My name is John Lucas. It was August 28th,
2000, and I had just turned fourteen. I am an only child with a happy
mother and father. I enjoy fishing, hunting, and spending most of my
time in the woods. My dad had just gotten a new job, so we were moving
to Laurel, Mississippi, to be close to his work. I was not too happy
about it, even though we were going to have more acres than we did
before, but that meant I’d have to cut new trails and find new fishing
holes. It could be better though, because I’d have more roaming ground
and more area to hunt.
I rode in the U-Haul with Dad all the way.
“John,” Dad said. “I want you to help unpack the U-Haul before you run
off in the woods.”
“Yes sir,” I replied.
‘Then we’ll go clear some trails with the bush-hog.”
It was almost 4:00, cool and sunny. Dad was cranking up the tractor
with the bush-hog on the back. There was a clearing of about ten feet
wide, with no trees. I guess it was an old logging road. “John, when
you get home tomorrow after school, you can go up the road and meet your
new neighbors,” said Dad. We didn’t have neighbors at our old house.
“And John, next weekend we’ll get back to that trail. I think I saw a
pond off to the side.”
I awoke the next morning to the sound of my Mom’s sweet whisper. I got
dressed, and went into the den for breakfast. She fixed me some grits
and eggs.
I finished my breakfast and headed out to the car. Mom followed. We
drove down the long, narrow country road to the highway and headed for
the schoolhouse.
Our principal, Mr. Hensley, greeted me. He shook my hand and gave me a
schedule. My first period teacher’s name was Mrs. Perkins. The bell
rang right as I sat down.
Mrs. Perkins said, “Class, please welcome our new student, John Lucas.
He is fourteen and I am sure you will get along with him just fine.” A
few kids turned around and looked at me, but most kids didn’t care.
This one girl winked at me, but it was too bad she was dog-ugly and
weighed about 500 pounds! I just gave her a disgusted look and took my
pencil out of my bag. After 55 minutes of talking about short math
formulas, the bell finally rang.
Everyone flocked outside for break and snacks. I got a
bag of chips and sat dawn on a bench. As soon as I did, that girl from
first period sat down beside me. The first thing she said was, “Will
you go out with me?”
I smiled at her with an encouraging look and said, “NO!”
She stood up and stomped off. Well, at least I could say I got asked
out my first day.
Next came my favorite class, Social Studies. Mrs. Dawson introduced me
to everyone and we started to talk about the Civil War. Then she handed
out a sheet with ten questions, and everyone finished about 30 minutes
early. She had a whole box of hunting and fishing magazines and I
started reading. After about five minutes the boy behind me tapped my
shoulder. “Hey, when you get through with that, could you let me read
it?”
“Sure. Why don’t you get one out of the box?”
“Because that’s the only one I haven’t read,” he said.
I laughed and said, “What’s your name?”
“Venny. Where do you live?”
“You probably wouldn’t know the street. It’s real small and out in the
middle-of-nowhere, just where I like it,” I said.
“Try me.”
“Ok, it’s called Oakland Road.”
“No joke?”
“No joke.”
“Are you the family that just moved in the big white house?” asked Venny.
“Yeah, that’s us.”
I live the next house down from you. How many acres do you have?”
“About one hundred.”
“Cool, that’s how many I have,” he replied. “Come over today and I’ll
show you a few fishing holes on my land and some on yours if you would
like. I mean, you do fish, don’t you?”
“Of course I do,” I replied.
“That’s cool, because I do, too”
Ring, ring. “See you later.” I headed out to the parking lot.
Mom was already waiting for me when I got there. “How was your day?”
“It was good,” I said. I got asked out, although I turned her down
because she was fat.”
“John!”
“Mom, she was ugly, too! Ha, ha.”
“John, that sounds just like something you and your dad would say.”
“Oh Mom, guess what, I met a new friend today, but that’s not the best
part. The cool part is that he’s that neighbor you wanted me to meet.
Mom, is it ok if I go over to his house today? He invited me.”
“Well, do you have any homework?”
“Just a little math, but I can do it after supper, if that’s ok with
you.
When we pulled up there was an armadillo in the hack yard. Mom ordered
that I shoot it because it tears up the yard and the flower gardens. I
ran inside and got my bolt action .22 rifle and put five bullets in the
tube and headed outside. I raised my rifle to my shoulder and propped
it on the porch post. It was only about 30 yards, so it should be a
fairly easy shot. I looked through the scope and put the cross hairs on
his front shoulder, hoping to hit his heart. I squeezed the trigger.
Pow! He jumped at least three feet in the air and started
bouncing around. I reloaded, ran up to him, and put my foot on his
shell to hold him down, and then shot his head at point blank range. It
made a hollow thumping sound as a couple drops of blood splattered on my
pants. I grabbed his tail and chucked him in the woods. The buzzards
would make a feast out of him.
Then, I went to my room and changed into some old jeans, a camouflage
shirt, and sneakers. Mom fixed me a ham and cheese sandwich with milk.
I ate it quickly and then headed out the door. It was a pretty day and
I could hear the birds singing as I jogged along up the road. I arrived
at my friend’s house slightly out of breath. His house was fairly
small, but pretty. It was a log house with a deck on the front and a
well-kept flower garden surrounding it. I walked through the yard and
started up the steps when a little hound dog, about the size of a cat,
ran out with his ears sticking straight up. He barked so hard, his feet
almost came off the ground.
“I see you met my alarm system.”
“Oh, hey, Venny. What’s his name?”
“Bandit. Yep, he’s going to be my squirrel-hunting dog one day. He can
follow them to the tree. He just can’t figure out where they went!
Hey, come on. I’ll show you my favorite fishing holes. You’re welcome
to come fishing in them any time you want.”
I followed him around back. I could see where two main trails went into
the woods. He went into the trail on the right with me directly behind
him. We walked in silence for about fifteen minutes. The trail wound
and twisted through the woods. I noticed a small structure coming into
view.
“Venny, what s that?”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you. That’s my shack where I keep all my fishing
stuff and water. My dad and I built it a couple of years ago. We
opened the door, walked in and sat down in some chairs around a
miniature table. Venny gave me a bottle of water and showed me a
hand-drawn map of our two properties. “I have a map with your land on
it, too, because I hunted over there before you moved in. The places
with the hooks are good fishing spots.”
I drew a line where my dad and I had cut our trail and the pond he saw.
Is there really a river back there?” I asked.
“Uh, huh.”
“Oh no! I’ve got to get home!”
“See ya tomorrow,” he said as he ran to the house.
“Ok,” I yelled back.
I ran down the road as fast as I could. I knew I had to get home before
dark because that’s when supper is ready. Suddenly a dark figure on all
fours jumped out in front of me. It was about three feet tall. I froze
in my tracks. I was so afraid; all I could do was eyeball the
creature. I caught my breath and realized that I had to make a move
before he did. I turned to run but when I did, I tripped. I felt the
pain of landing on my forearms and knee. I started to get up, but
before I could, I felt warm, moist air on the back of my neck. I could
almost feel him biting into my throat, but instead I heard the sound of
screeching tires, a door opening, and a shotgun blast.
I turned around and the creature disappeared. There was a fairly old
man dressed in coveralls standing in the road. He helped me to my feet.
“You better be glad I came along when I did. Where do you live son?” he
asked.
“About half a mile that way,” I said, pointing.
“I’ll take you home. Get in the truck. By the way, where were you
coming from?”
“My friend’s house,” I answered.
“Who’s your friend?”
“Venny.”
“Well, Venny’s my grandson. Nice to meet ya, son.”
He cranked up the old truck, turned around, and headed toward my house.
My knees and forearms were all scratched up from the fall, so when we
got there, he helped me in. Mom and Dad invited him in. Mom
immediately sat me down and brought the cotton balls and hydrogen
peroxide. While mom cleaned me up, I listened to the man and my dad
talking.
“I thank you so much for bringing my son,” Dad said.
Then Mom interrupted my eavesdropping. “John, how did this happen?”
Dad fixed my plate and helped me to the table.
“Now son, tell us what happened. I’ve already heard Mr. Vernon’s side
of the story. Now we both want to hear your side of it.”
I told them the whole story.
“Oh, John, I’m so glad you re okay. According to Mr. Vernon, you are
very lucky. The state has been trying to catch that beast for a year
now.”
“Dad, what was it anyway?”
“It was a panther, son.”
“But I didn’t think panthers attacked people.”
“Well, this panther isn’t normal. It has rabies. The forest rangers
have been trying to catch it for almost a year now.”
The next day at school, Venny already knew what had happened from his
grandfather.
“Man, those knees look rough!”
“Naw, they’re not bad. I’ve had worse. You want to come over to my
house today, Venny?”
“Sure.”
The bell rang and we both headed out the door. On my way through the
hall, some big kid came shoving through, bumping everyone as he passed.
No one dared him except, of course, when he came to me. When he bumped
into me, I bumped him back twice as hard.
“Hey! What’s your problem kid?”
“What do you mean? You bumped into me!”
He shoved my chest and at the same time said, “Watch who you’re messing
with, kid.”
I acted as though to turn away, but instead I whipped around delivering
a powerful blow to his cheekbone. It dazed him, but only for a few
seconds. He tried to swing back, but the boy was so big and sluggish
that I had plenty of time to duck. As soon as I did, I realized his
whole midsection was exposed. I lunged my head into his chest and
pumped my fists into his stomach like the cylinders of a car. His back
smacked into the lockers. I left him sitting on the ground panting for
air.
I walked through the crowd that had formed around us. It was over. The
victory over the bully was mine! I had to eat my words, however,
because I felt the weight of the big boy on my back and his hand wrapped
around my neck. I gagged for air for what seemed like an hour, and then
for some odd reason, he let go. I turned around to see him in the same
position I was in, except with Venny on top. I didn’t hesitate for a
moment. I started driving my fists into his stomach and chest while
Venny had him in a headlock.
After a few seconds, I stopped and Venny let go and he dropped to the
ground; except this time, I knew he wasn’t getting up. We both walked
away like we weren’t in trouble, but we knew the next day we would get
in deep water.
I let Venny ride home with me, since he lived so close. As he shut his
door, I hollered, “Come on over when you get done.” He nodded his head
in reply.
I went home, ate a snack, watched TV, and waited on Venny. After about
an hour, when he still did not show, I decided to go to his house and
see what was wrong.
When I arrived, Venny was in the backyard kneeling over a lump of dirt
with a shovel in his hand. I started to ask him what was going on, but
immediately realized it was Bandit buried in the mound of dirt. He must
have died somehow.
“What happened,Venny?” I asked quietly.
He just pointed to a spot in the driveway. There was a puddle of dried
blood with dog hair mixed in it. There were tracks leading to the
puddle, but they weren’t ordinary tracks like that of a big dog. They
were humongous; almost five inches from toe to toe. The only creature
that could make tracks like that was a panther. I walked back over to
Venny, but before I could say anything he said, “Go home, eat supper and
rest. I’ll call you.” I turned around and did exactly what he said.
After supper, I watched TV. It wasn’t thirty minutes before the phone
rang. Venny wasn’t himself. He sounded strange, like he was going
crazy. “Be at my house at midnight, and bring your .22 rifle and
plenty of ammo.
“But Venny, where are your parents?”
“I only have a grandfather.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“It’s ok. You couldn’t have known.”
I tried to ask more questions, but he hung up. At 12:00 I tiptoed out
of bed. My parents had already tucked me in and were in the living room
watching TV.
I slipped my camouflage over my pajamas. I loaded my .22, put a box of
shells in my pocket, grabbed a flashlight, and headed out the window. I
walked along the road silently. Venny was already waiting for me on his
deck. He had a semi-automatic shotgun in one hand and a sack in the
other.
“What’s in the sack?” I asked.
“A dead armadillo,” he replied.
“What the heck are you going to do with that?”
He gave me a wicked little smile, but did not reply. He simply said,
“Follow me.”
He walked down the same trail we went on last time, except after about
two hundred yards he veered off the path. He stopped at a clearing
around a giant oak tree. He took the dead armadillo out, turned to me
and said, “You know what we have to do, don’t you?”
“Yes, I know.”
He hung the armadillo up by its tail and cut its belly open with his
pocketknife, stringing its guts to the ground. The smell was awful,
which is exactly what we wanted. We sat down in a patch of bushes about
twenty yards from the site.
“Hey, what makes you think he is anywhere in this area to even smell
that thing?” I questioned.
“He has to. This is the only tree big enough for him to sleep in, plus
I saw claw marks all over it today when I was hunting for that
armadillo,” he answered.
After that we didn’t talk at all. The moon was full and bright so we
didn’t even use our flashlights.
When we thought we would never see the creature again, we heard the
sound of his four big paws rustling on the ground. We saw the black
creature creep up to the ‘diller. With one leap, he jerked the ‘diller
from the limb. He didn’t even suspect our presence. We waited until he
was eating, then turned both our flashlights directly into his eyes. He
was so blinded by the spotlight that he just stood there, confused and
bewildered. I put my cross hairs in the middle of his forehead and
squeezed the trigger. POWWWW! Before I could reload, Venny’s cannon
went off. BANG. BANG. BANG!
Venny and I reloaded and were ready again before the smoke cleared, but
when I did, there was nothing there.
“But, but… How could we both miss? We were only a few yards away!”
Venny was just as confused as I was. We walked slowly and cautiously to
where the animal had been, ready to fire again at any minute.
When we got there, we figured out that we hadn’t missed. There was a
blood trail leading up the tree. We immediately shined both our
spotlights up the tree to see if we could see the creature. But he was
obviously hiding somewhere in the big tree because neither of us could
see him anywhere.
“Venny!” Did you hit him with all three shots?”
“Of course I did. How in the heck could I have missed? Rahhhhh! He is
obviously in pain.”
“Well, there’s no way to get him way up there. Let’s come back tomorrow
when its daylight and we can see better. It’s not like he is going
anywhere, especially in his condition.”
On the way home neither of us said a word. When I got to my window my
light was still off. I was glad they hadn’t discovered my absence. I
climbed in the window, putting my gun in first. It was darker in my
room that it was outside, so I quietly shut my door and flicked on my
light. I looked up only to see my parents sitting on my bed.
“Hello John,” Dad said sternly.
“Ohhh! Mom, Dad, I’m sleepy. Can we talk about this tomorrow?”
“No, son, we can’t. We have to know now. John, you’ve had us worried
sick the last three hours. Now tell us where you’ve been and what you
were doing.”
“It started yesterday, when Venny was supposed to come over. It got
really late, so I went over to check on him. Well, when I got there I
discovered that this panther had eaten his little hound dog. So of
course he was furious. With what happened to me and all, we felt that
it was our duty to take that panther down. So we did.”
“John, I can’t believe you!”
“Oh Dad, come off it! As long as that creature was alive everyone was in
as much danger as we were when we were killing it.”
“Yes, Son. I guess you have a point. But still gives
you no right to got out in the middle of the night without telling us.”
“I know. Mom, I’m sorry.”
It seemed like only minutes later I heard, “John, get up. We’re
late!” I fixed a bowl of cereal and sat down to eat.
“Hey, Mom, is it ok if I go to Venny’s house today?”
“Absolutely not, John! Your dad and I decided last night that you’re
grounded for two weeks.”
“But Mom, Venny and I have to finish the job. That panther’s somewhere
up in that tree half dead. Please Mom, you just have to let me!”
“Okay John, you have thirty minutes when you get home from school today
and that’s it. No more anything for two weeks.”
“I love you, Mom!”
It was first period and I heard over the intercom: “John Lucas, please
come to the office.”
“What do they want with me?” I asked as I shut the door. Then halfway
down the hall, it hit me. Ahhhhh! Crap! With everything happening
last night, I forgot all about what happened yesterday after school. I
met Venny in the office.
“Hey man, I’m sorry I drug you into all this,” he said.
“No man, it was my choice to jump in. I mean, I couldn’t just sit there
and watch my friend get choked like that. Plus, it was kind of fun.”
“Yea, it was, wasn’t it?”
We were both tired from the night before so we just told them the truth
and nothing but the truth. We both got two days out-of-school
suspension and they called our parents right away. My mom entered the
office with the most disgusted look I’d ever seen in my life.
“Oh, John, what am I going to do with you?” she said on our way home.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, I do. Now its four weeks instead of two. No hunting, fishing,
or going out to Venny’s. As a matter of fact, I’m locking all your guns
and fishing tackle in my closet.”
“Can I still go to Venny’s?”
“Only because I told you that you could this morning and because I want
that godforsaken creature dead for good.”
When I got to Venny’s, he was heading through his yard towards the
woods.
“Hey, Venny. Wait up.”
“Oh, hey, I didn’t think you could make it.”
“Well, it will be the last time I can make it for a long time.”
“Why is that?”
“’Cause I’m grounded for four weeks.”
“Dang, man! I didn’t get grounded any. My old man was proud of me for
taking up for a friend and for the fact that we won the fight.”
“You’re lucky. My mom and dad almost had a heart attack when I got
home. By the way, Venny, what kind of ammo did you have in that shotgun
last night?”
“Slugs.”
“Well, dang, man. That panther ought to be dead!”
When we arrived, everything was silent. “Venny, I don’t like this, it’s
too quiet.”
“I know,” Venny whispered.
Then, all of a sudden, the branches in the trees started shaking like
crazy. We looked up at the same time to see that something heavy was
falling through the branches. We must have realized it at the same time
because we both jumped out from under it at the last moment. It hit
with a loud thud. We turned around and saw the bloody heap of the
lifeless creature lying on the ground. Venny was the first to move. He
jumped up hollering, “That’s what you get, you dog-eating beast!”
I kicked it in the head to make sure it was dead. “Well, I guess that’s
about the last excitement I’m going to see for about four weeks.”
Venny sighed, “I feel sorry for you, man. Hey, I’ll call every day and
tell you about my adventures.”
I smiled. “Oh well, thanks a lot. Come on; let’s get out of here.
Let’s go home.”
When I walked in the house, Dad was reading the paper and my mom was
watching TV. My dad looked at me and winked. “Good job, son.”
“Wesley Lucas, I cannot believe you are encouraging him to fight!”
“Well, Edith, the boy’s got to protect himself. Anyway, that panther
won’t be bothering us anymore. That’s one good thing that has come out
of all of this.”
“Goodnight Mom, Dad,” I sighed, secretly hoping they would feel sorry
for me.
“Goodnight son.”
Oh well, it didn’t work, but that’s o.k. I had an adventure that would
give me more than enough bragging rights for the next four weeks. After
that, I was sure Venny and I could find more adventures; and we did.