A Summer Day, Back Then

The Beck boys of Brownwood, Texas, 1959. From left to right: Steve, Danny, Chris, Terry (Me) and Pat.

It was the middle of Summer and my younger brother Danny, at least a couple of neighborhood buddies and I were sitting in the breezeway between the utility room and the house resting in the relatively cool breeze after playing a game of 'Test'. 'Test' was our version of follow the leader which included such feats as jumping off the house, seeing how many trees we could climb one to another without touching the ground or falling out of the tree and seeing who could jump farther  bailing out of a swing. Our attire was simple, cut off blue jean shorts, no shoes, no shirt. We sat there on the cool concrete side by side, drinking our RC Cola and eating some of Mom's homemade fudge.

          

One of our old Tomcats decided to be friendly and began walking across our bare legs, stopping to rub his head against our feet then raring up on our chest to investigate what we were eating. As we sat there resting and making small talk, I picked at the scab on my left knee trying to rush the healing process. Between the four of us, I don't think there was anyone who didn't have a cut, scrape or bruised leg, knee or elbow.

          

"Terry! Stop picking at that scab!" hollered Mom as she pushed open the screen door. "When you kids finish your coke (Every soft drink was a coke) I need y'all to walk to Mr. Dewbre's and get me a loaf of bread. Terry, you'll have to sign for it 'cause I don't have any money. I guess you can get y'all a pack of gum or some bubble gum if you want."

          

With that we were off on our two mile trek to Mr. Dewbre's Store and back. We made it no farther than the alley behind the house before we had to stop and stir up a huge red ant bed, throwing rocks, poking it with sticks and brother Danny dribbling a basketball on the now pissed ants. Finally bored, we began to cut across the small pasture across the alley from the house. We had walked about fifty yards when Danny let out a scream and started slapping at the crotch of his shorts. Without hesitation he had his shorts down to his knees and he was picking an aggressive, aggravated red ant from the groin area of his underwear. After his tantrum and rubbing the already red whelp on his inner thigh, Danny pulled his shorts back up, I handed him his basketball and I would like to think I asked if he was alright, but I don't recall.

          

As we cut through the back pasture, we had to stop at the cave. The cave was a huge hole we had dug in the ground , then covered with scrap lumber  and cardboard we had salvaged from the several new house building sites in the area, then covered it all with dirt except for the secret entrance. We all crawled inside, lit some candles and enjoyed the coolness of our underground hideout probably too long. Finally remembering that we were on a mission, we crawled from the cave and once again entered the reality of the hot summer day. Squinting in the brightness of the above ground world, we finished our trip though the pasture  and entered the playground of the Woodland Heights Elementary School.

          

Of course we had to check out the seesaws, the swings, the monkey bars and definitely had to climb the huge Live Oak trees that had made this ground their home for hundreds of years. Then we moved to one of the several old baseball fields. We hadn't brought any ball equipment with us, so we found a board for a bat and a rock for a ball. It seems like we made it through a limited scrimmage with minimal injuries. Danny had left his basketball laying just off the field and it became the focal point of our new game.....See Who Can Hit The Basketball First With A Rock! The barrage was on, rocks flying and hitting all around the ball, but no hits. Then, for reasons I still don't understand today, Danny let out a war cry, charged the basketball with rock in hand, and as he neared the ball, hurled the rock with all his might, making a direct hit. The hit was so direct, the rock bounced straight back up, striking the warrior Danny just below his eye, knocking him on his back.

         

He quickly covered his eye with his hand and began to scream, what sounded to us like a death scream. I rushed to his side not really wanting to see the damage. Finally I tried to pull his hand from over his eye with no luck. I finally yelled, "Let me see if you knocked your eyeball out or not!"

         

He finally lowered his hand and with great relief, I could see that the rock had actually struck below his eye. It was  scraped, bruised and already swelling but other than that, everything looked okay. After a few more minutes of consoling and reassuring, Danny finally agreed to continue our mission to Mr. Dewbrey's Store even though he really wanted to go straight back home to Mamma  We convinced him it would be better to let the swelling go down before we saw Mom. How were we supposed to know it would actually look worse by the time we got home.

          

We arrived at our destination right on schedule (It had only taken about one and a half hours.). As we pulled the old screen door open and walked onto the rough wooden floor, you could feel the breeze created by the huge fan in the back and as always you could smell the sweet aroma of the cantaloupes and other fresh produce in the store. I went straight to the bread rack and then to the counter where Mr. Dewbre stood. "What you boys up to today?" You need anything else son?"

I laid the bread on the counter and told him I needed four pieces of Double Bubble Gum. Mr. Dewbre grabbed his receipt pad and said, "You just going to sign for it?" I just nodded and he  said, "Sign right here old buddy." Then he looked up and said, "What the Sam Hell happened to your face Danny? How did you do that? Come over here and let me look at that thing!"

          

After assuring Mr. Dewbre that I didn't do it this time, I explained the situation to him. He looked Danny over, then rubbed the top of his head and said he thought he was going to be alright, but that he needed to be more careful and then, of all things, gave him a free ice cream bar and said, "Maybe this will make it feel better."

          

I couldn't believe Danny had gotten a free ice cream bar for hitting his own self in the face with a rock and then wouldn't even give any of us a lick. Anyway, we sauntered out of the store and headed home with the bread. Other than playing a little football with the loaf of bread on the way home, we made much better time going home than we had going the other direction. By the time we arrived home Danny's eye was almost swollen shut, so I told him he probably ought to just stay outside and I would take the bread to Mom. That was a mistake, he panicked and said he wanted to see Mom.

          

We walked into the house and Mom turned and as soon as she saw Danny's face she turned back to me and said, "What did you do?"

         

I couldn't believe it, the whole time she was doctoring Danny, she was hollering at me. Even after I explained how it happened, she told me I needed to keep a better eye out on my little brother. As Mom scolded me, Danny would peek out from under the cold washrag Mom had on his face and smile. I couldn't believe he hits himself in the face with a rock, gets a free ice cream bar and all I got was trouble....Maybe things would be better when Pop got home for lunch....Nah, I doubted it.... Being a big brother was tough....I Just hoped Danny doesn't say anything about the Red Ant bite.