Chapter 2 - Junk Yard Dogs

I'd packed my sleeping bag, which was purple, my radio, some matches, a flashlight, and I even slipped my dads pocket knife out of his room.

It was easy to get away from Jamison today, and before I knew it Chris, Gordie, Vern, Teddy and I were walking along the railroad tracks towards Royal River.

Chris and Gordie had just told us about their little run in with Eyeball and Ace, and I was madder than a hornet in an old coke can.

"Those fucking pussies!" I shouted, and as per usual, the boys just let me yell and kick at the ground. "Oh, I swear on my fathers name, when we get back I'm gonna put my hands around the bleach blonde bitch's neck, and - ugh! God, I hate them!"

"Jesus, someone's violent today," Teddy mocked my words from yesterday.

"Oh, Teddy I swear to god, I'm gonna kill you!" I don't know why he screws with me when I'm mad, they all know I'm a loaded gun, and Teddy just put the barrel in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

"You better run man!" Vern says. "Sincerely!"

Teddy looks petrified, and I drop my bag and chase him up the railroad tracks. Unlike I did, Teddy didn't drop his bag, so I caught him easily, and tackled him down.

I only landed two or three hits before Chris and Gordie had to pry me off him. I was in fact the smallest person in our group, so that wasn't much of a challenge for them.

I was red in the face, my ponytail had come lose, and I was panting when they'd pulled me away, Chris keeping his arms around my midsection.

"Judy, breathe," Chris whispered to me.

I took a few deep breaths with Chris, and he slowly released me as Vern and Gordie helped Teddy up.

I started towards him, and he stared at me stoically. "I'm sorry, Ted. I'm sorry, alright? Slap me some skin?" I held my hand out to him.

He glared at me for a moment. Before he shook his head. "You broke my glasses, bitch." Teddy snapped, holding up his spectacles to show me the crack in his left lens.

"Teddy, I'm sorry!" But he started walking again, and so did Vern and Gordie, giving me sympathetic looks.

Chris put a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, Judy, he'll come around."


"Have Gun, Will Travel," The boys sing, and I wait for my part. "Reads the card of a man! A knight without armour in a savage land! His fast gun-for-hire heeds the calling wind. A soldier of fortune he's a man called Paladin!"

"Take it, Judy!" Gordie shouts.

"Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam?" Only I sing. "Paladin, Paladin, far, far from home." Before I can continue, I cough. "Jesus Christ, I'm thirsty."

"We could fill up at the junkyard," Gordie suggests. "My dad said it's a safe well."

"Not if Chopper's there," Vern says worriedly, shaking his head.

"If Chopper's there we'll send you in," Chris teases him.

"Haha, very funny," Vern mocks. "Hey, I'm kind of hungry, who's got the food?"

No one spoke, and my empty stomach dropped as I came to a halting stop.

"Oh shit!" Teddy whined "Did anybody bring anything?"

"Not me," Chris admitted. "Gordie?"

He shook his head.

"Judy?" Chris turned to me hopefully.

"No, I didn't think of that!" I whine. Jeez, it seems like the more we establish the fact we don't have food, the hungrier I am.

"Well, this is great. What are we supposed to do? Eat our feet?" Teddy suggests sarcastically.

"Seriously?" Chris looks around at us. "No one brought anything?"

"Oh, c'mon!" I stomp my foot.

"Calm down, you guys," Gordie shrugs. "Let's see how much money we've got, yeah? I got $1.02. 68 cents from Chris. $1.26 from Judy. 60 cents from Teddy. 7 cents, Vern?"

"I haven't found my pennies yet!" Vern says defensively.

"Well, $4.26 isn't bad." Gordie assures. "Quidachioluo's is at the end of the little road that goes by the junkyard. I think we can get some stuff there."

"And water from the junk yard," I add.

"Train coming," Chris says calmly, and we gather our stuff to get out of the way.

"Geronimo!" Vern jokes.

"Come on, Teddy!" Chris yells, and I look up to realize that Teddy is still standing on the tracks.

"No," Teddy shakes his head but doesn't tear his eyes from where the trains coming from as he speaks. "I'm gonna dodge it."

"Come on, Teddy, man," Chris says, getting serious. "Get off the tracks, you're crazy."

"Trains dodge. Dig it." Teddy continues.

"Get the hell off the tracks, Teddy!" I shout, starting to worry. "You wanna get yourself killed?"

"Just like the beach in Normandy," Teddy ignores us, making train noises.

"Come on, man," Chris repeats over and over, trying to get him to come down.

Finally, Chris has had enough, and he jumps on to the tracks and gets Teddy out of the way just in time. "What the hell, man?" Teddy shouts, lunging for Chris. Vern holds Teddy back, and Gordie does the same for Chris as I step between them.

"Come on you guys!" I shout, making them freeze. "Knock that shit off!"

"I don't need no babysitter," Teddy barks, starting away again.

"You do, too," Chris mutters, spitting on the ground.


"Hey, Vern, looks like your ma's been out drivin' again," Teddy teases as we stare through the chain link fence into the junk yard at all the totaled cars.

"Ah, that's so funny I forgot to laugh," Vern counters.

"Stand back, men! Paratroops over the side!" Teddy yells, tossing his bag over the fence and climbing over. The rest of us do the same.

No Trespassing was enforced by Milo Pressman, the junkman, and his dog Chopper. The most feared and least seen dog in Castle Rock. Legend had it that Milo had trained Chopper not just to sic, but to sic specific parts of the human anatomy. Thus, a kid who had illegally scaled the junkyard fence might hear the dread cry: 'Chopper, sic balls!' But right now neither the dread Chopper nor Milo was anywhere in sight.

"Teddy's crazy," I mutter to Chris and Gordie.

"Come on men! Move it out!" Teddy shouts, him and Vern running forward while the three of us lag back.

"Yeah," Gordie agrees.

"He won't live to be twenty I bet," Chris adds.

"Remember the time you saved him in the tree?" Gordie inquires, and I laugh a little.

"Yeah," Chris nods. "You know, I dream about that sometimes. Except in the dream I always miss him. I just get a couple of his hairs and down he goes. It's weird."

"Yeah," Gordie agrees with him "That's weird. You didn't miss him."

"Chris Chambers never misses, does he?" I add, smiling at him lightly.

"Not even when the ladies leave the seat down," Chris says, slightly flirtatious. "Hey, I'll race you guys!"

"Yeah, okay," I smirk, knowing I'm faster than both of them.

"No," Gordie shakes his head, and I'm confused. "I don't know."

"Right to the pump man," Chris tries to convince him.

"Come on, man!" I whine elbowing him lightly.

"I'm -- I'm kind of tired," Gordie mutters. "Go!"

Chris and I start sprinting after him, Chris yelling, "You're a dead man, Lachance! It looks like Lachance has got him this time. He's got Chambers' beat! But what's this? Chambers is making his move!"

"Oh? But how could we forget?" I shout, passing Gordie. "Ross is the Boss! And here she goes! Oh! Breaking tape!"

We laugh, as they catch up to me.

Teddy, Chris, Vern, Gordie and I sit together under the cars, shaded from the hot sun. "Have you guys been watching the Mickey Mouse Club lately?" Teddy speaks up.

"Yeah," We all nod. Of course we have, it's our favorite show.

"I think Annette's tits are getting bigger," Teddy notes.

"Think so?" Chris questions.

"Yeah, I think so," Teddy replies.

"Yeah, I think he's right," Gordie puts in. "I've been noticing lately that the A and the E are beginning to bend around the sides."

"Annette's tits are great!" Vern says seriously.

"You guys are such dogs," I say jokingly. I know how they are.

"Yeah, well you're a pussy-cat," Teddy replies, pretending to groom himself like a cat.

"At least cats are clean!" I snap. "You guys are junk yard dogs."

"Are we just like Chopper to you, Judy?" Gordie asks, chuckling.

"Just like him!" I confirm with a nod.

I take a sip from my canteen and spit in a can we'd previously been throwing rocks into. I spit too far, and my water-saliva mixture landed past the can. Soon, the guys joined in too, and it really was a great time. Sincerely, as Vern would say.

But before I knew it, Teddy had rounded and spit all over Vern. We began laughing crazily, but my laughter was cut short as Chris spit all over me.

He didn't wait to see my reaction, he only rolled over, clutching his side as he laughed so hard. "Oh, you think that's so funny, don't you?" I make my voice as angry as I can, even though I'm not truly upset. Maybe if Vern or Teddy or Gordie did that I'd be upset, but it's Chris. Chris . . . . Chris is different.

He stops laughing as I stand over him. "Judy, I'm sorry, it was just a joke."

I smirk. "You won't be upset if I do this, then?"

He furrows his eyebrows. "What're you talking -"

I dump all of my water on Chris, straight from the canteen. It soaks him, making his white T-shirt see through.

"Oh, you're dead, Ross!" Chris bellows, jumping to his feet.

I try to squirm away, but laughing so hard its impossible. Chris tackles me down, lays over me, and shakes his soaked hair in my face.

"You smell like wet dog," I whisper, do to our close proximity.

"Wet junkyard dog, right, Judy?" Chris mutters in a low husky voice.

I can't even respond. I'm so lost in his eyes, I barely even understand what he says. And it defiantly didn't help that he pushed my hair off of my shoulder, his warm finger grazing my bare skin.

Even if I tried to deny the feelings I may or may not have for Chris Chambers, my body betrayed me every time. Every inch of me reacted to him, whether I liked it or not.

For a moment, it was just us two in the junkyard. Me and Chris. Me and Chris. Me and . . .

"What time is it, Gordie?" Vern's voice penetrates our moment, and Chris climbs off of me clearing his throat.

We crawl back into the shade as Gordie answers. "It's a quarter after one."

"We better go get the food," Vern says worriedly. "The junkyard opens at three. Chopper will be here."

"Chopper, sic balls!" Chris joked.

"You go," Teddy said to Vern. "You can pick us up on the way back."

"I'm not going alone," Vern replies obviously. "We should all go."

"Not me man," Teddy says peacefully. "I'm staying right here."

"I'm not going," Gordie puts in.

"Me neither. The cashier gives me the creeps." I shiver.

"Calm down, guys," Chris puts an end to our bickering, as usual. "We'll flip for it."

"Okay. Odd man goes?" Gordie gets coins from his back pocket.

"That's you, Gordie. Odd as a cod!" Teddy teases as Gordie hands out the coins.

We flip.

"Five tails!" Vern whines "Oh Jesus, man, that's a goocher!"

"Don't be silly Vern," I shake my head. "That doesn't mean anything."

"No man, a goocher," Vern puts more emphasis on his words, as if that will make it more believable. "That's really bad. You remember when Clint Bracken and those guys got wiped out on Weed Hill in Durham? Billy told me they were flipping for beers. An' they came up a goocher just before they got into the car. And bang! They all got totalled! I don't like this. Sincerely."

"Verno!" Teddy cuts him off. "Nobody believes in that crap about moons and goochers! It's baby stuff! Now come on. Flip again."

We restitute ourselves to flip again, but Vern doesn't move. "Gonna flip or not?" I ask impatiently.

"Come on, Vern, we don't have all day." Finally, at Chris's words Vern joins back in.

We flip again, all of us getting tails except -

"You lose, Gordie!" Teddy teases. "Gordie loses! Oh Gordie just screw the food!"

"Does the word "retarded" mean anything to you?" Gordie snaps back, getting to his feet.

"Gordie, go get the provisions you morphradite!" Teddy responds.

"Don't call me any of your mother's pet names!" Gordie says icily.

"What a wet end you are, Lachance!"

"Shut up!" Gordie finally says, having enough.

But without any signal or cue, Teddy, Vern, Chris and I reply with, "I don't shut up, I grow up. And when I look at you I throw up!" Finishing off our rhyme, we make retching noise while pointing in our open mouths.

"Then your mother comes round the corner and she licks it up," Gordie barks.

"Oh, one Lachance, none Duchamp," I remark, making Teddy blow raspberry at me.

A few minutes later, Gordie is long gone, getting food, and Chris wandered off somewhere. So, I was stuck watching Teddy and Vern wrestle. But, I got bored so I went to find Chris.

It didn't take long to find him. He was sitting with his back to me, in what used to be a red '57 Ford Thunderbird, but was now a totaled mess like all the other cars around here.

I jogged over and hopped the destroyed passenger door to sit beside him. "What're you doing, Chris?" I ask curiously.

He sighed and ran his hands over the ripped leather of the steering wheel. "I always wanted a car like this."

"Yeah?" I question.

"Yeah."

"The model? Or do you just like the dent in every door, broken windshield, busted lights, ripped seats look?" I tease, and he looks over at me exasperated.

"No, the model," Chris established.

"Oh, I see," I lean towards him. "A man with an expensive taste, yeah?"

To my surprise, he responds easily to my flirting. "Good thing you're the mayors daughter then, right?"

I hum approvingly. "Good thing." I echoed.

Our faces get closer and closer, and my eyes float to his lips. His . . . lips . . .

I don't remember connecting the kiss. Come to think of it, I probably froze, and Chris connected the kiss.

But it doesn't matter. It didn't change the fact that our first kiss was slow and passionate, and I loved it. Chris moved one of his hands to the side of my face, placing the other on my hip to pull me closer to him.

Before I knew it I was on his lap, straddling him while we basically made out.

It didn't last long enough though, for Chris pulled back quickly. "What's wrong?" I whispered, concerned. Had I done something wrong?

"Shh," He muttered, looking past me. I listened like he was, and I heard it. The distant sound of a man talking to his dog.

"Milo and Chopper," Mine and Chris's eyes met then as we spoke in unison.