memories #10                                       

                                                    VODKA AND THE STARS

     Summer nights in Colorado are great for camping, walking in the park and looking at the stars.  I tried to do all three of these on one weekend around my fourteenth year of life.  

     Jeff Morrisey, a year younger and a very good friend, and I decided to go camping.  We would do a bit of fishing and exploring up La Plata Canyon.  I guess this is the rite of most young men.  That is, to go out on their own, set up their own camp, cook their own food, start and maintain a campfire and do all this with out adult supervision.  Our parents both agreed to our plan and we set out to organize and prepare for our weekend trip.

Vodka

     Somehow one of us decided that some experimentation with liquor would also be in line on this trip.  I don’t remember which of us came up with the scheme, but both of us were in agreement about it.  No beer!  No, that wouldn’t do.  It had to be hard liquor for us.  (real men, the two of us)  so an alternate plan was set in  motion that our parents didn’t know about.  Where we found the liquor I don’t recall, but both of us had quart mason jars full of gin and vodka.  

     With all our supplies fully packed we set off after our parents had dropped us off at the trailhead to La Plata Canyon.  We would hike about 3 to 4 miles and set up camp next to the creek surrounded by the mountains and trees. It was a beautiful summer day without the threat of rain or wind.

     After exploring the area, we set camp.   The business of supper now needed attention.  We gathered plenty of firewood and started supper with both of us fixing our best dish.  Mine was hot dogs and pork and beans.  Several hot dogs later we washed out dishes in the creek and sat back around the fire preparing ourselves for the next ritual.  Ghost stories!  The sun had set and the first stars began to appear over head as we began weaving our tales.  Our imaginations were stirred and we sat enthralled with each other’s stories.  Soon it was pitch dark with only the stars over head and the camp fire as light.  Time for the passing of the next ritual, real booze.

     We each got out our quart jars, mine of vodka and Jeff with gin.  As we drank and talked, the conversation turned to our past baseball season.  Jeff was my catcher during the year and we had won the championship game by two runs that summer. 

      Jeff began teasing me about my wild pitches during the year.  Lefties are known to be a bit wild and eccentric.  One of those wild pitches cost us the only loss of the season.

     He was probably right but I took offense to his accusations and threatened him with bodily harm if he continued to blame me for the dumb pitches he had called for me to throw.  By this time both of us were almost to the fall down stage of intoxication.

     I had finished almost half of my court jar and decided I had had enough of Jeff and picked up a hatchet.  Jeff’s eyes became large as I stood across the campfire waving the hatchet.  Suddenly Jeff disappeared.  I ran around our camp area yelling things that Jeff wouldn’t repeat to me the next day.  I couldn’t find him anywhere.  I became worried that he had fallen in the stream and drowned but he was nowhere to be found.  I suddenly didn’t feel well.  The search would have to wait as I staggered to a tree and fell down beside it.

starry night

     Do you know that the stars revolve around the earth?  They appeared to look that way that night.  I lay on my back looking at them go round and round.  Then...... nothing.

     When I awoke the next morning and gathered my thoughts, I realized that Jeff was still no where to be found.  I started yelling his name in the search began once more.  Still, no Jeff.  In a confused sort of panic I sat down and began to cry.

     I heard movement in our tent, the tent I didn’t stay in.  I backed away expecting some sort of wild animal to dart out of the tent.  Jeff’s head appeared through the opening.  He had gone to bed the night before when I had started raving on and on and he went to sleep.  In my confused state I never did look in the tent.  He was there the whole time.

     So much for a walk in the park, camping and looking at stars.  I found out that vodka and the stars don’t mix.