J. A. Napper

Boy Scouting was an escape for me. The structured meetings, scout leaders, friendships, camping trips, and material I learned helped shield me from home. Don’t be confused. My life wasn’t bad, but my father was a strict disciplinarian. I was afraid to say or do anything around him, fearing I’d catch a backhand against my head. So, just after my eleventh birthday, I joined the Boy Scouts.

I became absorbed in learning life skills taught by scouting. I knew the classification of trees, plants, animals, rocks, and fossils. I became an expert at tying knots. Using a map and compass became second nature to me. I loved what I learned in Boys Scouts. I still love the friendships I made in scouting. Scouting taught me skills to become a decent human. But most of all, I loved the games we played while camping.

We played various games. Of course, some activities were not considered games by merely looking at what we were doing, but participating in them became a game of bravery. Cutting a vine loose from a tree, swinging out over a deep gully, and leaping from the vine to another tree in the distance is just a glimpse of the foolish acts of courage we determined that turned a boy into a man.

Boys. That’s what we were through and through. We were friends, enemies, and Boy Scouts. I was the youngest in the Troop and received my fair share of wedgies to validate that fact. The other boys’ ages ranged from twelve to seventeen, and we constantly fought to prove who was alpha. 

Dean, Bryan, Chris, and Brad were other members of my Troop. Each one possessed a characteristic, we were all cocky jerks, but boys are boys. Our jerkiness showed as soon as our scout leaders were out of sight. We intensified the moments of rudeness whenever we played any game. No other game solidified who had the biggest balls than Hide-and-seek. Sometimes, the game would last hours and span several acres—all at night. Here is the story of one such game:

***

Mr. Felix shouted at us as we were getting ready to play hide-and-seek. Chris laughed at his Cajun accent as he continued, “Before ya’ll headed out to da woods, ya better clean up dis mess!” 

“What did he say?” 

Dean, Felix’s stepson, grabbed a garbage bag from the Troop’s trailer. “He said we have to clean before we play the game.”  

“What kind of language is that?” 

Bryan slapped Chris on his head, causing red marks to glow through his buzz cut. “It’s called English, moron!”  

Brad nudged Chris. “I wouldn’t let him slap you around like that. Hit him back!” 

Chris glanced at Bryan and scoffed. “Nah, don’t wanna fight. That dude’s a butt hole. What’s his problem anyhow?” 

I sighed. “You didn’t hear?” 

“Hear what?” 

“His Dad was just arrested. He’ll probably be in jail a long time.” 

“Didn’t hear.” 

Brad looked over his shoulder. “Yeah, he beat his wife. I think he beat Bryan, too.” 

Chris, Brad, and I looked at Bryan. He and Dean cleaned the picnic tables and jumped when they saw Mr. Felix remove his shirt and use it as a cleaning rag.

Chris laughed. “Woo! You are a hairy dude!” 

Mr. Felix pounded his chest like a gorilla as his teeth beamed through his dark beard. “What ya spect? I’s a smooth man? Naw, boys, I’s a real man! Now, grab dat bag der, Chris, and carry it to da trash.” 

Chris picked up the trash bag. “Yes, Sir. Ah! Snake!” 

Chris dropped the trash bag, tripped over an ice chest, and fell onto his face. I thought he looked like a drunk clown as his face bounced on the grass. To me, Mr. Felix, or Uncle Felix, played one of his many jokes on us. He waited patiently as he silently contemplated his next move. And, when you least expect anything to happen, wham! Uncle Felix played one of his practical jokes. 

“Haha! Oh, boy! Ya, shoulda seened yo-self! Ya ranned liked a lil’ girl!”  

Chris stood and wobbled. He gawked at the toy snake. “I thought that was real!” 

“Naw, just a fake un,” Uncle Felix grinned like he won the lottery. “Y’all can go now. Don’t do dumb tings!”

We shouted in unison and ran toward a clearing near the woods. “Yes, Sir!” 

I was ready to play hide-and-seek, and he hoped that was what everyone else wanted to play.

Dean opened his backpack. “We will draw straws to see who gets the shortest two. Whoever does is it.” 

Bryan and the other boys compared the straws. “So, who’s it?” 

I sighed. “Well, it looks like it’s Brad and me.”  

Brad looked down at me. “You can’t be no sissy. These woods get dark at night. Heard demons haunt them.”

I heard the tales before, and he thought some might be true. However, he didn’t get spooked easily. Brad tried to exude machismo, but I knew it was just a cover for his sissiness. 

Brad punched my arm. “Come on. Are we gonna count, or what?”

Dean shouted as he and the other boys ran into the woods. “Let’s get this game started!” 

“Forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty! Ready or not, here we come!” I yelled as Brad and I looked for the other boys. I narrowed my blue eyes and investigated the forest that surrounded our campsite. “It is super dark tonight!” 

Brad agreed. “You ain’t lying. Do ya think they went out deep?” 

“I hope not. It’ll be harder to find them. Plus, Uncle Felix will have the cobbler done in about an hour.” 

“Yeah, let’s find ’em and get this over with.”

I nodded as we searched the woods for the other boys. Our Troop nestled our campsite in the middle of the Dam Site Recreational Park. Expansive woodland stretched thousands of acres, supplying us enough room to engage in whatever mischief we could dream up. The Troop camped at Greers Ferry Lake near Heber Springs, Arkansas, and participated in the yearly conservation project headed by the Army Corp of Engineers. The event was huge; thousands gathered each year to collect trash from the shoreline, build retaining walls, and complete various tasks. But, even during a busy time, the boys always found a way to play in the woods.   

I ducked under a low-hanging branch and stopped. “Did you hear that?” 

Brad whispered, “Hear what?” 

I pointed toward a deep ravine covered with thick underbrush. “I thought I heard a branch snap out that-a-way.” 

“I heard it too. Maybe it’s a deer?”

“Maybe. Let’s keep lookin’ for them.” 

We crept into the ravine, and I felt like someone tied a blindfold around my eyes. “Is it just me, or does it feel strange around here?” 

“No, it’s not just you…” Brad’s voice trailed off when we heard the most horrible sound we had ever heard. He stuttered, “Wha…what was that?” 

“I, I don’t know.” 

A guttural howl echoed through the dark shadows. “Grrr…WOOOOOOOO!”

I pointed at a ghostly figure that drifted between trees. “Look, what is that?”

Brad screamed as he turned and sprinted up the ravine. “It looks like a werewolf!” 

I followed Brad, looked back, and saw a mangled figure lunging in our direction. Brad gasped and bounced across the ground. I ran faster towards our campsite when Brad slid against a small tree.  

“Josh, help! I’m tangled in these stupid vines!” 

“Stop squirming! I can’t cut the vine with you kicking around like that!”

“Don’t cut me!” 

“You wanna get eaten up or a nick on your leg?” 

“Just get me out of these vines!”

I cut through a web of vines just as the dark figure climbed the ravine in front of us.

“Grrr…WOO…GRRR…WOOOOOOOO!” 

The beast snarled and howled. It sent chills down my spine. Sweat burned my eyes as my heart pounded in my ears. I jerked Brad to his feet just as the figure leaped towards us.

“Agh!” Brad yelled as the werewolf-looking thing grabbed his arm. “He’s got ahold of me! Save yourself!” 

Fear squeezed the breath out of my lungs, and I almost fainted when I saw the werewolf face to face. Just as the grotesque figure clutched my arm, I grabbed my stomach and laughed hysterically.

Brad’s face turned pale. “Why are you laughing at me? I’m gonna die!” 

“Look at your werewolf!” 

“What?” 

Mr. Felix laughed. “Well, I believe I’s scared ya both!” 

I breathed heavily. “Man, Uncle Felix, your hairy chest and all that noise made us think you were a real werewolf!” 

“Dat was da point.” 

Brad looked at the ground. “Well, I think I’m done with hide-and-seek for the night.” 

I laughed so hard that I snorted. “Dude, did you pee yourself?”   

“Whatever.”