Silly reveries
“Why does summer have to be so hot?” Rowdy asked as he lied down on the grass next to me.
“I’m asking the same thing” Gordy said while twirling a leaf in his fingers.
“shut up no one asked” rowdy muttered through clenched teeth as Gordy just chuckled dryly in reply.
“can you guys please just get along? For once?” I begged.
“Nope” they said in unison.
Well that’s the first time they’ve agreed on something.
I’ve been trying to get rowdy to hang out with some of my friends from Reardan. So he doesn’t spend the summer completely alone and inside, but it’s been
Difficult,
Very difficult.
Its been a month since summer started and so far, it’s been fun. Me, Gordy, and Rowdy have been hanging out a lot. We’ve even hung out with Penelope and Roger as well.
Roger got completely destroyed by Rowdy when we played basketball, but he insists it was just the heat and he’d totally win against rowdy if it was cooler.
“I’m bored” rowdy groaned.
“Me too” Gordy replied.
“Be quiet no one cares” rowdy said as he moved his hands behind his head.
“Want to swim in the lake?” Gordy asked,
“no defiantly not” rowdy replied.
I laughed and then asked, “hey guys want to swim in the lake?”
Rowdy shot up and screamed “yes dude! That’s such a great idea!”
Gordy sighed in defeat and got up, rubbed the grass off his pants, then started marching towards the river as me and rowdy followed.
Rowdy ran up to the front and murmured “I’m not going to be following some dork”
Gordy picked up his pace until he passed rowdy, the rowdy started jogging, then Gordy started running, then both started to sprint at full speed.
I ran after them too but was slowed down because I kept laughing.
We went through bushes and forest to try and get to the lake. This was lake McCoy and it was surrounded by greenery.
I saw up ahead that rowdy and Gordy had both stopped, I didn’t know why until I caught up.
There was a small cliff that you had to cross to get to the lake. It was easy because it was wide, but it looked as if half of the cliff had fallen off.
The walkway was significantly narrower now
Both Gordy and rowdy didn’t seem to want to go on ahead, so I took a deep breath and said “guys its fine, I’ll go first.”
They both disagreed but I went on ahead.
I hugged my body close to the wall and could smell the rocks and dirt in front of me. I shuffled sideways and slowly took steps.
The drop down wasn’t that far but it was all rocks at the bottom and would hurt insanely bad if you fell.
I kept moving, slowly and carefully, but eventually I got to the end and exhaled sharply then yelled “c’mon guys its not that hard I swear”.
Gordy took the first step but then got pushed to the side by rowdy who said “I’ll go first”
“no, its fine I’ll go first’
“no, I insist, I. go. first.”
“and I’m telling you to stop worrying I will go first”
“no, I- “
“oh my god just go” I yelled out of annoyance.
Rowdy ended up going first with Gordy shortly following behind.
They slowly moved towards the goal and I could see them coming closer.
Rowdy was almost to me when we both heard Gordy yell “crap!”
Gordy stepped on a bad place and the dirt below him gave out and he almost fell but in the nick of time rowdy grabbed his shirt and pulled him back up.
They both got to the end and put their hands on their knees and breathed heavily.
I swear to god I almost had a heart attack when Gordy almost fell. No not a heart attack that’s too mellow. An asthma attack? cardiac arrest? I don’t know but I was scared.
“Rowdy?” Gordy said.
Rowdy looked up at him, “thank you” Gordy’s said through a smile.
“ya ya whatever.”
We kept trekking through the woods and Rowdy pushed Gordy into a prickle bush because he “needed to make it even for him saving Gordy.”
Finally, through the shrubbery we made out the faint blueness and arrived at the lake.
We stopped to admire it for a second in all its glory. The blue crisp water shimmering and glistening. The bright green trees surrounding it. There were a few kids that were playing and their voices added to the ambiance of birds chirping and the sweet sweet sound of nature.
“last one in the waters a fag!” rowdy said as he sprinted towards the lake.
We all ran, took off our shirts, threw them in the sand, and jumped in the water.
I felt coolness engulf me and was grateful to be relieved of heat. The first time you jump into water on a scalding summer day just has an unexplainable feeling. Everything around you is just, quiet. I opened my eyes to see the suns reflection in the water. It was beautiful. The bubbles make the weirdest sound when you first jump in too, it’s almost as if the waters speaking. Water can’t speak though, that’s silly right? But I felt as if it was calling my name. anyways that’s not important, back to describing water. The way it makes you feel refreshed and re- “Junior?”
“Hellooo? Junior.”
I snapped back to reality and felt the car moving across the unpaved streets.
“Hey, bud you alive?” my dad asked.
It took a second for me to get adjusted to my surroundings. Another daydream huh. I’ve been having those a lot lately. I’ve been struggling to stay in touch with real life, it gets harder and harder to distinguish dreams from reality every day. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.
“Sorry, I was just thinking.”
“okay… anyways moms thinking of making lemongrass rice for dinner how’s that sound?”
“that’s fine” I said as I slumped back into my seat, back into the real world.
I stared at the blur of trees and houses as we drove past them. The colors making a mush of green and beige.
I saw the familiar street sign and my stomach dropped once again. Just like the first time.
The familiar window where he stared at me from, the door where we walked into, the front yard where we played. The single poster I had put up a month ago. The ink had bled from the rain, the color was sucked away by the sun. That poster laid completely lifeless.
Rowdy’s been missing since the day we played basketball.
No one knows where he went.
And no one cares.
Missing person
Rowdy
Last scene at Underhill park at 12:00 am. Last scene wearing ripped up jeans and dark red shirt. Please call 509-387-2766 if you see him.