We’ll just say life was never boring per se when I was growing up. Nothing brings adventure to my mind like the thought of one of our houses in Laredo. There was 10 ft wall out back and behind it our own virtual bridge to terabithia. Behind this glorious wall, the height of which added just the right amount of ‘forbidden’, we had intergalactic battles, fought dragons, wielded great power that children of our age should not use without parental supervision. We were heroes and villains, good and bad.

What made this place so special was how far off from everything it seemed to be. You could tell that at one point it was some type of reservoir, but had (as we thought) been abandoned to the elements. On one particular day, after the rain had slightly filled this barren land of wonder, we discovered, my siblings and I, that we were not in fact alone.

We, for weeks, had been sharing this magical kingdom with three very vicious rottweilers. The Cerberus pronounced itself when one of us had ventured too close to an abandoned little shack sitting on the edge of our ‘territory’. No matter how great our prowess was in our imagination, we knew we were against a match we had no way of explaining the injuries to our parents.

There was a moment of stunned silence, on all six of our parts before the mad dash began. It wasn’t my proudest moment, but I can honestly say I might have been the first person back over that wall. I don’t think I have ever ran so fast, but I do know that not once did the thought “I hope Bekkie and Dj are alright.” cross my mind until I was on the safe holy ground that was home.

Then I thought, “well, its going to be hard to explain this to mom and dad alone…” luckily, my brother and sister scrambled over the wall behind me.

Needless to say, Mom and Dad did not find out, and we took a break from our backyard adventures for a while.

-Bug