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Montana: A Summer Story
Creative
 Created on 1-22-07
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 Story Rating G
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Chapter 1First dayJuly 6 Another hayfield. We were walking through another hayfield, on another hot day while we were visiting our Grandma Betty and our Grandpa Lee. They lived in Twin Bridges, Montana, our favorite place to drive. And a MUCH different place from Fernley, Nevada, where we had driven from, and lived. Me, and two companions, my brother and sister, walked wearily through this field. Small beads of sweat, which stuck our clothes to us, occasionally stuck tall weeds to us, too. We smelled strongly of bug repellent, and sun screen, although we all had lobster-red burns that stung like mad on our arms, legs, and faces. My brother, Joseph (Joey for short), spoke and we all started toward the house. There’s a small log that serves as a bridge across a small creek in front of the house. It’s really old, and it’s been there for years. We were just about to cross the bridge, when I saw a really cute bunny and turned around quickly with all of us on the slippery log. ”No, Meridith! No! God stupid!” Joey yelled at me, right as the log started to teeter. I, Meridith, Merid for short, am 62lbs., 4’7”, with blue-green eyes, reddish-blonde hair, and 12 years of age. Joey, my older brother, the one who had cried out, was 108lbs, 5’7”, with green eyes, blonde hair and an age of 15. I had just registered what Joey had yelled, and quickly turned back around to hear loud ripping noises, and realize that the log was breaking away from the ground. Throwing the grass and dirt that had accumulated there everywhere. It rolled a little ways to left, before throwing my sister into the cold water, as my brother and I jumped safely onto the sloping bank. It was grassy and wet, so that we almost slipped in when we landed. My sister, Clara, was now dripping wet as she struggled to pull herself up onto the bank. She was 5’4””, weighed 102 pounds (all muscle), she had hazel eyes, reddish-brown hair, kind of like me, and was 12 years old. As she was pulling herself out onto the slippery green grass, I went over to help her. “Thanks.” She uttered. I watched her slowly stumble over to Joey, waterlogged as she was, and once reaching him, kneed him in the thigh, giving him a ‘dead leg’, punched him in the arm, making it go numb, and tried to push him into the creek. Instead, he collided with me, and brought us both down into the water. Harsh laughter exploded from Clara. Her eyes teared up and her face turned red as she laughed harder. Her laughter was like that of a neighing horse, and probably would’ve awoken the neighboring horse if she hadn’t tried to stifle it. I emerged from the water seconds later shaking my head and spraying water everywhere from my dripping hair. One comical look from Clara and I was in a giggling fit of laughter myself! As Joey arose we both laughed harder. We didn’t know why, he was the same “Joey” as before, except that he was now drenched with creek water. It was like an unspoken connection between us, it had always been there, and maybe we needed it. We had always known each other better than anyone else, sister to sister, friend to friend. Joey didn’t seem to think any of this was funny, though he did put on a good natured smile as he climbed out of the creek and onto the opposite bank. * * * * * Later that evening as all three of us arrived at the house after changing into dry clothes at the Alta House that our great Aunt Alta had lived in so many years ago. It was about a quarter of a mile away from the main house, and we were staying in it while we were here in Montana. As we walked up to the main house, this time choosing to take the longer route; around the creek and up the dirt driveway, they spotted a bright orange camp fire burning in the garden area. It was an area right next to the house on the left side, when you were facing the house of course, and trees were on either side, so it was like a pathway with a canopy. There was a picnic table under the trees near the house, and a little ways from it was where the fire was. Chairs were strewn in a circle around it, and there was our father, bending over to tend the fire. It wasn’t for decorative purposes, so we headed over there to check it out. “Hey.” Said Clara casually, “So…how’s it going? I see you have a nice…uhh…bright fire burning there, eh?” “Sure. Now bring those hotdogs out here, we’re having an old-fashioned cook-out tonight!” He ordered us. We all took off running towards the house, we naturally loved to compete, we were siblings! Pushing, shoving, jumping on people, we did everything to ensure we, ourselves, won. Half the time we hurt ourselves more than the other person, but whatever, it was fun! As all three of us burst through the screen door, because the front door was already open, and then into the living room our mother looked up only momentarily to say, “Hotdogs? Yes, on the table in the kitchen to your right.” Clara, making a mad dash for the kitchen, punched me in the mouth, causing my lip to bleed. I fell down to the floor. “Hey, Merid? Merid, you ok?” asked Clara “Yeah, you just caught my lip on my braces. It’ll probably be fat tomorrow, maybe even bruised. Oh joy!” came my “emphatic” reply. “Ha, ha, ha!” cried Joey as he grabbed the hotdogs and waved them triumphantly above his head. “No time to worry about your lip now! Let’s catch up with Joey!” cried Clara as her and I raced outside. * * * * * “The cooler is heavy. The cooler is heavy. The cooler is VERY HEAVY!”I told Clara. We were, of course, lugging a very heavy cooler from inside the kitchen to outside by the picnic table. It was full of soda and ice. And it was very heavy. We were stepping out the screen door and down the wooden front steps. “Suck it up! It isn’t that heavy!” she replied. Grumbling, I helped lug the cooler to the picnic table. We set it down, and then I walked over to the campfire while Clara got some sodas for us. When she finally walked over carrying two orange sodas I was in a fit of laughter. “And just what is so funny?” she asked. I just replied with a simple, “Oh, your hotdog.” I had tried to keep a straight face, but couldn’t do it, and burst out laughing. She looked down, but didn’t see her hotdog. She had a questioning look on her face, and glanced over at Joey. While we had been getting the drinks we had handed over our hotdogs to be cooked for us. I, being the smarter one at this point, gave my to the pro hotdog cooker and gave it to mother to cook, but Clara gave it to Joey. After looking around three more times for it, she asked again what had happened. ”Well…” began Joey, “You know how you gave your hotdog to me to cook?” After she had nodded he spoke again. “I kind of over cooked it. Well, burned it really. I let it drop in the fire…and then got it out. Myrtle, grandpa’s cat you know, apparently, liked the smell of it and took it off the stick. Yeah, so then she ran off with it. Until this bird came along, and kind of attacked Myrtle to get the bird, and now Myrtle is over there eating the bird, she kind of discarded the bird…” In between little hiccups of laughter she asked, “No, what really happened?” “It’s true.” I replied. “Well, then it’s not funny. Could you get me another hotdog?” she retorted. Our father looked around at all of us in turn to make sure we were all done talking, and then took a deep breath. “So, any of you heard of a little place called…Virginia City?” Looks of pure happiness came across all of our faces. We knew of Virginia City. Sure there was one in Nevada, but this Montana one, it was so much better. We went to Virginia City every time we came to Montana. It had two amazing candy stores, and a really cool museum where you could get your pennies stamped, they even had a mummified cat! “Well don’t just stare bugger-eyed at me! Get some sleep first you critters!” was their dad’s reply to their reactions. I could tell Joey and Clara wanted to get to sleep as much as I did, but it was getting dark. There wasn’t anything wrong with the dark, but they wanted a ride to the Alta House. “Daddy…” I began, “Could you---“ “Get in the bed of the truck you critters.” He said. We all filed over to our mother and grandparents to tell them good night and then lined up to race over to the truck. I, of course, cheated, and started before them. I could hear their cries, but that didn’t stop me or them for that matter. They chased after me quickly, and took me down. Quickly, I scrambled up and ran for the truck! I made it to the bed of the truck, and took down the tail gate. Jumping up, I heard their footsteps right beside the truck. “Ha ha!” I laughed in their faces, and jumped up and down. Little did we know, but dad had just gotten into the truck, and started the engine. I was standing up, and as he reversed suddenly, I was thrown into the back window. Hard. Joey slid down towards my feet, and Clara almost fell off the truck. We quickly stabilized ourselves, and prepared to enjoy the 30 second ride! * * * * * “Hurry up in there!” I yelled at Joey. He had been in the bathroom for over 20 minutes! I was trying to get in there to brush my teeth before bed, and he wouldn’t get out! “I’ll break the door down!” screamed Clara, “You know I will!” She was about to break down the door. About to run at the door. About to completely invade Joey’s privacy, when the door opened. “Sheesh. You people are so pushy.” He said while poking us as he walked by. “Pushy, pushy, pushy.” We, rather I, blew it off and walked into the bathroom. After brushing my teeth, I walked over to the bed Clara and I were to sleep in, and got into my sleeping bag on it. I was so tired, that after Clara lay down and Joey turned off the lights, I fell right asleep
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