Knock at the back door: by Cody

For some crazy reason, Chad, Dyke, Wade, and I were all going to sleep in the boys’ basement bedroom that had an outside entrance. Chad was telling us a hunting story, as was often the case. Suddenly we heard a knock at the backdoor. Chad went near the door and asked, “Who is it?” When there was no reply, Chad asked a second time, “Who is it?” When no one responded the second time, we all got very nervous and decided to arm ourselves. I remember that Chad gave both me and Wade a pocket knife. Dyke grabbed his carp spear (a broom handle with a small metal three pronged pitchfork on top) and I believe that Chad grabbed a bow and arrow (not sure). In an effort to sneak up on the robber, we decided to go through Trina’s and Heather’s bedroom and then out the washroom door. Scared and armed, we made our way down the hall and into Trina’s and Heather’s room. Suddenly, Trina came walking out of the washroom. When Trina saw us, she started to laugh and then quickly ran up the stairs. We didn’t know what was so funny. Then it dawned on us that there was no robber, and Trina had gotten the best of us.

Many years later, after Trina was married, Dyke decided to get Trina back for her spoof. While Brian was out of town on a hunting trip, Dyke paid a late night visit to Trina’s little home in Orem, Utah. Dyke climbed up on the roof and started jumping up and down above Trina’s bedroom. Fearless, Trina got up and ran out into the front yard yelling something like, “Get off my roof! I have a gun, and I am going to shoot you.” To this, Dyke poked his head over the edge of the roof laughing. Trina didn’t think it was very funny.

Tuff skins By Wade

The first day of school was always a good day we got to wear one of the two pair of jeans we would get each year. Mom would take us to a store across the street from Provo high called Christiensens. Christiensens didn't have a store front, you had to drive around the building to the back and follow a path, down the stairs to a door that opened into a warehouse with racks of clothes randomly placed, and 1 cash register. The store was a little better than DI because the stuff was new... but irregular. mom wouldn't let us by irregular levi's or wrangler, we bought Tuff skins. Tuff skins were not the soft cotton jeans we have today they were made of a blue canvas that was stiff and rough. On the back side of each knee there was a reinforcement that extended from mid thigh to mid shin, the reinforcement out line was easily seen from the out side, giving Tuff Skins their very own special look. When buying we would try to find what was irregular about the jeans, some would have a hole in the pocket, a pocket sewn shut or a back pocket that didn't exactly line up with the other one. We would take the 2 best in our size.

About mid year we would wear through the thick canvas and the reinforcement on the knees. The hole would get bigger and bigger, mom would take an iron on patch to hold it but soon it would fall off, the tear would start again, and our pants would be ripped from seam to seam. Mom would then get out a scrap piece of jean material and sew the knee back together. the seam was always zig zag and if you were lucky the thread and backing material would match. I remember many times getting a red patch and red thread in blue pants or a black patch with green thread. Mom would then zig zag back and forth so that even if the bottom cloth did not match it wouldn't matter because it was over whelmed with the stitching on top . After the sew job our pants never seemed to hang the same, the front would be a little higher than the back giving off the distinct impression they were floods. When I was young I used to hate my jeans after the patch job but now I realize it just made my decisions to wear something different, a little easier.

One Long Sleepover!: Cody

When we were kids, we didn’t get to have many sleepovers, so I was really excited when I was told that I could sleep over at grandpa and grandma Roskelley’s house. I remember being dropped off on a beautiful summer evening after dinner. Dad told me that he would pick me up the next day on his way home from work.

Well, that night was not so fun after all. Grandma Roskelley sent me to bed around 7:30. I was very upset because it was still light outside. I remember crying myself to sleep. In the morning, grandpa fixed me a very big bowl of cereal, and then made me sit at the table until I finished it. I swear I sat at his table all morning long trying to finish that soggy cereal. When I did finally finish, grandma gave me some carrots and told me that I could feed Babe (Babe was the little black pony in the pasture behind grandpa’s house).

While I was feeding Babe, Ruthanne (the single woman who lived in the one bed-room shack behind grandpa’s house), saw me and started to talk to me. She was very kind, and asked me if I liked Jello. I told her that I loved Jello, so she invited me into her house to have some. After a while, I heard grandpa calling for me, so I told Ruthanne that I better go.

When grandpa saw me walking from Ruthanne’s little shack, he was very upset with me and told me that he could not find me, so as punishment he gave me a five gallon bucket of peas (still in their pods) that he had picked from his garden, and told me that I had to open all the pods, and dump the peas in a separate bowl. I spent the rest of the day sitting in a lawn chair in grandpa’s backyard getting peas out of their pods. I thought that dad was never going to come. Finally after what seemed to be an eternity, dad picked me up and took me home. After my wonderful experience, I never asked to sleep at grandpa and grandma Roskelley’s house again.

David get the gun!: By Cody

One summer night Devon Call and I were invited to sleep over at Josh Smith’s house. Around 10 o’clock, we got bored and decided to wonder around the nearby orchards. As we walked to the edge of the Lunsford’s orchard, we could see into the Juskie’s backyard. David Juskie, Mike Juskie, and a Russian exchange student were camping in the backyard, and had a small fire burning.

In an effort to be funny, Devon, Josh, and I decided to throw pebbles into the Juskie’s backyard to see if we could scare the campers. We did a pretty good job, because after about 2 minutes, David Juskie said, “What was that? I heard something over by our tent.” Abruptly, the campers started to whisper, and then all three of them went inside the house.

Devon Call decided to sneak over by their tent so that he could really scare them, when they came out of the house. As Devon walked into their backyard, Art Juskie (the father) swung the backdoor open and jumped off the back porch screaming, “David get the gun.” Devon took off running with Art Juskie right behind him. The Russian exchange student ran behind Art, and then he stopped, looked at me, and then yelled, “I found one over here.” Like a frightened rabbit, I jumped up and started running through the orchard with the Russian hot on my heels. Suddenly, the Russian tripped me from behind. I rolled a few times, picked up a large stick, and smacked the Russian across the leg with the stick. The Russian yelled something out, and grabbed his leg. I got back up and ran to Josh Smith's house. When I got there, Josh was already waiting for me in the front yard. We waited 30 minutes or more for Devon, and then we decided that we had better go and find him. As we walked in the direction of the Juskie’s house, we found Devon walking along the road. We asked him what happened, and he told us that Brother Juskie had taken him in the house and asked him a bunch of questions. Devon told us that he just made up a bunch of fake answers so that we wouldn’t get into trouble. After Brother Juskie decided that Devon was not a true threat, he let him go with the promise that he would never return.

I learned two lessons from this experience. First, if you want to scare a robber, simply yell, “Get the gun!” Second, if you are ever being chased by a Russian exchange student, hit him in the leg with a stick, and he will probably let you go.