Dog Daze of...
by Alan R. Wolcott
Kids are back to school and talking about what they did over the summer vacation.
- Tracy:
- (to Kurt) Ewww! You did what? How could you put your hands in that?
- Kurt:
- It’s easy, just like making a snowball, only it packs better and you can throw it farther. One guy must have thrown his ball 50 yards before it came down with a splat!
- Robyn:
- Grooooss! Where did you say this was? That’s the most disgusting thing I’ve ever heard...
- Kurt:
- (shrugging and cherishing the moment) Youth Week at Camp Bible Thumper...you know, the place Amanda keeps yakking about. She was there all summer. Anyway, my team won.
- Tracy:
- (Suspiciously) How do you win a “cow chip throwing contest?”
- Kurt:
- Your team is the first to empty its bucket, duh.
- Girls together:
- Ewwww!
- Kurt:
- Hey, it’s not that bad! You just have to be careful not to bite your fingernails afterward.
- Tracy:
- Gag! Let’s change the subject. Only a boy could think that was the best thing that happened all summer. But it may have been the grossest!
- Robyn:
- I can tell you what was the most embarrassing thing that happened to me all summer.
- Kurt:
- Oh yeah? What’s that?
- Robyn:
- We went to several Expos games. Usually I go to see Champ and the contests they have between innings. I almost caught one of the T-shirts they shoot up into the stands between innings...
- Kurt:
- What’s so embarrassing about that, except you’re cheering for a bunch of losers?
- Tracy:
- Give her a chance bright boy! You trying to take over for that laser brain, Travis?
- Robyn:
- Anyway...before I was so rudely interrupted (looks at Kurt), one game we happened to sit in front of a bunch of teens, probably from Milton. They were rowdy, and kept fighting over a water bottle. It was okay until the top came off and my dad got half the water down his back...
- Tracy:
- (intrigued) Yeah? what did the old geezer do?
- Robyn:
- He turned around and right there let them have it! He told them that was a stupid thing to do, that it wasn’t funny and that they should knock it off. He had the kind of stare in his eyes we used to get about the third time he had to tell us it was time to get ready for bed...I was so embarrassed!
- Kurt:
- I bet those kids didn’t feel too great either.
- Tracy:
- I’ll say.
- Robyn:
- Well, at least they didn’t spill any more water on us.
- Kurt:
- (laughing) Did you have anything like that Tracy?
- Tracy:
- No. Nothing more serious than a little humiliation.
- Robyn:
- What do you mean?
- Tracy:
- Well I came home on day from Lake Champlain and found my dad loading up his truck with his stuff. I guess he and Mom had another fight. Anyway he was leaving...
- Kurt:
- I’m sorry. That must be hard...
- Tracy:
- It’s a little better now. They’re at least talking again and Mom says he can move back in. Maybe this week, who knows? But you know what helped?
- Robyn:
- No. I just hate it when my parents can’t get along...
- Tracy:
- Amanda’s family helped. They didn’t take sides, but they arranged for my brothers and me to spend a few days with them so that Mom and Dad could talk after work without interruptions. They said it was “the Christian thing to do,” although I’m not sure what that means.
- Kurt:
- I think I know. We had a chapel speaker during the week I was at camp. He talked about how Jesus showed his love for us by serving people. Then he told us that the followers of Jesus are to serve others in the same way. I think Amanda’s folks were just trying to show your family the love of Jesus in a practical way.
- Tracy:
- Could be...I never thought of religion having any practical use before. I wonder...?
- Robyn:
- Good thing you got the cow chips out of your ears before chapel, huh Kurt?
- Kurt:
- Aw, c’mon, Robyn. Go lay an egg!
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