The wind blew cold, a telling sign of the winter soon to set in as the warm days of September were coming to an end. On the lawn, the leaves piled up as they fell freely from the trees, swaths of auburn, yellow and brown covering up the dusky greens of the grass as it too faded to a blanched brown with the coolness of the nights – despite the fact that the sunlight hours were still quite warm. In the half-dozen or so trees that bordered the whitewashed fence, as much fruit still hung heavily in the branches as littered the lawn; sticky, squishy little pools of rotting muck to get caught in the treads of your shoes like the offal from the dog.
Across the yard, a young girl stood, grinning evilly. Her nearly platinum blonde hair reflected the dying rays of the sun as the wind continually pulled at the gossamer strands and wrapped the longer locks over her face and across her eyes, making her continually brush it back to see clearly. I stood before her, a dozen or so yards away, considering my options: should I run for the house, defend my ground, or take to the trees? I wasn’t sure, but even at this young age I knew that look in her eye, she was ready to attack in a blind fury, and today, I wasn’t going to be taken down.
In a rush of a decision, I took flight and headed for the tree. The branches and remaining leaves would offer me some much needed cover, I knew. The bonus was that there would be a much larger amount of ammo for me to use from there. The first volley crossed my vision and I jumped for the lower branches, awkwardly throwing what was in my hand. I felt the welt develop as the rock-like little missile hit my leg, but I continued to brachiate up the branches, emulating the monkeys I had seen at the zoo. Around me, more projectiles slammed into the branches and hissed through the leaves. I had acquired the optimal position
I could hear her climbing as I turned to get a bead on her. Reaching up, I grabbed a nearby cluster of the crab apples and let fly. She squealed with the hit, but like me, managed to ascend. As she positioned herself in the furthest tree, keeping the other three between us, at that moment we knew the lines of conflict had been drawn. It was life or death now; we would battle until one of us was down.
Her volley came fast and hard, a shotgun effect meant to throw me off balance. I responded in kind, swinging around to grab another few clusters of the tiny, sour little orbs hanging anywhere near. I could hear the next salvo whipping through the branches and pulled myself closer to the trunk, hoping that would be enough cover. Peeking through a crouch right above me, saw a shot and released while bracing my legs in the branches and plucking more of the sour little pellets from the shallow pocket in my jacket. I heard a war-cry scream from the other tree and ducked again before throwing blindly.
Cover was nowhere to be found, and with only the few branches and that narrow trunk to protect me, I knew I had to take more extreme action. As the last of her ammunition raked through the leaves behind me, I swung out on a branch with a better roost and flung the apples like buckshot. I could see the trajectory was nearly perfect, she was riddled with my ordnance and cried out. I laughed in glee at her pain and pulled more out, trying to take advantage of my superior position, but the throw never came as we, almost in unison heard the crunching of feet further down the back alley.
She looked at me and I at her. The evil grin she had worn earlier spread to both our faces. If we could not beat each other, then nearby victims were the alternative. Together we crouched among the thin cover of the leaves and branches, waiting as silently as feline predators for our chumps to come in to view. Evil would be had this day!
“David! Pam! Come in for dinner!” It was the sound of our mother shouting from the back door. My heart sunk and I could feel the disappointment setting in. Our victims would go free this day; the hunt was over. Looking at my sister as we climbed down, I saw my emotions mirrored on her face.
“Tomorrow.” I whispered, watching as the evil grin appeared on her face once again.
Based on a true story
