Evan didn’t even hesitate this time. He took the cigarette and took a puff.
Doug burst in laughter and swept his arm around Evan wrapping him into a half hug, which turned into a headlock. “Maybe you’re not such a pussy after all.” Doug pushed him ahead. Evan managed not to trip and then waited for Doug to pass him up. He kept the cigarette down by his side and only took puffs when they looked back at him. Even so he was still feeling nauseous by the time they got to the base of the Big-Rocks.
#
They started passing rocks of all sizes that lined the path as they neared Big-Rocks. Evan had no idea where the rocks had come from or why they were there. They certainly didn’t seem to fit, but he also couldn’t fathom any reason why someone would have brought them to the top of the hill and left them there. For most people, Big-Rocks was what they called the top of the hill, but for those that had braved the trail and played here Big-Rocks meant the giant stack of rocks stood together and stretched toward the sky.
There were four ways that Evan knew to get to the very top of Big-Rocks or to “The Saddle” as it was called. The easiest was to climb around to the back side, where the rocks were resting against some other rocks. It was an easy climb most of the way, and you only had short vertical climb to the small plateau rock on the top. Next there was a natural chimney that if you pressed your back against one side and your feet against the other you could wiggle your way to a ledge just below The Saddle and then climb on up. Thirdly, there was a small ledge that ran around the rocks about halfway up. If you went around toward the back as if you were going to take the easy climb you could crawl on hands and knees till you got to the same ledge as the chimney. And lastly there was the Wall. It was the front side of Big-Rocks. Completely vertical all the way to the top. It was where Joe had fallen and broken his leg a couple months before.
Evan had climbed to the top every way you could except the Wall. He was a very good climber. Though short he was limber and wiry and could get his feet and hands in small handholds. But he had never worked up the courage to try the Wall before.
Evan was so focused on the Wall that he hadn’t noticed that he had passed Doug, who had slowed to almost a stop. He realized his mistake too late and felt the tip of the bat as it poked into his back. It didn’t hurt that much. Doug was so out of breath he didn’t have the energy to hit him hard. Evan just fell back into place behind Doug.
No one said anything until Doug had regained himself. Evan started to think that Bill and Josh didn’t know what the big secret was, as they too were looking at Doug expectantly.
Finally, after what seemed like an hour, though it was only a few minutes, but probably a little longer than it needed to be, Doug told them. “You see that small ridge right there?” He pointed to up the Wall and toward the Saddle. “I know for a fact that there are some beers hidden in that crevice. I was up here yesterday and saw Red and Finley drinking on the Saddle. Before they left I saw them hide three cans in that crevice. I tried to get them from the Saddle, but I couldn’t reach. We are going to climb up there and get them down.”
Josh, Bill, and Evan’s eyes went wide though it was not for the same reason. Josh and Bill were thrilled with the thought of drinking a beer. Evan, who had sipped beer before when his dad would let him, was thinking that he was the only one that could make that climb.
“I’m going first,” Doug said as he gestured to himself with his thumb. “If I get one, it’s mine.” Evan didn’t think for a second Doug would share if he got one. Not that Doug would make the climb anyway.
Everyone else took a step back to gain a better perspective on the Wall. It looked like it was a hundred feet tall. It was probably only forty, but still. Doug made his way to the bottom and started searching for a good handhold. From his position at the bottom Evan already knew he wouldn’t make it. He could see that there wasn’t a clear path up from where Doug was starting. He would be lucky to get ten feet up before he found himself stuck. He didn’t make it five before he slipped off and landed in a heap at the base.
Josh and Bill ran up to help him up, but he waved them off. He tried two more times, each ending the same way before, winded, he gave way.
“Okay, Bill, you’re up,” he said as he took a seat on a rock near the bottom.
Bill had watched Doug’s efforts but didn’t learn anything. Though to be fair, Doug hadn’t made it far enough to show that it wasn’t a good place to start, so Bill tried the same route. He made it to the ten-foot mark, but just as Evan had thought before he became stuck and had to jump to the ground. That was one of the main problems with climbing the Wall. It was harder to come down than go the rest of the way up.
Exhausted, Bill didn’t want to try it again. Josh took his turn but barely got on the Wall before he jumped back down. All eyes turned to Evan. This was his chance to shine. If he could climb up there Doug would be impressed.
Evan wiped his hands off on his shirt drying them. He then made his way to the place where he saw he would have the best chance of making it to the top. He had to jump just to get started and his on first attempt he missed. Not understanding what he was trying to do Doug laughed as he slid back down. Embarrassed Evan tried again and latched on. Like a spider he moved quickly up the Wall. He was over halfway when he took a peak below and saw Doug and the others looking at him, excitement on their faces.
“Hell, yeah,” Doug called out. “Look at that little bastard go,” Doug clapped a couple times and then let out a loud whistle.
Smiling, Evan turned and continued up. His hands were starting to sweat again, but he was so close he didn’t want to stop. Two more handholds and he was almost there. Stretching out he peered over the ledge and saw the first can lying on its side. It was white with a blue and red image on it. It was the same kind his dad drank; Pabst Blue Ribbon. The can was dented and Evan could see that it was empty.
It was hard but he managed to reach in and knock the can out. It fluttered and tumbled to the ground, where Doug chased after it. “It’s empty,” Doug challenged Evan as if Evan had somehow managed to empty it before tossing the can down.
“There are more,” Evan replied. “I’ll see if I can get them.” He had to move a bit higher so he could reach in further. He was only three or four feet from the top now. He managed to snake his hand in and find the second can. As he pulled it out he could tell this one too was empty. “It’s empty,” he said as he tossed it over his head. A moment later he heard it crash below him.
The third can was pushed back further than the others, and Evan had to move up another foot and then reach in blindly. He had his hands on the very top now. He had at least made the climb. As soon as he got the last can he could quickly get on The Saddle.
“What are you waiting for?” Doug yelled up at him.
Evan wanted to yell back he was trying, but didn’t want to take the effort. He stretched out as far as he could and wrapped his hand around the third can. He could feel it crush beneath his grasp. It was also empty. Really, he should have known better. Why would Red and Finley leave beers behind? They were just hiding their empties.
“It’s empty too,” Evan called and raked the third can out into the air behind him. He turned to watch it fall. It was hard to tell from this height, but Doug didn’t look happy as he picked up the third can and found it empty as if he hadn’t believed Evan. Turning, Evan started to finish his climb. That’s when he heard a sharp crack as something hit the rock wall to his right. Tiny fragments of stone flew out and almost got in his eye.
Evan stole a glance over his shoulder and saw Doug throwing another small rock toward him. “Stop it,” Evan yelled.
“Listen to the baby,” Doug yelled back as he threw another rock.
Evan tried to yell out again, but it came out more like a strangled cry. No words.
“Don’t fall,” Doug taunted. “You’re such a good climber, huh. Just climb on up.”
Evan started to cry. He didn’t want to, but he was scared. Josh and Bill had started to throw rocks too. Most bounced harmlessly off the wall around him, but a few had hit his legs and back. He could feel thin trickles of blood where some of the sharp ones had connected. He screamed out louder, but the rocks kept coming. He was almost at the top. He fought back the tears and started to scramble on up to the top when one connected with him solidly in the back of his head. Instinctively he hands went back there to feel the wound. Before he realized what he had done he was falling. He saw the blue, cloudless sky above him through the gap in canopy Big-Rocks created. He felt the rush of air as he fell toward the earth. He heard, “Shit,” come from Doug’s mouth just before he landed and the world went dark.
~Michael
