The next morning a freight woke us up from a deep sleep and we continued walking.
We walked for miles until there it was, stretched out ahead of us, the Royal River. There was a decision to be made first of all. Keep on the tracks, which would take us much longer, or cut across the field and through the woods.
Chris announced, "We cut across this field we'll be there in an hour."
"Let's go across the field." I said.
"I say we stick to the tracks." Vern said babyishly.
"Gordie? Teddy?" Chris asked.
"Yeah, across the field." Gordie said, looking straight ahead. Teddy nodded.
"Let's go." Chris started down the slightly sloped field. It was beautiful outside, reflecting my attitude and I ran right behind him.
Teddy started blowing air through his hand and making trumpet noises. Vern was still at the top of the hill, saying things like "You don't know what's in those woods!"
I shouted back, "And you do know what's on those tracks!"
He must have realized he didn't want to walk along the train tracks by himself, so he yelled, "Hey guys, wait up for me!"
It had cooled down drastically once we go into the woods. It looked like it could start raining at any point. The trees were densely placed together and a slight wind blew through them.
We walked and walked until we came across a huge swamp, murky with mud.
"Great, how do we get across this?" Vern complained.
"We use you as a raft." Teddy suggested.
"Haha very funny."
Chris tugged at a tree branch until it broke off and tested the water's depth.
"Hey, it's not that deep. We can walk across."
The boys started walking but I was smart enough to know.
I watched with amusement when they all plunged downwards at least 4 feet.
I laughed. Teddy's hair was glued to his forehead, making his huge black glasses stand out.
"Told you we shoulda stuck to the tracks," Vern moped.
"Your the world's biggest pussy." Teddy replied.
All four guys soon started shoving each other and dunking each other under the water.
I was still standing on the other bank, not being noticed by the typical 12 year olds.
Gordie was already floating over to the other bank.
"Where do you think you're going LaChance?" Chris said, raising an eyebrow.
"Let's get moving," Gordie said, not wanting to joke around.
The boys swam over to him and piled on him, so I now stepped into the water and swam over quickly.
"Hey Vern, you have something on your neck!" Gordie craned his own neck to see.
"Yeah right, not falling for that." Vern laughed.
"No Vern, there is something on your neck." I was towering above the guys.
"It's a leech." Chris announced,
"Leeches!" Teddy shouted.
I watched as all four of them stripped down their clothes to their underwear and pranced around like little ballerinas.
They tried prying each other clean of the filthy creatures until they succeeded in ridding of them.
They stood around panting until I saw Gordie's face turn pale.
We all stared in worry while he pulled out the biggest leech from his fruit of the looms in all of history.
The leech wobbled quickly before it fell to the ground.
Gordie's fingers were caked with blood. He stared at it until he fell to the side and passed out.
"Gordie!" I shouted and I ran over to him along with the other guys.