ttempt at the prison wall. In the cool, still dewy grass with my bare feet and the same shorts and T-shirt I

that had been left standing. The lot we occupied was nice too, with a large shade tree and thick woods behind, bordered by a drainage dit

n by a big guy with long hair, beard and mustache, and a red headband. He looked surprised when he saw me,

urned a little w

truck the night before that she was going through some kind of midlife crisis thing that people talked about. That, or her mind snapped at Dad's wedding. I was a bit worried, yeah, but not like I was the night before, when we were turning off the

could think of to spend at least some of my Summer. We never were able to pin her down to a timeline, but overall mom had actual

kfast, would you please get in her

y dense trees and undergrowth, imagining a time when there were no white people

heart?" a slightly rough

rly sixties, short legged, barrel chested, but a powerful looking man, nonetheless. He wore khaki shorts, a loud, half button

thick the woods are and wonderin

it's a pain in the ass to clear and it goes back a ways from what we can

loc

s your name,

t made it okay for him to call me 'sweetheart', where I might

got in last night

's 'us'?", he

kinda stuck for a place, but a man n

di

to talk to someone nam

h. Hello." my surprised mother sai

, I take it?"

she said, moving further from

d to meet you, Trudy. Name's Oll

were unprepared for

The branches didn't do h

e alright, these things are

are." Oll

ou like

, his entire face no

ifer, you too, I'm n

owing Ollie into the RV.

ng at the booth table, Ollie with a coffee, he

it's okay with everyone, he did te

with finality. "Damne

, think not

my pup, by

pend time with your family in the

n come out in the winter with their skidoos. Gonna get himself killed on that

word 'bastard' in front of us, but she barely win

these ones, it's like I'm not even

hose idiot

"But, it was the TV

ing, "I got a whole god dam box of World War Two

a little at this as she

way. Feel free to come on over and say hi

ittle hibachi I bought yesterday, maybe later this evening, once I figure out how to pop the sides o

udy. And like I said, you're i

ith Jarid, both of us watching and listening to th

ul

the mug of coffee with him. Mom, Jarid and I follow

slightly graying beard, I guessed him to be in his early forties, but I was never a great judge of older people's ages. He stepped forward with a huge, beat up work boot that went with his short sleeve

ittle while, so why not give her a week to wee

." mom agreed, listening to

mo again, "if they decide they wanna stay, Trudy

adily. "The lot rent is a hundred

t, way lower than

y litters here, so if you go exploring in the woods, you gotta pack out ev

d, that's only reasonab

in awe of the giant, I think. (Who would sa

ms alone." Elmo went on. "And if someone can't swim, they gotta be

swim?" Ol

im that we did, t

ut bugging others, but you're okay the rest of the time too, as long as your music

ding 'low key' if any

lace up and try not to get on peoples nerves, yo

e answere

re alright, make your noise during the day and you're s

he answe