When I was fifteen years old, my brother, our best friend, and his brother would get together with a few of the other neighborhood kids and we'd all play "The Game Around the Neighborhood". Yes - it's not a very inventive name, but keep in mind, it was the '70s... my excuse for everything that makes no sense. It was essentially hide and seek on steroids. We certainly couldn't call it hide and seek, since that is a timeless little kid's game, and we were teenagers.
We would split up into two teams; me and my friend John against my brother, Tony, John's brother Stevie, and anywhere from three to five other kids ranging in age from eight to twelve years old. The object of our version of this timeless kid's game was simple-- John and I would go off and hide somewhere in the neighborhood, and everyone else would look for us.
My brother and his team of eager bloodhounds would give us a ten minute head start before they would begin their search. Nothing was off limits. Neighboring yards, open garages, unlocked cars, even the woods that butted up against a cemetery at the end of a dead end street was fair game. So, off we'd go. We would spend upwards of two hours hiding and seeking across several different streets and numerous back yards. Since this was all taking place in the mid ‘70s, there was no fear of anything bad happening to any of us. As a matter of fact, it never even entered my mother’s thoughts. Different world back then, and it was a great way to spend a sunny, hot summer afternoon.
The game was usually nowhere near as exciting as the picture I've painted here😏, so John and I decided we would spice it up a bit. Rather than spend our ten minute lead time to get as far away as possible, we'd circle back around and spy on team Tony. It was incredibly easy. My brother was busy handing out assignments to the troops and sending them off in different directions, thinking he had the advantage of being able to cover more ground in less time than just the two of us could. It never occurred to him that we doubled back and were behind them.
Both of our teams had walkie-talkies to communicate. I had the bright idea that my team would keep changing channels which was designed to keep my brother's team from locking in on our conversations. Tony, and his team, being a few years younger, didn't have our level of brain power and intelligence. We were able to lock in on their communication, easily allowing us to listen in on what they were planning. Since the hunted became the hunters, it helped us to formulate our plan of attack.
One day, during one of these marathon game sessions, John and I decided to climb up into a tree and wait for the search party to wander by. We thought it would be funny to see how long we could stay in the tree without being noticed.
We situated ourselves up high enough so that the leaves would give us some sort of cover. We stayed in the tree laughing and congratulating each other on our brilliance for a solid twenty minutes before Tony, Stevie, and their posse appeared in the yard that we had planted our rear ends above. And as luck would have it, they took a break from their pursuit and sat around the base of the tree drinking water and catching their breath.
I thought I was gonna burst with laughter. What a rush! How did they not realize we were right above their heads? We could barely contain ourselves. They were talking strategies and trying to piece together where they thought we were hiding. Meanwhile, we're sitting about fifteen feet north of them. This went on for a while when John suddenly leaned over and told me he had to pee. Since I also needed to relieve myself, I figured we were going to have to give ourselves away, which meant losing the game. I positioned my body so that I could start my descent out of the tree, when I see John unbutton his pants and pull his junk out.
I leaned over and whispered, "What are you doing?"
"I told you, I have to pee!" He smiled and began to pee on his brother's head.
Well, you would think that would be that. The game was sure to end since John was peeing on his brother! Incredibly, Stevie didn't look up. Instead he asked the other kids if they felt raindrops. Everyone on the ground stuck their hands out testing for rain. I thought I was gonna die from holding in the laughter threatening to explode from my gut!
They all agreed that no one felt any raindrops. Stevie insisted that the top of his head was getting wet. Finally, my brother looked up and spotted us in the tree above their heads. Not able to keep it in any longer, I burst into loud, uncontrollable howling.
Tony's team was screaming at us. Stevie was screaming the loudest. We shimmied down the tree and started running as fast as we could. The only ones that followed us were Tony and Stevie. We ran all the way back to John's house with them hot on our heals.
Their mom was not happy. How mad was she? She grounded John for a month for peeing on Stevie. She told me and my brother to go home. She had called our mother before we got there, and I too, ended up grounded for a month. Pretty harsh considering I wasn't the one peeing on my brother! Guilty by association.
That was the last time we ever played "The Game Around the Neighborhood". Probably for the best. We certainly didn't want to give our brothers the opportunity to revenge the pee incident, as it came to be known.
My friend John now lives on the other side of the country from where I live, and although my brother lives on the same coast as I do, he is eight hundred miles to the north. The pee incident took place forty-five years ago, and it's still one of the first stories that we all reminisce about whenever we talk. It was funny to us as kids. Now, it's a story that helps us fondly remember Stevie. He passed away due to severe liver damage when he was just thirty years old. He was a troubled young man, but he was a good guy, and his death hit me pretty hard. Even though being peed on was probably not one of his fondest memories as an adult, it had become one of mine. And that story always leads to other interesting, fun, and certainly, fond memories I have of him. The pee incident story certainly helps put a smile on my face whenever I think back to those days. And as long ago as it was, as I sit here and write about it, it feels like it all just happened yesterday, rather than yesteryear.
Well, that's all I've got for this installment of my childhood memories. Now, if you'll excuse me... I need to go pee.😉
More to come in a few weeks.
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