A/N: Again, I do NOT own "Stand By Me" or "The Body". I do own Leslie Johnson and all the others: Marcia, Rachel, Christina, Kerry, Mrs. Johnson, etc.
By the way, this is based on the novella, NOT the movie! Thanks to brightteyes for the review! Please review: constructive AND encouraging! THANK YOU!
Marcia and I stopped, panting for breath, and staring up at the hill. The treehouse looked to be made of planks from the heap of crap behind Mackey Lumber & Building Supply on Carbine Road. The planks were all splintery and full of knotholes. There was a rusty screen door, so rusty you could only make out an outline of three heads moving in the treehouse.
"Come on, let's go!" Marcia pulled me along with her. There was tallgrass surrounding the treehouse, so we hid in there, waiting for the right move.
"Okay, we're going to go listen in at the door." Marcia said, whispering to me. I gulped, but nodded and followed Marcia over under the tree house. We stuck our ears to the wood as quietly as possible and listened.
"Gordie's out, eeeee-eeee-eeee!" Crazy, blind, deaf Teddy Duchamp wailed.
"Screw!" Gordie's voice came out, clearly pissed.
"I knock."
"You four-eyed pile of shit!" None other than Chris Chamber's said.
"The pile of shit has a thousand eyes!" Teddy replied. Chris and Gordie burst out laughing,
Marcia rolled her eyes. Boys, she mouthed. I kicked her shin and continued to listen, ramming my ear up against the hard planks. The wood scratched my ear and I'm pretty sure I got a few good splinters.
Just then, a chubby kid was seen from a few hundred yards away, headed straight to the treehouse. A little gasp escaped from my lips. "Come on, come on!" I yanked Marcia and we fell backwards into the tallgrass, covered from view. A few feet away, the boy stopped and rapped against the wood.
"Who goes?"
"Vern!" Vern said, out of breath. I propped onto my elbows and peered above the grass just in time to see Vern disappear and the door bang shut. Marcia and I returned to our spots, pressing our ears up against the bottom of the wood. I'm pretty sure I got a even more splinters.
"Hear what?"
"Lemme get my breath. I ran all the way from my house."
All of a sudden, the boys started belting the Little Anthony song. Marcia rolled her eyes, suppressing a giggle.
"Fuck your hand, man!" An exasperated Vern said.
"Drop dead in a shed, Fred." This time, I rolled my eyes.
"You ran all the way from your place? Man, you're crazy. It must be ninety out there." Chris said in awe. Marcia glared at me, most likely mentally trying to figure out what was so important that Vern ran two miles from Grand Street.
"This is worth it. Holy Jeezum. You won't believe this. Sincerely."
"Okay, what?"
"Can you guys camp out tonight? I mean, if you tell your folks we're gonna tent out in my back field?
"Yeah, I guess so. But my dad's on a mean streak. Drinkin', y'know." Chris said.
"You got to man. Sincerely. You won't believe this. Can you, Gordie?"
"Probably."
Marcia shot me a glare and I missed the next couple of words. I shook my head to tell her to shut up, and once again I pressed my ear to the wood.
"I knock."
"What?" Teddy squealed. "You friggin' liar! You ain't got no pat hand. I didn't deal you no pat hand."
"Make your draw, shitheap." Chris said, attitude in his voice.
These next words that were spoken we might've missed if we weren't as quiet as we were. "You guys want to see a dead body?" They were so soft if the wind blew we'd miss it.
Marcia gasped and I slapped a hand over her mouth to restrain her from reacting. We listened as Vern told the story of how he was under his porch early in the morning, looking for his long lost pennies, when his older brother Bily and another friend named Charlie Hogan were talking about boostin' a car and seein' a dead body. Billy and Charlie were in Ace Merrill's gang. Ace was bad, real bad. He tried to hit on Rachel in the Blue Point once. It was a good thing Mrs. Tupper was workin' that day, unless Rachel, mesmerized that a boy was actually talkin' to her, would've gone right along with what Ace was cookin' up inside his fried head. We listened as Vern explained it was the Ray Brower kid. Everyone in Castle Rock had listened intently to the Ray Brower story, about a boy who went pickin' some blueberries and never came home. It was the third day into the search and everyone from police officers to volunteers tried lookin' for him..And nothing. I was lost in my thoughts that I hadn't even realized the boys started talking again. Snapping out of it, I resumed listening.
"I know the Back Harlow Road. It comes to a dead end by the river. We used to fish for cossies out there." Teddy said. I could almost hear the gears turning in his crazy brain.
"There used to be a bridge, but there was a flood. A long time ago. Now there's just the train-tracks." Chris said.
"Could a kid really have gotten all the way from Chamberlain to Harlow? That's twenty or thirty miles." Gordie said in wonder.
"I think so. He probably happened on the train-tracks and followed the whole way.. Maybe he thought they'd take him our, or maybe he thought he could flag down a train if he had to." Chris went on explaining about a freight running only on the tracks, GS&WM up to two towns, Derry and Brownsville.
"After dark a train must have finally come along...and el smacko."
Just then, the door to the tree house burst open and Vern crashed to the ground, right on top of Marcia. Out of instinct, Marcia screamed and I sighed, shaking my head. Just our luck.
Chris, Gordie, and Teddy, roaring with laughter, jumped down to help Vern up. They didn't notice me right away. They saw Vern on top of Marcia, and laughed even harder.
"Eeeee-eeee-eee! Vern's gettin' some already!" Teddy shouted, clutching his stomach, tears running down his face. Chris and Gordie pulled Vern up, and then Chris took Marcia's hand and helped her up.
"Say, what are you doin' here?" Vern asked, embarassed and brushing himself off.
"I-I-I..." Marcia said, at loss for words, meeting my eyes. The four boys turned around and saw me standing there. I sighed out of frustration, and watched as Marcia ran down the hill and past the lot, disappearing from sight.
"Leslie! What are you doing here?" Gordie asked me.
"It wasn't even my idea. Marcia wanted to spy on you guys. I think she has a crush on one of you." I said honestly, crossing my arms. I was mad that I got caught, and I was even more mad that Marcia just ran away and left me to defend myself.
"What exactly did you hear?" Gordie asked.
"Everything," I said. "I heard about you guys going to see that Ray Brower kid." Vern stomped his foot, sending dirt to cloud around him.
"Great, now we gotta take her along?" Teddy asked Chris.
"Only if she wants to." Chris said, staring at me. I glowered under his gaze. "If she doesn't, then you better not tell anyone." He warned.
"I don't know what I want to do." I spat at him. I didn't know why I was being so mean. Maybe I was just upset that Marcia just ditched me.
"You can come, if you want." Chris offered, while Teddy and Vern groaned in sync.
"Now the whole trip is going to be ruined. Thanks a lot, you wet end!" Teddy yelled at Chris. I raised en eyebrow at Teddy.
"Seriously? Do you not see how I'm dressed? I may look like a girl, but Teddy Duchamp, you're going to eat those words." I made a circle with my thumb and my index finger and spat cleanly through it. It landed right before Teddy's shoes.
The others roared with laughter as Teddy shook his head at me, squinting through his thick glasses. "Say, your name's Leslie, eh?"
"Leslie Johnson. I would say pleased to meet you, but under these circumstances, I'm afraid I can't." Teddy rolled his eyes, then cracked a smile.
"Ah, you can smile, Teddy! I would've thought you were made of stone, with you squintin' at me an' all." I said with a smirk.
"She's not bad." Teddy spat towards me.
"So anyway, you want to go see it? Vern asked, cutting through our conversation. No one said anything, we just stared at him for a long moment. I thought in my head: Okay, spend two days with four boys to go walk about..twenty to thirty miles to see a dead kid's body?
"Sure! And I bet you anything we get our pictures in the paper!" Chris said, breaking the silence.
"Huh?" Vern said.
"Yeah?" Teddy grinned his manic grin.
"Look!" Chris said excitedly. "We can find the body and report it! We'll be on the news!"
"I dunno.." Vern looked taken aback, thinkin' real hard. "Billy will know where I found out..he'll beat the living shit outta me."
"No he won't, because it will be us guys that find that kid, not Billy or Charlie Hogan in a boosted car. Then they won't have to worry about it anymore. They'll probably put a medal on you, Vern." Gordie said, halfheartedly reassuring Vern.
"Yeah?" Vern grinned at that. "Yeah, you think so?" Teddy was grinning along, his manic grin on his face, until he frowned. "Uh-oh."
"What?" asked Vern, starting to squirm.
"Our folks. If we find that kid's body over in South Harlow tomorrow, they're gonna know we didn't spend the night campin' out in Vern's back field."
"Yeah. They'll know we went lookin' for that kid."
"No they won't. We'll just tell 'em we got bored tenting in Vern's field because we've done it so many times before. So we decided to hike up the tracks and have a campout in the woods. I bet we don't even get hided for it because everybody'll be so excited about what we found."
I stood there, watching them while they talked, still thinkin' about what I was going to do. Should I go?
"My dad'll hide me anyway. He's on a really mean streak this time. To hell, it's worth a hiding." Chris was saying.
"Okay. Let's all get together at Vern's house after lunch. What can we tell 'em about supper?" Teddy asked, still grinning that crazy grin of his.
"You and me and Gordie can say we're eating at Vern's." Chris said.
"And I'll tell my mom I'm eating over at Chris's!" said Vern.
Clearing my throat, I said, "And me?" The boys were shocked to find me standing there. I think they forgot about me for a while.
"Oh, oh yeah." Vern said. Everyone was quiet for a minute and my eyebrows were raised. Teddy's gears were working, I could tell. Gordie had a look of determination on his face, no doubt tryin' to think of something reasonable.
"I got it!" Teddy broke the silence. I listened eagerly. "You can tell your folks that you're stayin' at your friends-" "Marcia." "-house for the night and then you're gonna go shopping or something. Whatever girls do."
"I think that'll work." Gordie said to Chris.
"So are we set?" Vern asked everyone eagerly.
"I guess we are." Chris said, smiling a bit. "Anyone want to play some more scat?" Everyone said no.
"Hey, let's play three-flies-six-grounders!" Vern suggested, and everyone agreed.
"Eh, I better get home and tell my mother. She's going to fuss if I'm not home soon anyway." I said.
"Alright. Meet us back here by noon." Chris instructed, looking at me. I nodded and we all climbed the fence.
"See you later!" I said, running back the way I had come. Thoughts swirled in my head. I just made a deal to go on a two-day trip with four boys to see a dead kid's BODY! Had I become mental?
Marcia was waiting for me at the end of my driveway. When I ran into view, she jumped up. "Les! I'm sorry!" She called. I stopped running and smiled. "It's okay. I need a favor." I told her the plan. I didn't exactly tell her what I was doing and why, but she agreed to back me up. "I have to go. I'll see you Monday!" Running into the house, I bolted upstairs. I grabbed two blankets, my canteen, and an extra white t-shirt I stole from my brother's closet.
Just then, my older brother Kerry came in the room. He groaned when he saw me. "Really, Leslie? Takin' my old jeans again?" I smiled sheepishly as he trotted away.
Kerry was 19 years old. He graduated from Castle Rock High School two years ago, and he is takin' after dad in the lumber jack business. I'm not sure if that's what Kerry really wants to do with his life, if maybe that's just what my dad wants him to do.
