Mary Merrill
Chapter one: Vern..Dead body?
I sat down on a wooden cart box in the gang's tree house. I inhaled the sweet intoxicating smell of cigarettes that illuminated through the wooden house. As I inhaled to much I coughed vigorously; Chris blew more into my mouth as I coughed and laughed along with Teddy.
"What's wrong Mary, got alittle frog in your throat?" I sent daggers towards Chris and smacked them both on the back of their heads. If god only knew.
"Ay what was the for?" Teddy replied, rubbing the spot were I had slapped him. I glared daggers toward him to, for teen boys I knew for more than half my life, they got on my nerves to many times to count.
"No, you blew into my mouth shit for brains." I pouted and slumped in my "chair" and pulled out one of Gordie's comic books he hid from the gang so they didn't tear it into shreds. I flipped through, reading about Mighty Mouse, or something along that line. I always wanted to try smokes, but no one let me, afraid that I would steal them from him. My ears perked up by the sound of the "secret" knock on the trap door. I smiled as Teddy and Chris lifted up the table and in scrambled Gordie, sporting a new magazine.
"Hey guys...girl." I smiled and hugged him around the shoulders. Gordie shrugged me off and sat down, playing cards with Chris and Teddy. After a couple moments from getting settled in Chris pulled out a wise cracking joke about French people. He laid down a card and looked directly at Teddy.
"Hey, how do you know if a french man has been in your backyard?" Teddy took a long drag from his smoke and looked at Chris with this you-gotta-be-joking-right?
"I ain't french okay?" he laid his card and took another drag.
"Your garbage cars are empty and your dogs pregnant." Oh that was just wrong. Gordie looked at Chris and they both broke out in a quiet, calming laughter. I giggled, but nothing big. Chris was the "leader" of our group and loved to get on people's bad side, then make it up to them by making them laugh; of course unless your my brother.
"Didn't I just say I wasn't French?"
"I knock." I looked towards Chris and back to Teddy.
"Ah shit." he said quietly and flipped his cards over.
"29."
"22."
"Piss off a rope." Gordie said, slamming his cards down. I laughed along with the other guys and patted him on the back.
"Nice try." I wiped the imaginary tear from the corner of my eye as Gordie got his new magazine out and started reading it.
"Oh Gordies out. Oh he fits in the bag and steps out the door." the witch said.
"Come on man, deal." I pretty much zoned out into my own thoughts after that. Where was Vern in all this? Probably still looking for his pennies huh? You see at the beginning of the school year Vern Tessio, he buried a jar of pennies underneath his porch, but he drew a "treasure" map to them and stuffed it somewhere in his room. A couple months later his mom cleaned out his room and threw his map away. Ever since then he has been under the porch looking for those damn pennies.
"That's not the secret knock." Gordie called out. Either way we all knew it was Vern, he never got the secret knock right. Well neither did I, but that was a way different story for another day.
"Ah, come on guys I never get the secret knock right, you know that."
"Vern.." everyone said in union and opened the trap door after getting the "table" off of it. We built this tree house with our own two hands....well and feet in my case. The week we built the tree house I had one broken arm and the other was twisted, so there was no really helping with my hands unless I wanted to break the other one too. The next thing I knew Vern was scrambling up the ladder and into the tree house and on the other side and was breathing heavily.
"What did my cock knocker of a brother get to you?" I asked dryly. The last time I called my brother a cock knocker my mom hit me on the back of the head and I was grounded from seeing any human life forms for the next week and a half.
"No, but you'll never believe it. I ran all the way from my house to get here so I could tell you guys this. Let me catch my breath." he babbled on, when the guys erupted in random song.
"I ran all the way home, do wap do wap do wap." I laughed non-chanting as they sang.
"Okay, forget it I'm not going to tell you nothing." he said, I knew he would crack and say it anyway, but Chris stopped everyone from singing.
"Okay, what Vern?"
"Okay, you won't believe that sincerely." was that his new word or somethin'? He always said it, sincerely this, sincerely that. BLAH BLAH BLAH.
"I ran all the way home!!!" the gang screeched. Vern had about enough.
"Screw you guys." Chris stopped them again and looked sincere this time.
"Okay man what?"
"Can you guys camp out tonight? Like if you told your parents you were tenting out in my back field?" everyone paused and Chris was the first to speak.
"I think so, but my dad is kinda on a mean streak. He's been drinking alot lately."
"You got to man, sincerely. You won't believe it man."
"Can you Gordie?"
"Yeah, probably." Gordie replied in an off-on tone. I sighed as the gang looked at me.
"What?"
"You could tell your parents your hanging out with your brother." I scoffed.
"Like my parents will believe that, plus my brother hates me right now for saying to go fuck mom." the gang erupted with laughter.
"But sincerl-"
"Okay." I said bluntly, not wanting to hear this stupid sincerely crap again.
"So what are you pissing and moaning about Verno?" Teddy asked, laying down cards.
"I knock." Chris said.
"What?!" Teddy screeched, "you liar you ain't got nothin'."
"Make your draw shit heap." God what's with all the fucking.. oops. Chris laughed slightly at his own joke, then came a serious ass question.
"You guys wanna go see a dead body?" everyone, even me- looked at Vern weirdly.
"Well I was under the porch digging for those pennies-" we all knew what Vern was talking about. I listened to his story closely. Ray Brower's body? His brother, Chris's brother... killed him, or watched him something along those lines. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"I know the back Harlow road! Me and my dad would go fishing there."
"Ah, jesus christ man, if would'a known you were under there you would have been dead." Chris pointed out.
"All the way from Chamberlain to Harlow? That's really far."
"Sure, must'a started walking on the tracks and just followed them the whole way."
"yeah, right then after dark the train must'a come along and el smacko." Teddy said, making his own weird sound effects.
"Man.." Vern said shaking his head back and forth.
"Hey..Hey you guys! I bet you anything, that if we find him we'll get our pictures in the paper."
"Yeah, we can even be on TV!" Teddy screamed.
"Sure."
"We'll be heroes!"
Yeah!"
"I don't know, Billy will know I found out."
"He's not going to care 'cause it'll be us guys and girl, who will find him, not Billy and Charlie Hogan. You'll probably get a metal on you Vern." Gordie supplied Vern with positive thoughts.
"Yeah, you think so?" I think Vern has a lisp.
"Sure," Chris added in.
"What will we tell our folks?"
"Actually what you said." he paused for a moment, "we'll all tell our folks that we're tenting out in your back field; you tell your folks your sleeping over at Teddy's. And then we'll say we're going over to the drag races the next day. We're rock solid til dinner tomorrow night." THAT WAS IN GENIUS!
"Man that's a plan and a half." Chris said and gave Gordie some skin.
"What do we do if we find that kid's body and saw Carl, they'll know we didn't go to the drag races, we'll get hided." So true, ah so very true.
"Nobody will get hided, 'cause everybody will so jazzed about what we found its not going to make a difference."
"Yeah, well my dad will hide me anyways, hell! It's worth a hiding."
"Whatta say?" Chris said, excitedly.
"Alright."
"Gordie?"
"Sure."
"Mar?" Chris looked at me. I was playing with the tip of my jean shorts as he waved his hands in front of my face.
"Ah, sure?"
"Did you even listen?" Chris sighed. I flushed and giggled while scratching the back of my head.
"Why do we even keep her here?" Gordie asked sarcastically.
"Just 'cause she's entertaining." Teddy said, winking in my direction.
"You wish Teddy, you think I entertain you, but you just wet your pants." I stuck my tongue out at him. Chris and Gordie gave a good laugh and looked at Vern.
"You in?"
"Uh... I don-"
"Come on Verno!" everyone yelled. People gave him noggies and a little pinching his cheeks, while me and Gordie watched Vern get abused.
"Okay.. okay." he said.
"AH ALRIGHT!!" everyone was shouting and rejoicing, but inside I was going to faint. Four boys, out of which I thought three were cute, sorry Vern; I was going to sleep out with them. Great now my brother is going to be calling me the town bike. I sighed and climbed down from the tree house.
"Hey guys I'll see you tonight guys, I have a cock sucker to take care of."
"Bye." I walked along the streets of Brownsville. I never knew how this summer was going to change me, but it would. Whether it was to become a women...cough. Or getting somewhere with someone, I just knew. My whole family ignored me when I got to my house, never in a million years would I find Ace and Eyeball in my room. I rolled my eyes and went for my sack and my sleeping blanket. I knew my brother was going to ask.
"Where you goin'?" he blew smoke into my face.
"Tenting out, why c-" I stopped my self from saying "Cock knocker" yet Ace knew what I was going to saw and gave me a black warp on my arm.
"Shut up before I shove that tongue of yours down your throat." I gulped as he and Eyeball walked out of the room.
"See ya later sweet cheeks." Eyeball called out slapping my ass. I growled and collected the things I needed: hair brush, money, canteen, chap stick, water, and last but not least an extra bra; just in case ya know? I threw on a new shirt, kinda like Chris's, but this one was Ace's old shirt and reeked of smoke. I threw on my tennis shoes and grabbed my stuff and headed out the door.
(Author's Note:
HA HA! So whatta think? he he, I'm almost done with my Sweeney Todd story and My Journey to the Center of the Earth one, they both will have sequels to them by the way.
Review/Comment.
Fin.)