Chapter 2

That night Larry Adams lay awake in his bed wondering what if he and his friends stumbled on something real like a great fortress or cave. He also tried to figure out the origins of the game played today. Who were they looking for? This afternoon, the boys were on a witch hunt and found his two-year-old sister instead. Yesterday, the boys were battling dragons with their swords until Tom's father had to drive their dragon into town to fill a prescription. Then Tom's mother was upset that the boys had to unravel four wrapping paper rolls in order to make the 'swords'�.

Through out his life, everyone had been either praising or scolding Larry for his over-active imagination. Tonight, he blamed his creativeness for not allowing him any sleep. After settling the score with pirates and winning the World Series, Larry woke to the sound of his father's voice calling him to breakfast.

He wearily got up, dressed, tip-toed past Grandma's room, and joined his family downstairs.

'I heard you boys occupied yourselves for hours yesterday,'� his father said examining his son, 'I only you can put that much enthusiasm with your chores'�.

'Yes, Sir,'� Larry said not looking up from his plate.

'They're just boys having fun, Harold,'� his mother chimed in as she placed Darla in her highchair.

'One of these days someone's going to get hurt out there with no one around for miles'�.

'Acres, Dear'�.

'We're fine, Dad,'� Larry tried harder, 'We look out for each other'�.

'What about Jimmy's scratches and Tom's asthma? John's too young for you boys to be bullying around out there,'� said Mr. Adams as he excused himself from breakfast. Rushing, Larry's father scurried for his briefcase and thermos while stopping to say good-bye to Grandma coming down the stairs.

'I though I heard voices down here,'� Larry's grandma said as she took a seat where Larry's father was sitting.

'Good morning, Edith. Sleep well?'�

'I'm fine, Louise. I dreamt some brave adventurers came to my castle last night,'� she said winking at Larry. 'They were smart not to take my poisoned cookies. Who are you boys going to be today?'�

'Today is Monday, Grandma. We all have school.'�

'Ah! Students today! Did you know that's the best adventure ever!'�

'Yeah right! You've never had Mrs. Scanlan as a teacher!'�

'I did,'� replied his grandma ignoring his mother's glare. Larry's grandmother was too old to have Mrs. Scanlan as a teacher, but she enjoyed feeding her grandson's head with far-fetched nonsense. Larry's grandma thought his imagination should be cherished and viewed as part of his childhood innocence.

'The boy needs an outlet in this world where he can go and escape,'� his Grandmother told Larry's parents one night after Larry swore up and down aliens landed in the corn field down the road after reading his sci-fi magazine. This was the beginning of his adventures before he met Jimmy, John, and Tom.

When Larry was still a baby, Larry's grandmother suffered a stroke and nearly died if it wasn't for a fateful package delivery. Larry's grandmother lived in the middle of nowhere surrounded by cornfields and marshy woodlands. Over the years, subdivisions sprouted on either sides except for the Adam's Farm of over a hundred acres. Here, Edith lived all her life through two world wars, property development around her, and the recent death of her husband.

After her stroke, Harald and Louise packed up infant Larry to move in with Edith. The country setting would be perfect for the family to expand as well as allowing Herald to enjoy his inheritance with his mother before she passes. The birth of Darla added more love to the already loving household.

As Larry got older, the more he explored the property and met some friends along the way in the neighboring subdivisions. Here, the inseparable band of Larry, Jimmy, Tom, and later John, would play for hours on the Adam's property. During their summer vacation, the boys would plea to spend a week out camping, but the mothers were afraid of the unthinkable and allowed them to pitch a campsite close to the house.

Once school started, the boys couldn't wait to step off the bus for a new game or adventure'no matter the season or how bad the conditions. They would rush through their homework in order to hurry up and play before supper. All the parents knew where their sons were and what time to expect them home. When most boys were watching television, the parents were pleased to see their own sons being more active outdoors.

'You'd better hurry, or you'll miss the bus,'� Larry's mother said looking at the wall clock and missing Darla's mouth.

Within minutes, Larry finished his breakfast, brushed his teeth, and met the bus as it rolled near at the usual time in front of the driveway. When Larry boarded, he took a seat next to Tom who always saves him a seat. The two boys typically sit together in the middle of the bus with the other third graders. John sat up in the safety near the driver with the younger kids. Jimmy sat at the very back of the bus with the rest of his buddies that were the same age from the neighborhood. Since Larry lived on the outskirts where suburbia met the city limit, he was last to get on the bus.

'So what are we gonna look for tonight,'� Tom asked trying to avoid last night's failure.

'I don't know. Maybe search for those ruins Jimmy talked about.'�

'That old shed next to the silo? It's too creepy'worse than the woods. The door and windows are boarded up for a reason you know? Ever ask your grandma what you guys keep out there?'�

'We keep wood in the silo. Dad hauls a bunch of it up by the house every winter. I never really thought about the shed. No one ever talks about it.'�

'Then why don't they get rid of it?'�
Larry shrugs and the two boys go about the bus ride to school talking about how they dreaded their teacher. Through out the day, Larry day dreams he is back home in the field walking around the shed. Up until then, Larry never considered this a valuable resource. He just figured the decaying structure housed a rusty tractor or other out-dated farm equipment. Now that Tom mentioned it, the possibilities seemed endless.

He dreamed of everything from discovering buried treasure to something more extravagant like finding old relics of ancient times. By time lunchtime recess came, Larry and Tom weighed the possibilities. By end of the lunch period, the two boys decided this weekend would be the best time to explore the old shed.

* * *
'There's nothing out in that old shed except for your grandfather's rusted tools,'� said Larry's grandma that night at supper.

'That was his workshop. He used to go out there for hours. We were never allowed to bother him in the little retreat,'� said Larry's father.

'That's right,'� agreed his grandmother, 'he could fix or make anything out there.'�

'Can me and my friends go check it out,'� asked Larry with his face lighting up at the though of a new adventure.

'I don't think that's a good idea, Son,'� chimed in his father, 'We boarded that old shed up years ago. The thing is a death trap with all the rusted tools and unstable floor. I keep meaning to go through and clean it out, but well'�'� his voice trailed off.

'We could help you, Dad!'�

'Maybe some other time. When you boys are older,'� his father said in his final tone.
Soon after Larry and his family had this conversation, the weekend was already here. He found himself with Jimmy, John, and Tom standing in front of the dilapidated shed. The wooden-shingled shed may have been, at one time or another, a small one-room house. A garage door had been recently installed in the rear for the tractors. The windows were broken in and pieces of wood nailed them shut.

The boys tried to look through the cracks between the boards across the windows for a glimpse of what was inside without any luck. When the boys circled around to the side of the house, Tom cursed as his tripped over double doors leading into the ground.

'Wow! I didn't notice these doors before!'� cried Larry in excitement.

'I didn't either when we got lost in the woods,'� said Jimmy as he pulled back the overgrown weeds to get a better look of the doors.

'Did you really find those glow sticks here,'� asked Larry.

'No,'� Jimmy said ashamed, 'I had them the whole time. If I did find anything here, it'd probably be too old anyway.

'We can't bust through the boards and the doors are locked. Now what?'�

'We could do it at night,'� Jimmy suggested. 'That way we could put the boards back up, return the hammers, and be home before our parents get up'�.
With a start, Larry woke up to the sound of his father calling him to breakfast. The episode of the scoping out the shed was only a dream. By the time Larry sat down next to Tom on the way to school, Larry had a foolproof plan to break into the shed.

'Do you think it's gonna work?'� asked a wide-eyed Tom.

'Sure. We'd have to do it this weekend somehow. Maybe have a sleepover.'�

'This can be our last campout before the weather gets bad,'� added Tom.

'Yeah. We just need to tell the others the plan,'� Larry said with satisfaction over his ideas.

The two boys walked to class smoothing out the details of the plan when they were interrupted by Mrs. Scanlan as soon as they set foot in the classroom. Mrs. Scanlan always stands at the door at the beginning of the day to collect homework. Her reasoning behind this madness is so students weren't tempted to work on last night's work during that day's lesson. This way, Mrs. Scanlan can also grade the papers during the three recesses and hand the work back with a grade by the end of the day. Even old Scanlan despised doing her own work at home.

After the boys handed in his assignment, Tom and Larry found their seats at opposite ends of the room away from each other before the bell rang. Tom pulled out various objects from his desk including pens, crayons, books, and a glue stick and tried balancing them all to form a tower.

'He's going to be an astronaut one day,'� Larry thought to himself as he glanced around to see other kids playing with their clay. Larry, on the other hand, took out a pencil and paper and began writing a checklist for the last camping trip.

'Okay class, put the clay away,'� said Mrs. Scanlan as she ventured to the front of the class.

This was the class's cue to stop whatever it was they were doing. Tom put away his crayons, books, pens, and glues tick, and sit attentively towards Mrs. Scanlan. Larry, by this time, was too engrossed with his weekend plans to notice Mrs. Scanlan's quiet advances toward his desk.

'What's this Mr. Adams,'� Mrs. Scanlan asked loud enough to startle Larry and address the whole class.
Before Larry could grab the piece of paper, Mrs. Scanlan snatched the weekend plans right up from underneath him. After reading over the paper, Mrs. Scanlan folded the paper, stuck it in her worn-out sweater pocket, and proceeded with the lesson as if nothing happened. Larry sunk down in his chair until it was ok to go to recess.

At recess, Larry met up with Tom as usual. The two boys spent all recess weighing the pros and cons of getting caught by Mrs. Scanlan.

'She didn't read it out loud to the class,'� reassured Tom, 'so that's a good thing.'�

'She could be talking to the principal. Why else didn't she make me stay in during recess,'� pondered Larry who was thinking the worse was yet to happen. He had never gotten into any trouble in class before, so he did not know what to expect other than what other kids done in the past. Public ridicule seemed to be Mrs. Scanlan's favorite. She loved reading notes aloud to the class she found or caught her students disrupting the class with.

'No way. She's so old. She's probably forgot about it by now. Plus, she's always grading papers during recess.'�
'I guess you're right,'� Larry said and tried to relax. 'She didn't make a big deal out of it'�.

When the boys came in from recess, Mrs. Scanlan was at her usual post: finishing up grading papers at her desk. Tom and Larry purposely blended in with the other students as they all took their seats. Larry kept a low profile at his desk regardless of how well Tom reassured him everything will be okay. At the end of the day, both boys were able to quickly leave the classroom and board the bus without being stopped by Mrs. Scanlan, the principal, or anyone else that may be a threat to their plans.

'Mrs. Scanlan called to day,'� his mother said. Larry froze in place at the news. No wonder Mrs. Scanlan hadn't punished him during school. She was too evil for that. Instead, she waited and called his mother during her lunch break. That way, Larry can serve punishment beyond Mrs. Scanlan's control; he would be grounded.

'We all need to have a talk'when your father comes home,'� she said in her warning voice, 'now, go and get your homework done'�.

Larry had the perfect plan of doing his homework tonight. Tonight, he would fool them all by taking his time to complete every problem. If anyone asked why he was taking so long, he could tell them the arithmetic was too hard. He could at least waste two hours doing this. By then, maybe it would be time for bed and no time for the family discussion.

When Larry's father arrived home, Larry was only half way finished. Normally Larry would be done with his studies by now and out playing with his friends. Out playing! It had almost slipped his mind. Tom probably told the rest of the gang that Larry had these amazing plans about the shed. Tom probably also told about how Mrs. Scanlan caught him. They all probably thought he was grounded by now and couldn't come out to play anyway.

Larry listened for a moment to any commotion from the downstairs that would seem out of the ordinary. So far, nothing has happened. His father's daily routine once he was home from work was reading the paper until dinner, and reviewing business matters and preparing for the next day before going to bed around eleven. From the small desk in his bedroom, the sounds from the downstairs seemed no different than any other weekday.

Larry's last obstacle was going to be the dinner table. This is when the family gets together to discuss his or her day. This would be the moment when his father would find out about Mrs. Scanlan's phone call. When Larry's mother called up the stairs instead of his father, Larry knew he was in trouble. He could feel his heart sink as he stood up. Unlike the senseless chatter that normally comes from the adults finishing setting the table, tonight, Larry was greeted with silence as he entered and took his place at the table.

'Your mother says Mrs. Scanlan called her today. Do you want to tell us what this is all about,'� Larry's dad inquired and looked at his squirming son who wouldn't return the stare.

'Mrs. Scanlan says you made a plan of how to break into the shed. She didn't know it was our own shed. Instead, she thought you were going to ruin someone else's shed. That's why she called. Sound familiar?'�

'Why don't you just take him out there this weekend, Herald,'� suggested Larry's grandmother. 'That way the two of you can bond while going through that old stuff. I used to play out there all the time growing up. The shed's just boarded up because it became old and dangerous. I'm sure everything's at peace these days. Everything would be fine out there with the two of you.'�

'That's a great idea, Edith,'� chimed in Larry's mother. 'We can go through everything in the house. Clean out the closets, basement, and go through the attic while guys go through that shed. We'll make a weekend out of it.'�

Both Larry and his father left the dinner table that night defeated while Larry's mother and grandma chatted on about which rooms needed organized and cleaned the most.

The next day on the bus, Tom eagerly waited to finally talk to Larry. The boys were placing bets on how long Larry would be grounded.

'So how long are you grounded,'� asked Tom.

'I don't know.'�

'That bad, huh?'�

'I have to help my dad clean out the shed. Mom and Grandma are making it 'Cleaning Day' at our house.'�

'Cool! Exploring the shed with your dad! I wish my dad was that cool.'�

'Dad's not fun or cool. He has fun yelling at me, not goin' through Grandpa's old junk.'�

'Who knows'�'�

When the two boys walked into Mrs. Scanlan's class, she immediately greeted them with a stack of collected homework. Before the bell rang, she leaned over Larry's desk to apologize.

'I'm sorry if I got you into trouble yesterday. You're a good kid, and I don't want you to go downhill.'�

Larry sat there at his desk miserable as Mrs. Scanlan continued with the day's lessons. If he would have never been caught, the call never would have been made. His father's probably right in the fact the shed would be too dangerous for a couple of boys to play in. His father was also right that if the boys hurt themselves on the property, then no one would be around for miles. Larry decided all of his games and adventures were useless and stupid. From this day on, Larry's biggest challenge of adventure would be to grow up and forget about his child-like fantasies.

Want to comment on this Short Stories? Sign up to Edit Red and you will be able to comment on Short Stories and get access to: Upload your own stories and poems, get readers and their feedback, promote your work...