And then the
day arrived, and Joe came out of the basement to meet our gang of " trick-or-treaters ", they were delighted and everybody
wanted to be with Joe. At first we would bring Joe to the door with us and watch the peoples faces as they tried to figure
out just what he was, when they found out, they wouldn't give him any candy even though he had his own bag. and soon there
was another plan.
Joe leaned his head against a front door, and we hid in the bushes at the
bottom of the steps, someone would ring the bell!, and when the door opened, Joe would fall forward! The men were startled,
the women screamed! Then we would all have a laugh and collect our treats. One man tried to slam the door on Joe as he was
falling in, so we got a long rope and attached it to his neck so that we could yank him back before that happened again. I
think it was the best Halloween ever!
Joe went back in the basement to wait for next Halloween, his life was
not very exiting then, just gathering dust, an occasional scream from Mom when she noticed this dark figure as she was doing
laundry. Then our little dog" Wiggy' would start barking at Joe, and would never go near him.
Summer vacation, and we had so much fun playing outside on our quiet little
street. We played baseball or "capture the flag" until it became too dark, then we switched to " king of the hill " or " kick
the can " (a form of hide-and-seek ) where the captured people are released if a kid leaves his hiding place and runs in to
kick the can before he can be tagged. On one of those nights, when there were too few to get a game going, we took Joe down
to the end of the block where there was a bus-stop. "We can hide in these bushes, and Joe can wait for the bus "! We laughed
and leaned Joe against the bus sign, (Joe was very good at this). He looked so real in the dim light, his hands in his pocket,
his hat pulled slightly down.
Telling ghost stories, talking about the moon, three or four of us waited
for a bus to come. "I hear a bus!" Joanie said, and we got quiet and sank down behind the bushes. The bus ground to a stop,
then the door opened. At first the driver was looking down at his worksheet, he expected a passenger to step on board quickly.
But Joe did not move. The driver asked Joe" do you want a ride or not?"
Joe did not answer.
The driver, now turned towards the door, leaning as far as he could, stretching
his neck, squinting his eyes. " Sir, are you taking this bus?" Again Joe said nothing.
We had a hard time keeping quiet, bursts of laughter escaping past the
hands covering our mouths made telltale sounds that tipped off the driver he had been the victim of" tricksters"... Off he
drove, his passengers looking out ,trying to see what the fuss was about... .., ... ..We rolled on the lawn bursting with
laughter, and couldn't wait until the next bus came by. This bus was pretty much the same thing except the driver did not
speak to Joe, he just looked at him a long time, shut the door, and was gone. It was getting kind of late now, but we will
wait for one more bus because I have a plan to liven things up. " Here it comes "Skeeter says", and it stops, the door opens,
the driver says something I cant hear. I have in my hands the long rope tied to Joe's neck, I gently pull on it until Joe
falls over backwards!
The driver is shocked ! he jumps out of his seat and reaches the doorway.
Joe's hat rolls along the sidewalk, the bus driver now can see this is not a real person. His eyes search the bushes where
we are hiding, then he turns around and closes the door. All the passengers are out of their seats looking out at Joe.
We did the bus stop thing a number of times, but the drivers spread the
word, and now they hardly would slow down. They recognized Joe!
Now I have to tell you the part I am not proud of, and I have to admit
it was my idea. The folks were playing cards... ..My sister and I snuck out of the house, and we got Joe out of the basement.
We met two more friends out in front and decided to take Joe to the bus stop. But I opened my big mouth with this idea" what
if we tossed Joe out in front of a passing car "? It seemed daring, but what the heck.
The car approached, Joe went sailing out, "crash! " Joe's hat went flying!
Joe went flying! his sleeves out of the pockets, he rolled to a crumpled stop.
At that moment I realized this is not fun. It looked too real. All of us
snuck away, I went outside later to get Joe but he was nowhere to be found. The next day when I talked to Skeeter, he said
that the people in the car took Joe away with them. My Mom and Dad found out what we did, and I was grounded. And Joe was
gone.. . . .. .
Or so I thought. Because about a month or so later, a boy down the street
from us told Skeeter he had seen Joe in a neighbors backyard. I thought he was teasing us but then another boy said the same
thing. So I had to see for myself, I went down there and, well, Joe was in pretty bad shape. In fact I hardly recognized him,
but it was him. I couldn't leave him there so I tucked him under my arm and brought him back to his home. I wanted to fix
him up again, but Mom and Dad both said no, there was too much trouble I could get into. So that night as I was doing my homework
in my room, Dad took Joe apart and he was.. . .. . . .. no more.
Next Halloween came along and we all missed Joe, but we were all getting
older now, and hopefully wiser,. . . .. . . . . .I think some of the neighbors might remember him, and I am sure that Skeeter
and Owen and Earl do . And maybe even some of the bus drivers,
"Boy
Adventures" by Ron Francis ............ (c) .. 2009
