The sun was down some when we reached the fairgrounds, Lamoure and I,
it was after five o'clock. We laid there in the grass behind the iron
fence, and a building, the building somewhat hiding us, in the cool
shade, it had been a hot day, and we had both told our parents we were
staying over at each other's home, and taken off to find a new
adventure, and so here we were, snug as a bug, in the fairgrounds,
camping out, thinking of things, and getting rested for the night, and
rather at ease and satisfied.
I could see the sun going down at
the other end of the fairgrounds, looking through an opening in the
branches and leaves of a nearby tree, while laying on my back, and the
moon fading into sight, with its gloomy gray interior.
There were
arc lights from the streets that spiffed light through the iron bar
fence, and down and across our faces, somewhat breaking up as it
bartered its way around the fence's open spaces. And from somewhere came
a little breeze. A couple of gray doves, were perched on a branch of a
tree nearby, jabbering as if in trying to settle a dispute.
I was
potently sluggish, tired and for the most part lazy, and comfortable-I
didn't want to move from this spot. Didn't want to get up. Well, after a
half hour of this laziness and Lamoure and I talking about this and
that eating some beef-jerky and drinking some water from my canteen,
Lamoure dozing off, we both thought we hear something, "Perhaps a bum!" I
said to him. He stirs some, rouses up and looks about. A moment later, I
hear it again, and Lamoure looks down the street some, towards the
midway area, we're both smoking Camel cigarettes. He looks at me as if
he knows what the matter is now.
"Police!" he said.
Well I knew, no police came into the fairgrounds, it had to be the grounds man I figured.
I
could see his white shirt, as I tried to sit upright, to greet him. So I
sat there cross-legged and waited. Thinking how it always happens,
adults come around once you get comfortable, and spoil your fun. I knew
he'd chase us out. But I had a good enough time I figured up to now, and
just seeing him coming quicksilver trying to figure out how he was
going handle this, that is, to chase us out of here, was worth the wait,
I was too tired to run, and I suppose that's what he expected.
So,
says I, when he got a few feet in front of me, and Lamoure standing up
looking awkward as a jaybird trying to find his nest, "I suppose we got
to leave?"
"Yup, but what in tarnation are you doing here in the first place?" He asked, in a rather friendly tone.
I
changed to a more humble posture, thinking maybe we're in luck, he'll
let us sleep here for the night, so I says, "We're just camping out, and
we're not going to disturbed anyone!"
He wasn't very well satisfied with that, and there wasn't any doubt in his face now, we were leaving. And we left.
With
our canteen, and jackets, and a blanket, we trekked down alongside,
outside, the fairgrounds fence, it must have been a mile, and a few past
that, we were per near five miles from home. I was pretty hungry, but
it weren't going to do for me to start complaining, neither one of us
had any money, just a pack of smokes between us. Then when we got down a
ways, by the University Farms, it was pretty late, and we found a
carrot garden, and we didn't lose no time, we pulled a half dozen of
those carrots from their roots, we went and looked for a place to sit
down, found an old log, at the edge of the garden, looked out across the
field, the sky looked black as driftwood, the stars twinkling, like
little lanterns, then wiped those carrots clean and ate them as if they
were T-bone steaks.
No comments:
Post a Comment