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     Country Bumpkins

     In the country there seems to be so much to do. With 

nothing like the electronics today to keep us busy we had to 

make our own fun. Twelve families lived on a long stretch of 

road filled with turns and plenty of hills. Trees as tall as 

apartment buildings filled acres of land. Beyond the thick 

forest was a rocky beginning to a large ocean of salty sea 

water. Across the road from my house was a long and winding 

path to a place we like to call 'The Old Fort'. We would cross 

over large rocks, fallen branches, muddy holes.

     When the path kept us from moving on we used our 

strong arms to open up a new path and carry on through 

our trail. Papa would carry little James on his shoulders 

when he got too tired to walk.James had the best spot 

because he could see higher and further ahead. Sometimes 

the bushes would slap him in the arm or face but this was 

part of taking the trail to 'The Old Fort'. Not everyone 

wanted to go on such an adventure. The brave and curious 

children trudged through the paths. In the end everyone 

had a story to share when they returned home.

     The family who lived next door were really nice people. 

Fran and Don Horn were their names. Oddly enough they 

had two sons Jimmy and Randy. They were the oddest 

couple of boys that I had ever met. It was a good type of 

odd I might add. Just when you would think there was 

nothing to do on a foggy and drizzly weekend these boys 

would invent some crazy ideas that would always be hard to 

resist in participating. Sure sometimes it would get us in 

deep trouble but no one got really hurt. We did have an 

all-time record of being grounded. It was well worth it 

most of the time.

    Just like any normal child in the country getting into 

some kind of trouble was part a childhood to remember. 

Around the turn and past a long stretch of old fallen trees 

lived a large family called the Jones. There were six girls 

and one boy we like to call the 'tornado'. My brothers and 

sisters were pretty close to the same ages as the Jones 

family. I must have forgotten to mention that I have a large 

family as well. We have six girls and two boys.We were the 

Shellingtons. So many kids around and never a dull moment. 

We barely used the phone to ask others to come and play.

     The bikes were our means of hooking up whenever we 

wanted to hang out.Now next door was an elderly couple. 

They were the true example of short,sweet,kind and 

helpful people you would ever want to meet. Dorothy was 

barely five feet tall but she had a heart of gold big as the 

sun and the greatest sense of humor. When mom would 

make plans to go to the large department store we would all 

pile into the station wagon. We would never hesitate to pick 

up Dorothy. She was like the icing on our cake.

     There was never a dry eye on our shopping trips with 

Dorothy around.Dorothy and her husband Frank had five 

children but they were older and living out on their own.The 

only company they had was a mean ugly dog who they called 

'Princess'. To get past their house there was a certain plan 

you had to follow. First I had to walk up to their house very 

quietly. When I got to their first driveway I would take a 

deep breath and make a mad dash past their second 

driveway. The second drive is where the 'Princess' would 

come running at full speed which would scare the 

beejeebers out of anyone.

     If anyone would trip, fall down,cough or make any kind 

of noise to alert Princess they were bound to face glaring 

eyes and sharp pointy teeth and a loud gargling growl that 

would scare the devil himself. Years of these horrible 

confrontations caused a deep fear within me of any dog 

that I would meet. Once I got over the dog of horror I 

grew to love all animals especially dogs. Further on down 

the road was another family called the Jenkins. They had 

four girls and four boys. The Jenkin family was very strict.

     Their house was extremely small for such a big family. 

Just like many other large families in our neighborhood 

they were in small houses filled with lots of people. This 

may sound terrible but in my truth it was the kind of 

living that most families in the city would envy. I am not 

saying that living in the city in a great big house would not 

be the ultimate. I am saying that I would not trade the 

country living for all the gold in the mines. When 

summertime came around life in the country became quite 

interesting.

     With an endless list of friends life was never boring. If 

we got hot we would get on our trusty bikes and head off to 

the beach which was twelve miles away from our house. Going 

to the beach was so easy. It was downhill all the way. 

Returning home from the beach with sunburns and dying of 

thirst now that was extremely difficult. We ended up 

pushing our bikes uphill instead of pedaling. By the end of 

summer we were pretty tanned if not from all the sunshine it 

would be from the fog. The adventures of Red Rock Road 

were ultimately the best time ever.

     Randy and Jimmy took all of us under their wings and 

we loved them for it. One day Randy came knocking on 

our back door. He had a certain way about his demeanor 

that my parents could not resist. If Randy had no 

parents my parents would have adopted him for sure. 

Randy had a great plan for a treasure hunt. He wanted 

some of us to get involved. I was first on the case. I 

convinced my younger sister and two brothers to join in 

the adventure. We were not long getting prepared.

     Randy handed us a piece of paper with the first clue of 

our treasure hunt. It read as follows:'LOCATE THE ONLY 

TREES WHERE MONKEYS GO TO HANG OUT'. It took a 

few minutes to solve the clue. You see there were some tall 

and flexible trees located across the road from our houses 

that we called the monkey trees. Usually after supper and 

before the sun went down we would gather at the monkey 

trees and shimmy up to the top. The trees would slowly bend 

and take us to the ground letting us bounce a few times 

before we got off. There was always a thrill when falling to 

the ground.

     In the fall we would make a pile of leaves at the bottom 

and land in them. It was so much fun. We played there 

almost every night. I ran across the road to the monkey 

trees and climbed up to the top. In my grip I could feel 

something different. There were some leaves taped at the 

top of the tree. I released the tape and there was the 

second clue to the treasure hunt. The leaves wrapped around 

a piece of paper was genius.Randy was never without 

mystery. I yelled with excitement as I raced the clue to my 

brothers and sister.

      The new clue read as follows:'GO TO THE CLOSEST 

ROAD SIGN.THEN WALK 100 FEET TO THE NEAREST 

TELEPHONE POLE.SEARCH IN A HOME OF THE NOISY 

WOODPECKERS AND DISCOVER YOUR NEXT CLUE'. The 

excitement was awesome.We started to walk to our next 

clue but ended up running. Laughing and trying to outrun 

each other was all part of the fun. We finally found the 

road sign. We then followed the instructions. My brother 

volunteered to shimmy up the pole to the woodpecker's 

home.

    He had no problem because he had plenty of practice on 

the monkey trees. There half way up the pole was the 

hole. Inside was a plastic bag holding the next clue. The 

next clue read as follow:'STAND AT YOUR FRONT DOOR 

AND HOP THIRTEEN TIMES UNTIL YOU GET TO A 

PLACE WHERE WE COULD FISH BUT ONLY FOR 

TADPOLES.THERE WILL BE A LONG STRING HOLDING 

THE NEXT CLUE'. We were losing daylight so we had to 

hold off until the next day.Morning could not come soon 

enough.

     I can tell you that sleeping was pretty difficult that 

night. Saturday morning arrived and a full day of mystery 

and excitement lie awaiting for me, my sister and 

brothers. As we ate our breakfast in record speed.Joey 

my brother read the next clue once again. We hopped 

over to these large rocks at the end of the property 

were we would sit sometimes imagining we were 

surrounded by a large lake. Joey pulled up the string and 

sure enough we discovered the next clue. We were so 

filled with excitement.

    'STAND ON THE BACK DECK AND LOOK AROUND 

UNTIL YOU SPOT A SMALL TREE WITH AN ORANGE 

RIBBON WRAPPED AROUND IT. WHEN YOU FIND IT 

THERE WILL BE DIRECTIONS TO PROCEED THROUGH A 

PATH OF CONFUSION. BRING A SAW,SHOVEL AND 

MOST OF ALL BE NOT AFRAID.WHAT YOU WILL 

STUMBLE UPON WILL MAKE YOUR EYES POP AND YOUR 

HEART RACE. YOU WILL FACE GREAT HESITATION.STAY 

TOGETHER BECAUSE SAFETY COME IN NUMBERS'.

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