The Last Great Adventure (pt. 1)

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On the penultimate day of summer, Teddy and Wes sat sipping lemonade on Teddy’s back porch. The sun had sapped them of energy and sent them into the shade. From the wooden deck, the two could see over the fence and to the creek beyond.

“Where do you think the creek goes?” Wes asked.

“Into the forest.” Teddy said with a shrug.

“No I mean after that. Where does it lead? Do you think it goes through the whole forest?”

“I don’t know. I guess I never thought about it.” Teddy, already steeped in thoughts about the advent of their senior year in high school, was prepared to let the subject drop, but not Wes.

“Let’s find out!”

“What do you mean?” Teddy did not look up, but took another slurp from the glass which dripped little beads of ice cold condensation. The splotches soaked into the oak wood, leaving behind abstract dark patches. One of them looked a little like an ostrich to Teddy.

“I mean lets go find out where it leads. Let’s use our last bit of time to do something exciting.”

“Wandering along a mostly dry creekbed is your idea of excitement?”

“Exploring someplace we’ve never been is excitement. Come on, man! Have you no sense of adventure?”

“I mean… School starts in less than 48 hours. And it’s so hot. Is it bad that I just want to relax and prep myself mentally?”

“Teddy,” Wes’ voice suddenly dropped to a whisper. “Look bro. I know you have a lot riding on this year. I know you’re already thinking about Brown or Yale or whatever. And I’m sure you’ll get in too. But dude… you have the rest of your life to be a high achieving golden boy. We’ve only got a few months left to be kids.”

Teddy scoffed. Wes, of all people, shouldn’t have been allowed to invoke such an argument. He’d been throwing himself towards adulthood since he was 11. It was he who smoked clandestinely from the back row of the school bus in 8th grade. It was he who stole nude magazines to rent to other guys sophomore year. It was he who always found a way to get cheap beer to parties. “Suddenly you care about our childlike wonder?”

Wes said nothing, but Teddy could see in his eyes that he wasn’t going to give up. Deep in his murky hazel irises was a yearning Teddy had never seen before. Wes needed this.

“You know what? OK. Let’s do it.”

Wes went back to his mom’s and grabbed his old backpack-duffle. He stuffed it with a few changes of clothes, a flashlight, the old buck knife his grandfather had given him, and a waterproof tarp. Then he changed into a ratty pair of shorts, an old cotton tee, and some sturdy leather boots that laced up over his ankles. As he left the house, he called to his younger brother, “Hey, I’m going out. I’m gonna crash at Teddy’s. Tell mom I’ll be home tomorrow evening!”

Twenty minutes later, the sun had just begun to descend from its zenith, and he was back at Teddy’s.

Teddy, who’d remained in boy scouts much longer than Wes, had a well organized hiking backpack filled with all the equipment they would need, most of the equipment they might, and some they almost certainly would not.

“Woah, look at you. I thought you were concerned about school in two days. Looks like you’re not planning to come back,” Wes teased.

“Look, if we’re going to see where it leads, we need to be prepared. My folks have the other walkie-talkie. I told them we’d be on channel 8.”

“You can’t seriously think we’ll find the creek’s end before we’re out of range. What’s even the point?”

“Look, my mom insisted ok. Plus,” Teddy pulled a second radio from his bag, “There’s a third for you, in case something were to happen and we get separated.”

“Is that foreshadowing? Are you going to try and lose me in the woods?”

“Wes, you’re the one who said you wanted to go exploring. I say, if we’re going to do it, let’s do it right.”

“OK, OK, you win.” Wes clipped the second radio to his belt. “You ready to head out?”

Teddy nodded, and the two walked around the house to meet up with the creek as it flowed past the backyard before turning into the woods.

Teddy’s house, in some ways, felt like a last bastion of civilization. Built in the mid-2000s it had been the most recent addition in a development that stopped growing when the housing market crashed in ‘07. Teddy’s parents had bought it for a steal in 2009, but the builders had already gone bankrupt and no developers had come in to pick up the project. As a result, the house backed right up to the border of the wilderness beyond. Snakes, bobcats, skunks, racoons, and coyotes all frequently found their way into Teddy’s backyard, or at least near to it.

The summer heat excluded the possibility that the hike would be comfortable, but once they passed into the forest, the shade provided welcome relief from the sun’s direct ire. The creekbed wound back and forth, but the hot and dry months had left the creek itself low, and little more than a trickle in some places. Cicadas screamed into the late afternoon as the two young men meandered deeper and deeper into the forest. 

Both Teddy and Wes had played in and around the woods for years. The boys had been friends for a decade. As they walked, Teddy began to think it strange that they’d never before come this way. Neither had ever been particularly fearful kids. Sure, he was more calculating than Wes, but in situations where his better judgment gave pause, Wes could push Teddy over the edge. Somehow, even his regrets were worth it for the stories. 

“You remember the time in… what was it, 7th grade? We snuck into the school and swapped all the boys and girls bathroom signs?” Teddy asked. 

Wes chuckled, but didn’t say anything for a while. When he finally did reply, his voice was heavy with the weight of nostalgic memory. “Yeah, how could I forget? Man did that ever get blown up. You remember the parent group that called the news?”

“Oh yeah. They were convinced it couldn’t have been a stupid prank. I still have a clipping of the Herald’s headline from that Sunday. BOYS WILL BE GIRLS: HARMLESS PRANK OR LIBERAL PROPAGANDA?” Teddy recited the title in a dramatic newscaster voice and laughed.

“Do you remember when I convinced you to steal all the rocks from Mr. Kenniston’s rock garden?”

“Oh, geez. Yeah. Man we were buttholes.”

“Were?”

Teddy rolled his eyes. “We’ve never shied away from risk.”

Wes eyed Teddy, “What’s your point?”

“Nothing, I guess. I’m just… Why haven’t we ever come out here before? Why haven’t we explored all this forest? Come camping or something. It seems like something we’d have done.”

Wes shrugged, “I guess it’s like you said. We just never thought about it.”

“Ok… sure. But why did you think about it now?” Teddy pressed.

“I don’t know. I guess I was bored and saw the creek and figured why not. A last great adventure before… You know, before school and stuff.” Wes trailed off.

Teddy could tell Wes was holding something back. “Makes sense, I guess.”

“Better late than never right?” Wes said, picking up speed and hiking ahead of Teddy.