Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine, and they have not been used in this way by the author of "The Body"
I've been thinking a lot lately about my childhood. One of my kid-friends died tragically a week ago. He was trying to break up a silly fight that had started in a restaurant, and was stabbed in the throat with a knife. His name was Chris Chambers, and he was the best friend I ever had. Even though I hadn't seen him since high school, I felt great pain in hearing of his death.
I've recalled a lot of adventures my friends and I went on in the past few days, and this is one of them
* * *
It was a spring weekend in Castle Rock. My friends and I met up at our tree house to play cards. We usually figured out something else to do by lunchtime that was more amusing than playing card games, but until then, we would just have to deal with the boredom.
We were talking and playing 21 at the same time. It wasn't really a conversation, but consisted of us calling each other names.
I was handing out the cards again when Teddy said, "Guys, this bites." Teddy Duchamp was a really crazy kid. He made weird but humorous remarks all the time. He was the son of an unbalanced man who had once taken Teddy's ear and put it to a stove. He had almost burned Teddy's ear off, but for some reason, Teddy still adored him.
We all nodded in agreement at Teddy's remark.
"Well, what else are we supposed to do?" asked Vern. Vern wasn't very bright, and he was always worrying. He was the person our gang picked on the most.
"Everybody try and think of something else we could do," said Teddy
"We could go to the drag races! That's always fun!" said Vern excitedly.
"Nah, we just went there last weekend. Let's do something we haven't done in a while. I got an idea! I say we go explore the north part of the forest. We haven't gone tree-climbing in a long time."
"Yeah, I think that's a good idea. I hear there's some pretty good trees there," said Chris. Chris was the one everyone in our group admired. He was our leader. From the rest of the town's point of view he was a bad kid from a bad family, but to us he was the best type of friend a person could have. Even though everyone else looked down upon him, I looked up to him. He was our protector, and was wise beyond his years. "Gordie, what do you think?"
Gordie is me. I was a quieter child, and more introverted than extroverted.
"I think it's a great idea."
"Then it's settled. Let's go men!" said Teddy. We all stood up except Vern.
"But what about my vote?" asked Vern.
We ignored Vern and we all climbed out of our tree house. We started to make our way to the woods.
While walking, we talked about lots of different things. Regular eleven-year-old stuff, like T.V. shows, food, and how we couldn't wait till school was out for the summer. We were so focused on our conversation we didn't even notice when the scenery changed from zero trees to pine forest.
I was in the middle of explaining that lemon flavoured PEZ was better than cherry to Vern when Teddy stopped dead in his tracks. Chris, Vern, and I took a few steps before we realized that Teddy wasn't with us anymore.
Chris turned around. "What is it, Teddy?"
Teddy's eyes were glazed over with excitement. He was looking towards his right at a tree. Its limbs started near the bottom of the trunk, and were thick. A few of them looked like they would break off easily, but the rest looked fine. The tree must have been thirty-five feet tall, but I was pretty tiny at the time. It might have seemed bigger than it actually was.
"She is just waiting to be scaled," said Teddy.
"Plus, its branches are thick, so it should be safe," added Chris.
"So come on! What are we waiting for? Let's climb this baby!" said Teddy.
"Well, I don't know you guys," said Vern. The rest of us were already up the first few branches. We stopped climbing and looked down at Vern. "Maybe we should find a smaller tree. I mean, what if one of us falls?"
"Oh, don't be a pussy! You're always such a scaredy-cat! We'll be really careful anyway. There's nothing to worry about," Teddy said, sounding annoyed.
"Alright! I'm coming! If anything happens, though, I'm blaming you."
We were climbing at a quick pace. Somehow Teddy got below Vern. I don't know how, but he did.
We were at the top of the tree and Teddy was ten feet below us when it happened. We heard a shout from below.
"Hey guys! I bet you I could balance on this branch standing up!"
"Don't even think about it Teddy. It's too dangerous. If you fall you'll die!" Chris yelled back to him. But Teddy didn't listen. We could see him getting up through the branches. "Don't, Teddy!"
"Oh, shut up! I'm fine! Perfectly okay!" said Teddy. Directly after he said this, we heard a cracking noise from down below. "Oh, shoot," we heard Teddy say faintly. "Help me! I'm going to fall! There aren't any branches near enough for me to..." this sentence was interrupted by another loud breaking noise. Vern and I were frozen, not knowing what to do, but Chris reacted. He started climbing downwards frantically. We broke our paralysis of fear and began to climb after him. I was shaking like mad. I was frightened for Teddy. I stopped climbing at the branch beside Chris. I looked down and saw Teddy. He was clinging to the bark of the tree. There were no branches below him close enough for him to jump down on. If he let go of the bark to reach for one of the branches beside him, he would fall. I could see Teddy screaming, but I couldn't hear him.
I glanced at Chris. He looked concerned, as I was.
"My arms are getting really tired. I don't know if I can stay like this much longer," Teddy said. He sounded terrified.
"Teddy, hold on. I'm going to grip your arm and pull you up, okay? Hold on, Teddy," said Chris in a calm voice.
Teddy didn't respond.
Chris slowly stretched his arm down to Teddy. He was almost touching him when the bark his nails were dug into ripped from the tree. I thought that was it, Teddy was going to fall and die. Chris quickly stuck out his hand and grabbed Teddy firmly by his arm, though. At first it looked like Chris had missed, but then I saw Teddy wasn't falling. Using all his strength, Chris slowly pulled Teddy up to a branch. Chris had saved Teddy.
The tension broke and there was a silent sigh of relief from all of us.
"I think it's time to get out of here," said Vern.
We didn't say anything back to Vern, we just started to make our way down to the bottom of the tree. Very cautiously and slowly, we climbed downwards.
On the way home, no one said a word. I was still in shock from what had happened. I couldn't believe one of us had almost died that day.
We returned to our tree house, only to part our ways as soon as we got there. We only spoke to each other before we left.
"Goodbye, guys. See you Monday," said Vern. He turned and left for his house. We waved at his back.
"Bye Gordie. Bye Chris," said Teddy. He was walking away but suddenly he spun around to face us again. "Chris?"
"Yeah."
"Thank you for saving my life," Teddy said solemnly.
"No problem," Chris said. He said it like it was no big deal.
Chris and I then left for our homes without saying a word.
I never told my parents what happened that day, but I know I'll never forget what did.
Kayla Weisdorf
I've been thinking a lot lately about my childhood. One of my kid-friends died tragically a week ago. He was trying to break up a silly fight that had started in a restaurant, and was stabbed in the throat with a knife. His name was Chris Chambers, and he was the best friend I ever had. Even though I hadn't seen him since high school, I felt great pain in hearing of his death.
I've recalled a lot of adventures my friends and I went on in the past few days, and this is one of them
* * *
It was a spring weekend in Castle Rock. My friends and I met up at our tree house to play cards. We usually figured out something else to do by lunchtime that was more amusing than playing card games, but until then, we would just have to deal with the boredom.
We were talking and playing 21 at the same time. It wasn't really a conversation, but consisted of us calling each other names.
I was handing out the cards again when Teddy said, "Guys, this bites." Teddy Duchamp was a really crazy kid. He made weird but humorous remarks all the time. He was the son of an unbalanced man who had once taken Teddy's ear and put it to a stove. He had almost burned Teddy's ear off, but for some reason, Teddy still adored him.
We all nodded in agreement at Teddy's remark.
"Well, what else are we supposed to do?" asked Vern. Vern wasn't very bright, and he was always worrying. He was the person our gang picked on the most.
"Everybody try and think of something else we could do," said Teddy
"We could go to the drag races! That's always fun!" said Vern excitedly.
"Nah, we just went there last weekend. Let's do something we haven't done in a while. I got an idea! I say we go explore the north part of the forest. We haven't gone tree-climbing in a long time."
"Yeah, I think that's a good idea. I hear there's some pretty good trees there," said Chris. Chris was the one everyone in our group admired. He was our leader. From the rest of the town's point of view he was a bad kid from a bad family, but to us he was the best type of friend a person could have. Even though everyone else looked down upon him, I looked up to him. He was our protector, and was wise beyond his years. "Gordie, what do you think?"
Gordie is me. I was a quieter child, and more introverted than extroverted.
"I think it's a great idea."
"Then it's settled. Let's go men!" said Teddy. We all stood up except Vern.
"But what about my vote?" asked Vern.
We ignored Vern and we all climbed out of our tree house. We started to make our way to the woods.
While walking, we talked about lots of different things. Regular eleven-year-old stuff, like T.V. shows, food, and how we couldn't wait till school was out for the summer. We were so focused on our conversation we didn't even notice when the scenery changed from zero trees to pine forest.
I was in the middle of explaining that lemon flavoured PEZ was better than cherry to Vern when Teddy stopped dead in his tracks. Chris, Vern, and I took a few steps before we realized that Teddy wasn't with us anymore.
Chris turned around. "What is it, Teddy?"
Teddy's eyes were glazed over with excitement. He was looking towards his right at a tree. Its limbs started near the bottom of the trunk, and were thick. A few of them looked like they would break off easily, but the rest looked fine. The tree must have been thirty-five feet tall, but I was pretty tiny at the time. It might have seemed bigger than it actually was.
"She is just waiting to be scaled," said Teddy.
"Plus, its branches are thick, so it should be safe," added Chris.
"So come on! What are we waiting for? Let's climb this baby!" said Teddy.
"Well, I don't know you guys," said Vern. The rest of us were already up the first few branches. We stopped climbing and looked down at Vern. "Maybe we should find a smaller tree. I mean, what if one of us falls?"
"Oh, don't be a pussy! You're always such a scaredy-cat! We'll be really careful anyway. There's nothing to worry about," Teddy said, sounding annoyed.
"Alright! I'm coming! If anything happens, though, I'm blaming you."
We were climbing at a quick pace. Somehow Teddy got below Vern. I don't know how, but he did.
We were at the top of the tree and Teddy was ten feet below us when it happened. We heard a shout from below.
"Hey guys! I bet you I could balance on this branch standing up!"
"Don't even think about it Teddy. It's too dangerous. If you fall you'll die!" Chris yelled back to him. But Teddy didn't listen. We could see him getting up through the branches. "Don't, Teddy!"
"Oh, shut up! I'm fine! Perfectly okay!" said Teddy. Directly after he said this, we heard a cracking noise from down below. "Oh, shoot," we heard Teddy say faintly. "Help me! I'm going to fall! There aren't any branches near enough for me to..." this sentence was interrupted by another loud breaking noise. Vern and I were frozen, not knowing what to do, but Chris reacted. He started climbing downwards frantically. We broke our paralysis of fear and began to climb after him. I was shaking like mad. I was frightened for Teddy. I stopped climbing at the branch beside Chris. I looked down and saw Teddy. He was clinging to the bark of the tree. There were no branches below him close enough for him to jump down on. If he let go of the bark to reach for one of the branches beside him, he would fall. I could see Teddy screaming, but I couldn't hear him.
I glanced at Chris. He looked concerned, as I was.
"My arms are getting really tired. I don't know if I can stay like this much longer," Teddy said. He sounded terrified.
"Teddy, hold on. I'm going to grip your arm and pull you up, okay? Hold on, Teddy," said Chris in a calm voice.
Teddy didn't respond.
Chris slowly stretched his arm down to Teddy. He was almost touching him when the bark his nails were dug into ripped from the tree. I thought that was it, Teddy was going to fall and die. Chris quickly stuck out his hand and grabbed Teddy firmly by his arm, though. At first it looked like Chris had missed, but then I saw Teddy wasn't falling. Using all his strength, Chris slowly pulled Teddy up to a branch. Chris had saved Teddy.
The tension broke and there was a silent sigh of relief from all of us.
"I think it's time to get out of here," said Vern.
We didn't say anything back to Vern, we just started to make our way down to the bottom of the tree. Very cautiously and slowly, we climbed downwards.
On the way home, no one said a word. I was still in shock from what had happened. I couldn't believe one of us had almost died that day.
We returned to our tree house, only to part our ways as soon as we got there. We only spoke to each other before we left.
"Goodbye, guys. See you Monday," said Vern. He turned and left for his house. We waved at his back.
"Bye Gordie. Bye Chris," said Teddy. He was walking away but suddenly he spun around to face us again. "Chris?"
"Yeah."
"Thank you for saving my life," Teddy said solemnly.
"No problem," Chris said. He said it like it was no big deal.
Chris and I then left for our homes without saying a word.
I never told my parents what happened that day, but I know I'll never forget what did.
Kayla Weisdorf