33. The Obstacle Course ... THE FARM IN PINE VILLAGE

Robert glanced toward the front gate and saw Alan, the boys’ cousin, about to come in. Alan lived in Ladoga and was visiting his grandmother, Lena Rhode, who lived in Pine Village. Lena resembled the sweet old woman in the illustrations in one of the children’s books that Ida had read to Robert when he was small: white hair in a braid encircling her head, wire-rim glasses, and an embroidered apron. In the book, the woman popped corn, and Robert wondered how often Lena did the same.

Robert ran to meet Alan, whom he looked up to. A visit from Alan meant fun on the farm. Charles sauntered through the screen door and waved at Alan.

Alan was closer to Charles’ age, and the two of them devised what Robert considered fascinating games that he could not have imagined on his own.

Ida came to the door to greet Alan.

“Can you stay with us for dinner?” she asked Alan.

“Yes,” Alan said simply.

“Then you boys play for an hour, and I’ll have dinner ready by then.”

“What would you like to do?” Charles asked Alan, who glanced at a red Schwinn bicycle lying on its side.

“Let’s ride the bike,” he suggested.

After taking turns riding back and forth on the sidewalk a few times within the yard, Alan and Charles decided to take the bicycle through the south gate into the chicken yard.

The boys cleared an oval track around the westernmost chicken house. They had to move a five-gallon metal bucket out of the way, and they had to pull up gypsum weeds by their roots along the south side of the chicken house. Soon, Charles and Alan were alternating fast rides around the building while Robert watched.

“Would you like to ride next?” Alan asked Robert.

“Yes, I would!” Robert exclaimed.

Alan turned toward Charles. “I think your brother would like to take a turn.”

Charles yielded the bike to Robert, who pedaled slowly at first but eventually gained enough speed to keep the bike from wobbling. The boys had gone around the track often enough that the path had grown dusty. It felt soft beneath the tires.

After Robert had made two circuits, Alan said, “You know what we need. We need an obstacle course.”

Charles agreed. He and Alan placed the metal bucket directly in the path. Then they took turns steering around it while riding at top speed.

While Charles rode, Alan looked over a small metal drum and the unhinged door from a hog house. When Charles came to a stop, Alan said, “Why don’t we lay this barrel on its side and lean this door on it to make a ramp? Then we could ride the bike up the ramp, fly through the air, and come down on the other side.”

Charles smiled broadly the moment he heard the plan. He and Alan tugged the drum into place and propped the door to make the ramp, which was steeper than either he or Alan had realized it would be.

“What do you think?” Alan asked. “Can we keep the bike upright after flying through the air?”

“I think so,” Charles said.

“I dare you to go first,” Alan said.

“I double dare you to go first,” Charles replied.

“Well, alright!” Alan said. “If you’re going to double dare me, I suppose I’ll have to show you how it’s done.”

He set the bucket out of the way, so that the oval was clear, except for the ramp, which seemed pointed at the sky. Alan rode once around the chicken house to gain speed. On the second pass, he bounced the front wheel over the edge of the wooden door. The bike dashed up the incline and dropped heavily just beyond the upper edge. Alan stayed standing on the pedals as a cloud of dust arose, and, wobbling to the right and back to the left, he kept the bike upright. The stunt was magnificent! Robert applauded in glee!

“Now it’s your turn,” Alan said to Charles.

Having had the advantage of watching Alan, Charles imitated his predecessor’s strategy as exactly as he could. He built up his speed around the track, and, the second time around, he flew up the ramp. With his legs almost straight up from the pedals, he rode the bike in its short arc back to Mother Earth and managed to pedal the bicycle forward beyond the dust cloud marking the point of impact.

“That was impressive,” Alan said, in his customary droll manner.

“Robert, would you like to try?”

Robert quickly declined the opportunity. Shaking his head, he said, “I’m not old enough.”

“Shall we go again?” Alan asked. He accepted the handlebars from Charles and made his second attempt, which was less wobbly than his first. Then it was Charles’ turn again.

This time, Charles had a little less speed than he had on his first effort. When he reached the top of the ramp, the bike leaned to one side, and he and the bike fell.

“Oh, no!” Alan said. “Are you alright?”

Charles dusted himself off. He had torn the knee of his jeans, and he had a small cut on one elbow; otherwise, he had come away unscathed.

“Boys!” Ida called from the back door. “Dinner’s ready! Charles, go get your father!”

Charles walked to the barn to tell Joe it was time to eat the noon meal.

When everyone entered the kitchen, Ida looked at Charles and asked, “How did you rip your jeans?”

“I fell off the bike,” Charles said.

“You should have seen it!” Robert said, but a look from Charles made Robert understand he was not to reveal the dangerous ramp, which the boys had dismantled. “He just … fell … off!” Robert extemporized.

“Put some tincture Merthiolate on his elbow while I give the boys their Fizzies,” Ida said to Joe.

Alan, Charles, and Robert eagerly dropped the Fizzies tablets in their glasses and watched as the flavored bubbles rose through the water.

After the meal, Ida told Charles to change his pants and to bring her the torn jeans. When she straightened out the rolled up cuffs, a handful of dust fell from each one.

“What were you boys doing?” she asked, with an inkling of the truth.

No one replied.

“Whatever it was, nobody was seriously hurt, at least,” she said, as she prepared a patch for the jeans.

As Joe had to go to Keith’s shop for a tractor part anyway, he drove Alan back to Lena’s house. Having had great fun, Robert looked forward to more adventures the next time Alan would visit.