MURK MEADOW
BY J.E. LUND
Smashwords Edition
Copyright © 2012 by J.E. Lund
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CHAPTER ONE
A STRAY DOG
I guess you could say I was nervous. Allen and I had been friends for only a couple of weeks when he asked me to go camping with him and his friends. I had never been camping, and I had never met his friends, so the idea of doing both on the same weekend kind of made my stomach turn in a nervous sort of way. I’m not exactly sure why I ever agreed to go, but as I sat on my front porch waiting for Allen to pick me up, I tried to think of a good excuse that would keep me from having to go. As hard as I tried, I just couldn’t think of a good enough lie.
Actually, to say that Allen and I were friends was stretching the truth just a bit. Truth was, I was just using him. Numbers and I had never gotten along very well, and I was going to flunk Geometry if I didn’t find help soon. As luck would have it, Allen approached me one day while in school and asked if I would like to come to a small get together he was having at his house. At first I just laughed and wondered why he thought I would want to come to his party. I had always considered him a bit of a brainiac and a little on the nerdy side so I never spoke to him much ‘cause he didn’t seem much like me or my friends. And from what I saw at school, he wasn’t very popular either, but before I could say no, I remembered the one thing I did know about him; he was a whiz with numbers. I agreed to show up at his party on one condition; he had to help me pass Geometry.
He thought about it for a second and agreed. “You won’t regret it dude. There’ll be lots of beer and lots of pussy!” he said, trying to make the offer a little sweeter.
“Somehow I doubt that,” I said.
“Okay, maybe not lots of pussy,” Allen conceded.
I kept staring at him with a look of disbelief on my face.
“Okay, maybe not any pussy, but lots of beer!” he said with a smile on his face. I chuckled at what he said which obviously made him feel good as he walked away.
On Saturday night I showed up at his house as promised; I was the only one who did. None of his other friends showed up or even bothered to call. I felt sorry for him, so I stayed there most of the night and kept him company. He thought we were bonding, I thought I was doing him a favor. From that night on, he considered me a friend of his, and since I wasn’t passing Geometry yet, I wasn’t going to do anything to change his mind. I suppose that’s why I agreed to go camping.
As I was about to go back inside to see what time it was, Allen pulled up the gravel drive and slid to a stop. I walked up to his truck, tossed my sleeping bag, small cooler, and duffel bag in the back and hopped up front for the fifteen minute ride. Allen was already drinking; he handed me a Lucky Lager and pulled out of the driveway. He slapped my shoulder with the back of his hand, “Come on man, get with it.”
“Get with what?” I asked.
“Get with havin’ some fun and gettin’ drunk, what else?”
“I don’t know, I guess I’m just not that sure about camping with you and your friends, I’m not sure if I’ll have fun.”
“Why not?” Allen asked. “What are you scared of?”
“I’m not scared of anything, I’ve just never been camping and I’m not sure I’ll like your friends,” I answered honestly.
“What, worried my friends aren’t cool enough for you?” Allen asked.
“Hey, just because I like…think you’re okay doesn’t mean I’ll like your friends you know. I just hope they’re not as geeky as you,” I said with half a smile on my face.
“I didn’t realize you felt that way, but for your information they are a lot like me.”
“You mean they’re really smart, don’t have many friends, can’t play sports and never been laid?” I asked as I smiled.
Allen snapped back, “No, they’ve been laid!…Well, all but one.”
“I’m just giving you shit. I’m sure your friends are cool, and I’m sure I’ll have fun, but it could be hard with you and your geeky friends around.” I said as I laughed.
Allen gave me a dirty look and kept driving. Even though I had only known Allen a couple weeks, I could tell when things bugged him. He could be a little too sensitive and get a little defensive about things so I backed off. Allen was quiet for the next five minutes or so. I guess he was thinking about what I said and wondering if I was really serious or not. Nevertheless, he was in a good mood again in no time at all.
“I can’t wait to get out there, I’ve been dying to go camping,” Allen said. “I’ve camped with the same group of guys since I was a freshman and I have so many memories I hate to see it end. But this will be the last year before we all go off to college or whatever. It’s kinda sad…I’m gonna miss it.”
“You and your friends do this every year?” I asked.
“Yeah every year we search for a private, secluded place that only we know about and we’ll camp there every weekend from now until the end of the school year. We always name each spot something different, and then at the end of the year at the last camp out we hang a sign from a tree with the name of the place on it; kind of our way of leaving our mark on the place.”
“So what are some of the names of these places?” I asked.
“Well, one of the places had this huge flat rock that sat about two feet off the ground. We would eat off it, play cards on it, and Paul even had sex on it,” Allen explained.
“Before or after you ate off it?” I asked.
“Funny. Anyway, we called that place Table Rock. Another place was called Evil Tree ‘cause there was this one tree that every time the wind would blow the branches would form an evil looking face. It was scary man and every one of us saw it. We almost stopped camping out there ‘cause it was so freaky. I’m getting chills right now just thinking about it. Last year’s sight was called Deer Creek because…”
I interrupted, “because there were lots of deer and a creek, right?”
“Yeah, how’d you guess? Allen said sarcastically.
I finished my beer and tossed the can on the floorboard of the truck. “So, where is this place anyway?”
“It’s by the lake, we’re almost there,” Allen said as he took a left turn and drove down a long, winding, dusty dirt road. We came upon two cars parked beside a barbed wire fence. Allen pulled up behind them and put the truck in park. “We’re here!”
When I got out of the truck and took a look around, I saw no sign of people anywhere around. “How far do we have to walk to get there?” I asked.
“Just over that hill,” Allen answered as he pointed in a southwest direction.
It was an incredibly beautiful night for the first weekend in March and it was starting to turn dark as we started our short journey towards the camp sight. As we walked through what seemed like a farmer’s pasture, you could actually see the sun going down over the hills. The sky went from a burning pink orange, to a star filled, moonlit night, right before our eyes.
As we approached the summit of the small foothill, I took the time to take in the view from above. When I looked across the openness below me, I noticed a large group of trees at the bottom of the hill. The trees stretched from one hill to the other and continued over and beyond both. Beyond the trees was a large meadow hundreds of yards long. Hills surrounded the meadow on every side. As I looked through the trees I could barely see the flicker of a small campfire. “Is that it?” I asked, pointing to the fire in the trees.
“Yeah, that’s it,” Allen answered. “Man, I love the smell of a campfire, don’t you?”
“I guess so, never really noticed,” I answered honestly.
“Dude, you really do need to get out of the house more,” Allen said.
“Yeah, I know, that’s why I’m here.”
Allen shook his head to the side. “Come on, let’s go.”
The moon lit our path as we started down the hill. We were still about two hundred feet from camp before the smoke finally caught my nose. “Yeah, I do like the smell of campfires.”
“See, I told you! I promise you’ll learn to love it out here if you decide you want to come back after tonight.”
“Don’t count on it,” I said in all honesty.
We slowly made our way through the trees, ducking under branches and weaving between bushes. As we got closer, I noticed that our campsite was at the very edge of the trees, precisely where the meadow started and the trees ended. I saw four figures moshing to loud music around the campfire. I looked at Allen funny, “Devil worshipers?”
“Don’t worry man, they’re harmless,” Allen said, noticing the worry on my face.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, but this isn’t,” Allen said as he passed gas.
“Man, I swear you fart more than anyone I’ve ever met. You have a serious problem dude because you fucking stink! You better check your underwear.”
All Allen could do was laugh as he turned and walked into camp. I plugged my nose and followed far behind. At first no one even noticed us, and Allen didn’t even bother to try to introduce me. Instead, he threw his gear on the ground, tossed me a beer from the cooler, grabbed one for himself and joined the guys in the mosh pit. Allen motioned me to join them, but I declined by shaking my head back and forth. I reclined against a log and observed from afar. Even though they looked a little silly, they looked like they were having fun and I found myself wanting to join them, but never having moshed, I passed on the opportunity. It was just as well though, ‘cause the song ended and Allen used the break in music as an opportunity to introduce me.
“Everyone, this is Justin. Justin, this is everyone.”
“Who’s who, dumb shit?” I snapped back.
“I’m Derwood and this is my brother Tailbone,” Derwood offered as he shook my hand.
I shook Tailbone’s hand and turned to the others. “You are...?”
“I’m Paul and over there is…”
As I turned to see who Paul was pointing to, I heard a voice interrupt, “So you’re the Johnny come lately?”
“...Beef,” Paul said as he finished his sentence.
I was facing him now so I extended my hand to his. “Beef? Is that what they call you?”
Instead of shaking my hand and answering he just stood there and glared. “Aren’t you a jock?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “No, not really.”
“Yes you are, you wrestle don’t you?”
“Yeah, I play baseball too, but I’m no jock.”
“Are you good at sports?” Beef asked.
“Yeah, I guess so,” I answered.
“Do you hang out with the jocks?”
“Sometimes, but usually not unless I have to.”
“If it looks like a jock and smells like a jock then it’s a jock and I don’t like jocks,” Beef said bluntly. He turned to Allen. “You know I don’t like jocks, so why in the hell did you bring him out here?”
Allen came to my defense. “Beef, quit being an asshole!”
Tailbone tossed Beef a beer, “Chill out dude. Don’t ruin the first camp out.”
As Tailbone tossed everyone else a beer we all sat down around the fire. “So, what do you guys do at these camp outs?” I asked after taking a swig of my beer.
“Manly things!” Derwood answered in a deep manly voice. “Actually we do all kinds of things. Sometimes we raid other peoples’ camps and steal their food or spy on them. Sometimes we bring girls out or we’ll have stick wars or play Hacky Sack or Frisbee. But mostly we just get really drunk. You know…manly things!”
Beef gave his own answer. “Sometimes we beat up jocks.”
“Beef, go change the music and quit being an asshole,” Paul suggested.
Beef got up and put on more music they could all mosh to. As they all danced around the camp fire I took the opportunity to look at them more closely. Tailbone and Derwood were brothers and you could tell it. Tailbone was really tall and really skinny. He had long blond hair and a scraggly beard that looked like peach fuzz that had never been shaved. He wasn’t really ugly, but he wasn’t real attractive either. He kind of resembled a blonde Mick Jagger. His brother, Derwood was slightly shorter and he too was skinny except that he had broad shoulders and some muscle tone. His hair was a little darker blond and a little shorter, about shoulder length. He was better looking than Tailbone and clean shaven. Paul was Derwood’s height with short brown hair and a goatee. He was fairly thin with broad shoulders. He wore glasses and had a very academic look about him. I guess you could say he was the best looking of the bunch. Beef wasn’t really fat, just kind of stocky. He wasn’t as tall as the others, but he was taller than both Allen and I. He had brown hair and a slightly chubby face. He looked more ornery than mean, but thus far I only knew him to be mean. For having a beer belly and being out of shape he wasn’t a bad looking guy. Allen was an inch or two shorter than me and we were both the shortest ones there. Allen didn’t have any muscle at all and he was also pretty skinny. He had short brown hair and freckles, though they were hard to see through all his acne.
When the guys finished their moshing around the campfire, Beef finished his beer, picked up a machete and flashlight and headed into the woods to get some firewood. “So, what’s Beefs story, why does he hate jocks so much?” I asked as soon as he left.
The guys just glanced around at each other as if they weren’t supposed to say anything. “Well, what’s the deal?” I asked again.
Derwood finally answered “It’s not really our place to tell you, but he does have a good reason. I wouldn’t worry too much about him not liking you; he just gets like this when he drinks too much.”
“He always drinks too much!” Allen said.
“You’d drink too if you had his life,” Tailbone said in defense of Beefs drinking habit. He looked at me and continued to explain. “Beef has a real rough home life; his step dad is the biggest asshole you’ll ever meet and treats his family like shit. It’s amazing Beef is as sane as he is; I know I wouldn’t be.”
“That bad huh?”
“You have no idea…yeah, it’s pretty bad,” Derwood answered.
With that said I stood up, grabbed a flashlight and headed for the woods. “Where are you going?” Allen asked.
“First I’m gonna drain the vein, then I’m gonna go help Beef with the firewood.”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, he has a machete with him you know,” Tailbone playfully warned.
I picked up a machete from off the ground. “Now it’ll be a fair fight.”
I grabbed my beer, gulped down my own backwash and headed into the woods to take a leak. After I finished watering the plants I heard some chopping noises and headed in that direction. It didn’t take long to find Beef and as I walked towards him he paused for a moment and looked at me with glaring eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought I’d help you get some firewood. I’m guessing we’ll need a lot.”
“Oh, so Jockboy is now nature boy!” Beef said sarcastically.
“Hey, I just thought I’d try to be cool and help you out a little.”
“First of all, you’re not cool and second of all, I don’t want or need your help, besides, you might hurt yourself with that machete.”
“Don’t worry, if I handle this the same way I handle a baseball bat, I’ll be just fine,” I said as I swung my machete knowing it would kinda piss him off.
Beef laughed and shook his head. “You’re just a babe in the woods.”
As Beef went back to gathering wood I found a few small branches to cut off for kindling. I knew I was pressing my luck but I decided to risk it and ask Beef why he hates jocks so much. “So, what’s your beef with jocks…so to speak?”
At first he just stared at me like he was going to take my head off, but instead he just threatened me. “That’s none of your fucking business and if you ask again I’ll take your head off!”
“Whew, let off with a warning!” I thought to myself as I finished chopping off my branch. Beef wasn’t real big, but he did have some meat on him, and he looked like he could really go crazy in a fight.
Beef bent down and grabbed his pile. “This is enough for now Jockboy, let’s head back to camp.”
I piled my wood in my arms and started to follow Beef back to the campsite when I stopped dead in my tracks. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what? You’re hearing things dude.”
“Something growled man! I swear something growled,” I said with scared excitement.
“Oh that!…That was just my stomach,” Beef said as he laughed. “I can’t believe you’re afraid of my stomach!…As soon as I eat I’ll be fine.”
“Ssshhh! There it is again, hear it?”
“Yeah, I heard that with my bad ear,” Beef said, surprised that he actually did hear something. It growled again, only louder this time and sounding much closer than before. Beef dropped his firewood on the ground and held out his machete. “All right you son of a bitch, where are you?” he asked aloud as he held his machete like a samurai warrior looking for the enemy.
I shined the flashlight around to help Beef look for the animal. I gave the area a quick sweeping motion with the light and finally focused on a big hollowed out oak tree. That’s when we found it. Two glowing eyes were staring at us from inside the tree. “Holy shit! Look at that thing, what the hell is it?” I wondered aloud.
“It’s too dark to tell…maybe it’s a coyote. Sure is an ugly sucker whatever it is,” Beef answered.
“Looks pretty pissed off too, let’s get the hell outta here before the damn thing attacks us,” I said in all seriousness.
“Sumbitch attacks me, I’ll kill it!” Beef said as he raised his machete.
“Come on, let’s get back to camp and tell the others about this thing,” I said as I picked up my firewood.
Surprisingly Beef agreed and we both headed back to camp to warn the others. When we arrived the others were just breaking out the food, getting ready to eat. Beef threw his pile of wood on the ground and explained to them what we had just found. “We just ran into Cujo!”
“What?” Paul asked. “What do you mean you ran into Cujo?”
Beef explained. “We just saw the scaryfuckinest dog I’ve ever seen!”
“Bullshit!” Derwood exclaimed.
“If I’m lie’n I’m die’n and I don’t feel sick. It was about this big and real mangy looking,” Beef said as he put his hand about three feet from the ground.
“You guys are just fuckin’ with us,” Paul said.
“Do you really think I would conspire with this pussy to fool you guys?” Beef asked as he pointed to me.
“Well, I ain’t gonna believe it till I see it,” Tailbone said shaking his head.
“Whatever dude,” Beef said as he shrugged his shoulders. “It’s out there and I’ll show you fuckers after we eat.”
“Okay,” Tailbone said as he handed me a freshly carved stick to cook my hot dog on. “But right now it’s time to grub.”
Derwood had a large pot of beans cooking and everyone but Allen and Beef put their hot dogs in the fire. Beef was making a hamburger patty and Allen had a chicken breast frying in a pan.
“Look at that fucking pussy. Who brings a chicken breast to a camp out?” Beef asked in disgust.
“Marinated chicken breast and don’t you forget it!” Allen added.
“My God, why don’t you just bring your mom out next time to cook it for you,” Beef said.
“I would, but then I’d have to listen to her bitch all weekend,” Allen joked. “It’s the only thing she’s good at.”
We devoured our first helping quickly and deciding that our stomachs weren’t quite full, we started on seconds. Allen broke out another chicken breast. Beef another burger and the rest of us more hot dogs. After Beef finished mashing his meat into a patty, he put it on a plate and turned around to get a pan. Before any of us could say a thing, from out of nowhere came the stray dog. It grabbed Beef’s hamburger in its mouth and headed quickly into the tall grass of the meadow. Derwood fell off the log he was seated on as the dog passed right in front of him to escape. Beef managed to pick up a rock and throw it at the dog just as it disappeared. He missed. “Now do you believe us?” Beef yelled.
“That thing wasn’t the scaryfuckinest dog I’ve ever seen; it was the sorriest excuse for a dog I’ve ever seen!” Paul said with a laugh.
“I wonder if it has rabies or something,” Tailbone said.
“I don’t know, but I don’t plan on finding out. I’m killing it next time it comes around,” Beef said with every intention of actually doing it if he got the chance. “That thing looks rancid and I’m not taking any chances on getting attacked.”
“You ain’t killing’ shit Beef! It’s just a stray dog so leave it alone,” Paul said in the dog’s defense.
“But sumbitch ate my food!” Beef complained.
“Here,” Derwood tossed Beef his hot dog. “Eat this and shut up.”
“But this ain’t enough,” Beef whined.
At that instant everyone tossed Beef what they had left on their plate. He was happy for the moment and shut up long enough to eat.
“Wonder where that thing came from and how long he’s been out here?” Allen asked.
“I bet you he’s some farmer’s dog who just wandered off on his own,” Derwood said.
“Or maybe someone in town owned him and just got sick of taking care of it, so they dumped him out here,” Tailbone added.
“Do any of you have a dog?” I asked.
“Yeah, Tailbone and I have a mini Dachshund named Tuck,” Derwood answered.
I looked at Derwood funny. “Tuck? Why’d you name it Tuck?”
“Cause when we got him he was so small you could tuck him in your pocket and carry him around with you,” Derwood answered.
I snickered. “Cool…does anyone else have a dog?”
“Yeah, I have a black Lab named Lucy and Paul has a Bloodhound named Jed,” Allen explained.
Beef was busy shoveling beans in his mouth, but put in his two cents anyway. “I don’t have a dog; Goddamn step dad won’t let me have one. He said he would kill any pet my sister or I brought home.” Beef shook his head and stared at the ground. “God I hate that motherfucker. What kind of sick son of a bitch won’t let a kid have a pet? But we never will as long as that asshole lives with us.”
No one knew what to say to make Beef feel better, so no one said a thing. Instead, Paul kept the conversation going. “What about you Justin, you got a dog?”
“I had two a while ago, a mixed breed named Lady and a Border Collie named Guinness after my favorite beer, but now I have a pot belly pig named Jimmy Dean.”
“A pig named after a sausage, now that’s funny!” Paul said.
“He’s really cool, he sits up and begs, he knocks a basketball around with his nose and he sleeps inside a pillow,” I said proudly.
Tailbone was confused. “Inside a pillow?”
“Yeah, he rips open the end and crawls inside with all the fluff.”
“No way dude! You’ll have to bring him out sometime, he sounds pretty cool,” Derwood said. “Does he have a leash?”
“Yeah, he’ll walk on a leash, but he hates to be picked up, he squeals like a pig if you pick him up,” I said with a laugh.
“Quit talking about pigs and sausage, you’re making me hungry,” Beef said sarcastically as he stuffed a hot dog in his mouth.
Paul offered a suggestion I took to heart. “Maybe you shouldn’t bring your pig out here ‘cause Beef might eat it.”
Beef swallowed what was in his mouth, lit a cigarette, took a drag and let out a puff of smoke. “Yeah…pigs in a pillow is one of my favorites.”
I fanned my hands in the air as Beef’s smoke trail burned my eyes.
“What’s the matter Jockboy, can’t handle a little smoke?” He turned to the others. “I told you Jockboy was a pussy.”
“I’d rather be a pussy, than turn my lungs into tar with those coffin nails you smoke.”
Beef blew smoke in my face. “A gift…from me to you.”
I fanned the smoke away from my face again. “Hey Beef…I’ll bet you that before the final campout, I’ll tame that wild dog.”
Beefs eyes lit up. “A bet? Are you serious?…Boy am I gonna enjoy taking your money. I bet we never see that thing again.”
“But what if we do?” I asked.
“There is no way in L.A. that you’ll tame that thing; easy money.”
“Oh, we aren’t betting money,” I said.
Beef scowled at me. “Then what the hell are we bettin’?”
“I’ll bet you that if we do see that dog next weekend, you have to give me one of your cigarettes and I can do whatever I want with it; keep it, throw it away, give it away, whatever.”
“And if we don’t see it?”
“Then I’ll smoke it,” I answered.
Beef extended his hand towards mine. “Deal,” Beef said as we shook hands to make it official. “There is no way dude!” He reassured me.
We all kicked back against the nearest log and let our food slowly digest. As I relaxed, and watched the others enjoy their cigarettes; I began to wonder which would be easier, making friends with the dog or with Beef. Just as I looked at Beef, he flipped me off and blew smoke towards me and that’s when it hit me; the dog would be easier.
After about five minutes quiet time was over and Paul jumped up and grabbed his Hacky Sack. “Let’s Hack.”
Everyone but me stood up and got in a small circle. I watched as they kicked the sack around to one another. They were all very good except for Allen. He tried like hell, but he just wasn’t very good and I found myself laughing at his effort. He stopped to look at me with angry eyes. “Why don’t you join us if you think it’s so easy?”
“I’m having more fun just watching,” I said as I laughed.
Beef looked at me. “Don’t tell me you don’t hack either. Don’t hack, don’t smoke, what do you do?”
I answered sarcastically with a grin. “Eat pussy.”
Beef laughed and shook his head. “I might be a woman beater, but I ain’t no pussy eater!”
“Don’t tell me you don’t let chicks go down on you.”
Beef looked at me in shock. “Of course I do, you think I’m stupid or something? I always say my favorite flowers are Tulips…two lips on my organ!” He continued, “I’m a big fan of gettin mouth hugs! Who isn’t?”
“Well, do to others as they do unto you is what I always say.”
“Isn’t that in the Bible?” Derwood interrupted.
“No, I think that’s the golden rule,” Allen answered.
“That’s the same thing isn’t it?” Paul asked.
“Who gives a shit? Let’s just hack!” Beef demanded. He looked at me. “You gettin’ in?”
I jumped up off the ground. “Yeah, I’ll give it a try.”
Tailbone took the time to briefly explain the game to me, not knowing I already knew how to play. He served the hack to Beef and he kicked it to himself twice before kicking it to Paul. Paul kicked it once to himself then to Tailbone. Tailbone kicked it in the air, bent over and caught it on his back. He stood up quickly, turned around and kicked the hack to Allen as it fell from his back. Allen kicked it to me and I missed it all together.
“You call yourself a fuckin jock!” Beef said, pissed that I messed up their hack.
“Hey, it’s dark out here!” I said as a lame excuse.
“It glows in the dark you imbecile!” Beef snapped back, referring to the glow in the dark stripes on the Hacky.
“I promise I won’t screw up this time,” I said, asking for another chance.
“Serve it to Jockboy first so he can’t screw up what we’ve already done,” Beef told Derwood.
Derwood took his advice and tossed the hack towards my feet. I kicked it with my right foot, then with my left, then twice with my right knee, then three times with my left foot before catching it on the toe of my right foot. “Is that how you do it?” I asked with a grin, before kicking it to Beef.
“You have played before, haven’t you?” Paul asked, surprised that I did so well.
“Yeah, I just wanted to see how pissed off Beef would get if I messed up.”
“You dick!” Beef yelled as he kicked the Hacky Sack at me.
It hit me square in the balls. I bent over in pain, “I guess that’s why they call it Hacky Sack! You guys continue without me.”
I walked over to the cooler, grabbed myself a beer and reclined against a tree to watch as they kept hacking. Even though Beef didn’t like me much, I found myself actually having fun. Surprisingly, these guys were cooler than I thought they’d be. I quickly finished my Beer and decided I had had enough; I was feeling really bloated and if you would’ve poked holes in me, I could have passed for a water sprinkler. The guys continued for ten more minutes before Derwood decided he was done playing. “I’m hacked out dudes,” he said, grabbing his sleeping bag and unrolling it. “I’m just gonna kick back.”
The others joined Derwood and I, and made their beds near the fire since it was getting pretty cold out. We all just lied there, not saying a thing to one another for well over five minutes. I leaned up to see if they were all still awake and it appeared they were. They all seemed to be hypnotized by the stars when Allen broke the silence. “Look, a shooting star!” he said as he leaned up and pointed.
“You know what that means don’t you?” Paul asked. “It means we should all make a wish.”
I closed my eyes and made a wish. “I wish, hope, and pray that all my dreams come true someday,” I quietly said to myself. Everyone but Beef quietly made their own wish.
“It doesn’t work you know,” Beef said somberly.
“What doesn’t work?” Paul asked.
“Wishing on stars…it doesn’t work. I’ve wished on lots of shooting stars and nothing ever changes for me. None of my wishes have ever come true,” Beef explained sadly. “You don’t know what I’d give to have just one wish come true.”
Paul gave Beef some encouragement. “They won’t come true if you don’t try. You just gotta have some faith and keep wishing…Go on dude, make a wish.”
Beef closed his eyes and quickly made a wish. “Alright dude, but I don’t think it’ll help any. I’m wishing for some pretty major things,” he said as he looked at Paul. “Will you do me a favor the next time you make a wish?”
“Sure man, what is it?”
“Wish me luck.”
Paul assured him with a smile.
“Hey Justin, what was that you said to yourself when you made your wish?” Derwood asked.
“I didn’t think anyone heard me. It’s something I started to do when I was little. I don’t even know how I came up with it, but every time I would make a wish I would always say, ‘I wish, hope and pray that all my dreams come true someday’. I guess you could say it kinda covers everything.”
“That’s pretty cool,” Derwood said. “By the way, what’d you wish for?”
“I wished that I would win my bet with Beef, how ‘bout you?”
“I wished the two of you would get along,” Derwood answered.
“Keep wishing!” Beef snickered.
“Allen, what’d you wish for?” Derwood asked.
“Don’t you know that if you tell, they won’t come true?” Allen asked.
Derwood persisted. “Come on man, what was your wish?”
“I wished…that I’d…quit farting…so much!” Allen answered as he raised his ass off the ground and farted between words, laughing the whole time.
“We all wish that!” Paul exclaimed.
“What did you wish for Tailbone?” Allen asked.
There was no answer.
“Tailbone?”
Again no answer. We all leaned up and found Tailbone sound of sleep.
“Damn it Tailbone, I wanted it to be Justin,” Beef said in a disappointed voice.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
Derwood explained. “The first person to fall asleep on the first camp out gets totally messed with.”
“He’s out cold, he looks dead to the world,” Paul observed.
“Here, I’ll find out.” Allen walked over to Tailbone and squatted so that his butt was about an inch from Tailbone’s nose and let one loose. Tailbone didn’t flinch, as everyone busted up with laughter. “He’s dead period!”
As we all lay there and laugh at Tailbone’s expense. Beef took his shoes and gently laid them against Tailbone’s cheeks. Soon, the rest of us followed Beefs lead and we built a small shoe castle on Tailbone’s face. He never budged an inch the whole time we messed with him. We continued to laugh as we listened to Tailbone snore under a mountain of stinky mildewed shoes. We laughed ourselves to sleep.
When I woke the next morning, Beef was already up and was busy cooking breakfast.
“You’re up early,” I said.
“You know what they say; the early bird has worms!”
I looked at beef. “Don’t you mean…oh never mind.”
Beef smiled wryly as I turned to see who else was awake. Allen was still asleep, but Paul and Derwood were up and they were still piling clothes on top of Tailbone’s face. Their laughter woke him up. “What the hell? He leaned up and pushed the shoes from his face. “You dickheads!”
“Hey Tailbone?” Beef asked. “Does your nose burn?”
“Does my nose burn? Why’d you ask that?”
“Cause Allen pooped on it last night,” Beef answered as he laughed.
“Did that son of a bitch fart on me while I was sleeping?”
We were laughing too hard to answer, but I guess Tailbone took that as a yes because he walked over to Allen and returned the favor. Allen woke up just as Tailbone was letting one rip. “Hey man, that’s not nice,” he said as he pushed Tailbone away.
“Pay backs are a bitch,” Tailbone said giggling.
Once everyone was up and about, we sat down and ate breakfast. I was impressed with Beef’s cooking and I took the time to compliment the cook. “This is good shit.”
“We’re all pretty good cooks,” Allen explained. “Tailbone makes killer chili, Paul makes great spaghetti, Derwood makes some really good Mexican food. Beef cooks a Mean breakfast, and I make decent Beef Stroganoff.”
“I figured Beef would make Beef Stroganoff,” I said smiling.
“I do in my spare time, except I call it Beef stroking off.”
“The only thing I know how to make is French toast,” I admitted honestly.
“Well, maybe some morning you can cook us all French toast,” Derwood said.
“That is, if you want to come back out here,” Allen said as he looked at me.
The scary thing was, I did want to come back. I actually did have fun and Allen was right, his friends were cool. A little on the nerdy side, but pretty cool, and the camping thing wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. In some weird way that I couldn’t explain, I felt that I fit in and connected with these guys. I found myself wanting to come back the next week, and besides, I still had to win the bet with Beef on whether I’d see that dog again. “Yeah, I want to keep coming out, if it’s okay with the rest of you.”
“It ain’t okay with me” Beef said.
“How’s he supposed to win his bet with you if you won’t let him come back dumbass?” Derwood snapped.
“Speaking of our bet, I’ll be right back,” I said as I grabbed a piece of sausage and some hot dogs and headed toward the woods.
“Where are you going?” Allen asked.
“First I’m gonna pinch a steamer. I have a major peeker and it’s close to touching cotton so I gotta go now!…Then I’m gonna try to feed the dog if I can find him. You guys got any toilet paper?”
“No, we don’t have any,” Beef answered. “You better make sure you poop first before you feed that dog.”
“Why’s that?” I asked as I walked towards the woods.
“Because feeding him just might scare the shit right out of you!”
Tailbone offered to come with me as soon as I was done doing my thing. “When you finish taking a dump, I’ll go with you to find the mutt.”
“Have fun wiping with the leaves jock boy! Better not use poison ivy by accident!” Beef yelled to me as I headed into the trees.
I flipped him a quick middle finger without turning to look at him and continued into the woods. After searching for a nice secluded area, I found a nice size log to hang my ass off of while I did my duty. As I sat there wishing I had something to read, I heard what sounded like an animal growling. I quickly looked around, worried that it may be the dog. I saw nothing. A few seconds later I heard it again and saw movement in the bushes to my right. I hopped off the log, not stopping to wipe and pulled my pants up in a hurry. I looked at the bushes one more time and they moved again. I paused to look closer at the movement when all at once I was bombarded with rolls of toilet paper and laughter.
“Hey, you forgot to wipe!”
“Caught you with your pants down!”
“Did you think we were the big bad wolf?”
Trying to be cool, I replied back. “I knew it was you guys all along.” I grabbed a roll of toilet paper. “Now leave me alone so I can finish in peace.”
The guys kept laughing as they headed back to camp. I hopped back onto the log to finish what I had started. After a few minutes of whistling Dixie, I went back to get Tailbone. “Come on Tailbone, let’s go find that mutt.”
Tailbone and I made our way through the brush and came to the tree where Beef and I had first spotted him. He was nowhere around. “This is where he was the first time we saw him,” I said. “Maybe I should just leave some food for him and see if he shows up.” I walked over to his tree and put some meat just outside of the hollowed out entrance.
“Let’s hide behind those bushes for a while and see if he shows up,” Tailbone suggested.
We walked over to the bushes, kneeled on the ground and sat quietly for about ten minutes. “He’s not gonna show,” Tailbone said. “Let’s head back .”
He spoke too soon. The dog was about twenty yards away sniffing the air as if he smelled our scent. “Look, there he is,” I said pointing in the his direction. “Maybe he smells us.”
“I hope not, he might not come for his food,” Tailbone said. Once again he spoke too soon. The dog quickly sniffed his way to the treats we left at his doorstep. He ate them quickly, sniffed the air and gave a look around as if he were looking for more. He looked in our direction and headed toward us slowly. He got to within twenty feet before actually seeing us. He growled quietly and took a step backward. I broke a hot dog in half and tossed part of it to him. He growled loudly, ran in a small circle, and returned to the meat to sniff it. He never took his eyes off us as he devoured the dog in one quick bite. After swallowing, he took a cautious step toward us, tilted his head curiously and growled again. I tossed him the other half of the hot dog and this time he ate it quickly without a sound. He looked up at us for more. “Sorry mutt, that’s all I have,” I said, showing it that my hands were empty. “Next time buddy.”
Tailbone took a couple steps toward the dog. “I’m gonna see how close he’ll let me get.” The dog quickly treated Tailbone like he was a dentist and showed him his teeth as he growled. “Look at the teeth on that thing!”
“Yeah, all the better to eat you with,” I said laughing. “Look at its eyes. They sure are dark and…”
Tailbone finished my sentence for me. “Murky.”
“Yeah, exactly! Dark and murky!”
Tailbone suggested that we head back to camp and tell everyone about what had happened. As Tailbone and I slowly backed away from the dog, it ran off in the other direction.
“Guess what?” Tailbone asked as soon as we got back to camp. “He fed the dog!”
“By hand?” Derwood asked.
“No, I just tossed it some food, but at least he ate it,” I answered.
“That don’t mean shit, no wild animal is gonna pass up free food,” Beef said. “When you feed it by hand then we’ll talk.”
“Come on, let’s head home,” Paul suggested.
We packed up all of our stuff and walked back to Allen’s truck. After making the plans for next weekend’s camp out, everyone loaded up their cars and left; leaving Allen and I by ourselves. We tossed our stuff in the back of his truck and hopped into the cab. Allen started the truck. “So, do you think you’ll win your bet with Beef?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“What are you going to name it?” Allen asked.
“Murk… I’m gonna name it Murk,” I answered.
“What the hell kinda name is Murk?”
“You’ll understand when you see his eyes,” I answered. “His eyes are just like a dark murky pond. You just have to see them, there’s no other way to describe them; they’re just murky looking…even the tree where we found him was murky; everything about him says Murk.” I looked out the truck window in the direction of the camp sight. “See you next week Murk.”
Allen started the truck and drove home.
CHAPTER TWO:
THE BLIZZARD
The week following the first camp out went quickly, which was a good thing since I couldn’t wait to get back out there and try to find Murk. Plus, I was determined to win my bet with Beef. All of the other guys skipped seventh hour to start camping early. I on the other hand, had to stay and take a Geometry test and wait while the teacher graded it. It was my second test since asking Allen to help me with my Geometry. The first test I took I barely passed with a D so I waited eagerly to hear what the teacher had to say after finishing. “You got a C Justin. Nice to see you are finally trying,” she said. It was my first C in that class all semester so I couldn’t wait to get out to camp to tell Allen the good news. I went straight home after school, gathered up my stuff and headed out to camp; stopping along the way to buy a small bag of dog food. When I got there, it was a little after four in the afternoon with a chill in the air and the sun hiding behind the clouds. As I started to walk toward the camp sight, I noticed that someone had mowed a path that went from where we parked our cars and continued up and over the hill. The sound of a mower could he heard in the distance. Once I reached the top of the hill and looked down, I saw all of the guys walking behind Paul as he pushed the mower. Each of them had a beer in their hand. I walked up to Allen and told him the good news as I gave him a high five. “I got a C!”
“Just a C?” Allen asked.
“Hey give me a break. Baby steps dude, baby steps.”
“I’m just giving you shit. Hey, what’s with the dog food?” Allen asked as he glanced down at the bag I was holding.
“I brought it for Murk, thought he might like some real dog food for a change.”
“So you really think you’ll tame that thing huh?”
“I don’t know, I’m gonna at least try. I still think I’ll be friends with the dog before I’m friends with Beef.”
“Maybe Beef will surprise you.”
“I doubt it. I’m gonna take this food over to Murk’s tree and pour some out for him, wanna come with?”
“Sure, these guys can finish without me.”
Allen and I walked down to camp and I threw my sleeping bag, back pack, tent, and cooler on the ground and grabbed a beer. I popped it open and took a swig. “Let’s go.”
When we got to Murk’s tree he wasn’t there, which is what I expected. I ripped open the bag of food and poured a small pile of it in front of the tree. “Let’s pour a trail of food heading towards camp,” Allen suggested. “Maybe it’ll lead him right to us.”
“Good idea!”
Allen and I poured Murk a trail leading towards camp. We ran out of food before we made it to camp, but it was close enough for him to find us. When we got back to camp, the guys had finished mowing the path and had also mowed all the grass in and around our camping area. It made it look a lot better and it sure was nice not having to walk through tall grass and weeds all the time.
“Good idea to bring out the mower, who’s was it?” I asked.
“Mine,” Beef answered. “So Jockboy, did you bring out your stuff to make French toast?”
“Enough to feed a small army.”
“Great, but what are the rest of you going to eat?” Beef asked sarcastically.
I shook my head and smiled and wondered to myself why Beef was being cool to me until I realized he wasn’t drunk yet. One thing that had been on my mind all week was what Allen and the guys had told me about Beef not liking jocks. I was curious to find out why. I leaned over and told Allen that I needed to talk to him in private. Allen got up off the ground. “I’m gonna go take a piss.”
“I’ll come with you,” I said.
“Look at those two,” Beef said. “Just like a couple of girls; can’t go to the bathroom by their selves.”
As the others laughed at our expense; Allen and I walked into the woods. “I know you said you couldn’t tell me, but I really want to know why Beef hates jocks so much. I promise I won’t say anything and my curiosity is getting the best of me, besides, it might help me understand him a little better; I just want to get along with him.”
“Yeah, well curiosity killed the cat and Beef just might kill me if I tell you.”
“Come on man, don’t leave me hanging and just tell me. He’ll never know,” I pleaded.
“Okay, I’ll tell you, but you have to promise not to say anything.”
“I promise!”
“I’ll tell you Beef’s whole story so you know exactly what’s going on. Beef use to play football; he had played since grade school and loved it. He grew up without a father and his mother was always working so football was all he had. Beef is a bastard to put it bluntly. His mother was never married to his father and the asshole took off when Beef’s mom was pregnant with his sister. His real father has never claimed them; no child support, no birthday cards, no nothing.” His mother married his step dad about six years ago. His step dad is a real loser, he drinks all the time and he can barely keep a job. He beats Beef’s mother and sometimes Beef and his sister too. He use to tell Beef all the time that he was worthless and wasn’t any good at football and that the only reason he got to play, was because the coach felt sorry for him. Pretty soon Beef started to get sick and tired of hearing his step dad criticize him all the time so he just quit. Ever since then, Beef hasn’t quite been the same. He drinks a lot, gets stoned a lot and is very moody. He’s just different than before.”
“His dad sounds like a real asshole.”
“You have no idea,” Allen said as he continued his story. “Now, to top it all off, a star football player forced himself on Beef’s little sister.”
“You mean he raped her?” I asked in shock.
“Yeah, he pretty much raped her. He took advantage of her while she was drunk and he got her pregnant…and so far he’s gotten away with it. Beef says she’s scared to tell anyone about what happened because she was so drunk when it happened and she doesn’t think anyone will consider it rape. His sister didn’t tell their mother about it because she was afraid of what might happen if their step dad found out, so she told Beef instead. As soon as he found out he went looking for the guy and tried to kick his ass, but it didn’t go so well. Beef got the worst of it and got expelled for three days. The guy who did it has accepted a Football scholarship to college. It’s like he did nothing wrong and so far denies it ever happening. Last week Beef took his sister to get an abortion and he paid for it with his own money. Beef loves his sister to death and would do anything for her, but he hasn’t been able to convince her to tell someone about what happened to her and turn the guy in and it’s driving him nuts. I really hate seeing Beef and his sister go through everything they do; they have a rough life.”
“Man that sucks, I’m almost sorry I asked.”
“I wanted to tell you everything the same day it was brought up, but I was worried Beef would find out. He likes to keep things just between friends, but I wanted you to know why he has a thing against jocks. He just doesn’t trust any of them because of what happened to his sister. Jocks always get away with things other people don’t get away with and most of them are just a bunch of egotistical assholes.”
“Not all of them are asholes.”
“Okay, maybe not all jocks, but that doesn’t matter to Beef. Besides, the guy who raped Beef’s sister really is a jerk, probably the biggest douche bag of them all. Anyway, that’s enough of a reason for Beef to hate all jocks”
“Man, I feel sorry for him.”
“We all do, but what can we do about it other than hang out and be his friend. I wish I could help him, but I don’t know what to do. None of us do. His step dad is an ass and his sister is scared to turn that guy in and get him in trouble. How are any of us gonna change those things? All we can do is hang out and support him and that’s about it.
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”
“Is it my imagination or has it gotten a lot colder out here?” Allen asked, quickly changing the subject.
“I’m freezing my pecker off,” I said honestly. “And the wind is cold as hell. Let’s head back.”
Allen and I headed back to camp and when we arrived Derwood was cooking his famous chili and the others were already wrapped up in their sleeping bags.
“What took you two so long? Did you stop to make out?” Beef joked.
“Maybe we should go find some more firewood,” Paul suggested. “It’s getting pretty fucking cold out and I don’t feel like freezing my nut sack off.”
Tailbone stood up, grabbed a machete and ran into the woods screaming. “Lumberjaaaaacks!”
Everyone but Derwood and I got up and followed Tailbone into the woods screaming the same thing. I looked over at Derwood, “What the hell was all that about?”
“Just another stupid game we play. Everyone goes off and collects as much wood as they can in one trip, person with the most wins”
“What’s he win?”
“Nothing, we just do it for the hell of it. Beef usually wins.”
Derwood sat and stirred his chili and I sat there and ate crackers and washed them down with beer. “It’s really starting to get cold out here, don’t you think?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m about ready to curl up in my sleeping bag.”
“I think I’ll set up my tent before it gets too cold.”
Derwood looked at me with a frown on his face “You know we don’t use tents out here.”
“I know, but when I heard it might get below freezing and snow, I decided to bring it just in case we needed it.”
“It’s supposed to snow? Are you sure?”
“Positive!”
“And it’s supposed to freeze?” Derwood looked at the tent as I was setting it up. “So…got enough room in that thing for me?”
“Sure man, it sleeps six, but it’s pretty cramped with that many in it.”
“Who cares? At least we’ll be warm and dry; sometimes this roughing it crap really sucks, but don’t tell the others I said that.”
As I was setting up the tent I heard a noise behind me. Figuring that it was one or all of the other guys coming back; I thought nothing of it and didn’t turn around until Derwood said something.
“We have company,” he said
I looked up at Derwood. “Company?”
Derwood pointed behind me. “Look.”
I turned and looked behind me and there stood Murk. He looked as ragged as the first time I saw him. He saw Derwood and me, but didn’t cower away. The trail of food worked, he found his way to the camp site. I was happy and smiled to myself with satisfaction. I held out an open hand and stepped toward him. “Come here pup, I won’t hurt you.”
Murk backed up and growled. “Maybe he doesn’t want to play,” Derwood said with a laugh.
Derwood was still sitting by the small fire stirring his chili when Murk started to walk toward him. “Hey you, hold it right there!”
“Maybe it’s you he likes,” I joked.
Derwood got up off his log and slowly walked over to where I was. “I doubt he likes anyone.”
Murk walked over to the fire and sniffed the pot of chili, burning his nose. He yelped loudly and cowered away from the fire as Derwood and I laughed. “That’ll teach him,” Derwood said.
After pawing his nose and rubbing it in the dirt to ease the pain, he slowly walked back up to the fire, growling the whole way. He sniffed again, this time not touching his nose to the pot and then did something unbelievable. He lifted his leg and pissed on the fire. It went out.