Summer Days - Long Ago

SUMMER DAYS – LONG AGO

by Mctrip7

Genre: General
Rating: G
Disclaimer: I understand that all the characters belong to Paramount and will not be sold.

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There was never a dull moment in the Tucker household. Two would be spacemen and a ballerina kept things pretty lively. When the boys got tired of landing on the Moon, there was always Lizzie to check up on. She would tolerate them as long as she could, since she knew that she could produce a loud scream and Mother would come to her aid. The boys knew it, too; so they would tease just so far and then make up. It always worked!

On this particular afternoon, Cy (his full name was Cyrus, after his grandfather) and Trip (Charles Tucker, III, after his uncle) were really tired of jumping off the shed roof and pretending they were flying – to Jupiter, no less. Cy wanted to go for a swim, but Trip wanted to go down to the draw and check on the new baby puppies that Bedford had given birth to.

“Awe, Trip, C’mon, we can look at the puppies any time, but there aren’t many more days that we can go swimming. It’ll be too cold!”

“You go on down to the pond and I’ll be there in few minutes. It won’t take long to see how they’re doing.”

“You know Mom doesn’t like it if we go swimmin’ by ourselves. C’mon, I’ll race you and we can go see Bedford and the puppies on the way home.”

Trip set that jaw of his and was ready to say “NO, NO & NO” but he knew what his mother and dad had said about swimming alone and they usually had their reasons. It didn’t seem fair, though, that he was always the one who had to change his plans. Cy always made the decisions.

“Okay, I’ll race you, but you know I’ll beat you, I always do. Try as he might, Cy knew it was going to happen again. Trip’s legs were longer than his. And sure enough – Trip won.

The stock pond really looked inviting. It was fed by a series of natural springs. The overflow irrigated the field below it; so the fall crops were already coming up.

The boys liked to run down the old wooden dock and jump as far as they could. They called it “dive bombing”. Once they saw a snake in the water, but it got away. With every telling, the snake got bigger and bigger, and by now they were sure it might have been a Boa constrictor.

Trip was the first one down to the dock. As he jumped, he yelled “bombs away”. Cy was right behind him yelling, too. Both boys were good swimmers; so in minutes they were out of the water and doing it all over again. Later, as they were climbing up the bank, Trip spotted some eggs tucked in a shallow hole.

“Cy, look here! What kind of eggs are these?”

Cy ran over to have a look.

“Chickens wouldn’t come this close to the water, would they? Besides, their eggs are bigger, aren’t they?” questioned Trip.

“Maybe they’re turtle eggs,” said Cy. “I know there’s a big turtle around here.

Trip reached in the hole to pick one up. “Don’t do that!” cautioned Cy. “The mother won’t take care of them if people touch them.”

“Why not?” asked Trip.

“I don’t know. Dad just told me that when I picked up that baby bird.”

“What else lays eggs?” Trip wanted to know.

“You ask too many questions.” Cy changed the subject. “Is your friend, Jimmy, gonna play baseball with us tomorrow?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think he can stay after school. He always has to help his mom with chores.”

“He doesn’t have a Dad, does he?”

“No, he died a few years ago. Must be hard for him to be the ‘Man of the house.’”

Both boys were silent for a while, giving that some thought.

They were sitting on the end of the dock and didn’t hear Lizzie come up behind them

“What are you doing?” she practically shouted at them. With that, both boys fell into the water.

“Why’d you do that, Lizzie?” Cy was really upset.

“I scared you, didn’t I?”

“No you didn’t! We were just gettin’ ready to go in!”

“Oh yes I did! I really scared you!”

Trip reached over and grabbed her ankle and pulled her in the water.

With Lizzie screaming and flailing her arms, Cy turned on Trip. “Why’d you do that?” You know we’ll catch it now.”

“I just hate it when she’s right,” mumbled Trip.

The boys got Lizzie to the bank and they all climbed out. Lizzie went running toward the house with the boys in hot pursuit. They wanted to be sure they would have a chance to explain their part in the incident.

After a good “talking to” and “no TV” as punishment, the boys were hustled off to their rooms. That meant no “Star Trek” tonight. Cy just shrugged his shoulders; but Trip was really crushed because this was going to be the best Episode yet.

“Why can’t I just leave things alone?” Trip mused. “I didn’t even get to see the puppies.”

Next morning they were up and out early to get a head start on their chores. If they were all finished by noon, they could take in the local cinema.

By 11:30 they were all done. As they came up on the porch, their mom said lunch was ready. “Your father will be ready to go when he finishes, so you’d better hurry, “ she informed them.

As they were finishing up, Lizzie let them know she was coming with them. “No way,” both boys said in unison. A look from Dad told them otherwise. “But, Dad, she cries just when it’s getting good and I always have to take her out,” Trip put in.. “People get real mad, too,” Cy protested.

Mom said, “But she wants to see the movie, too. I’m sure she’ll be good, won’t you Elizabeth?” The boys exchanged glances.

Dad said, “If you are going with me, you had better wash up and meet me at the car in five minutes – all of you!”

He dropped them off at the theater and said he would pick them up at 4:00. The boys walked together with Lizzie trailing along behind. Maybe their friends wouldn’t realize they were babysitting again. Trip did look over his shoulder ever so often just to be sure she was there.

Cy led the way down the aisle and, as usual, picked out seats on the third row. Lizzie balked. She did not want to sit that close. When the tears welled up, Trip said “We’ll sit back here. You go ahead and stay up there.” Trip was OK with that because he really didn’t like to sit up so close - that was Cy’s idea.

Cy put in, “Tell her she has to stay in her seat. Last time we spent half the show looking for her.”

The movie, The Alamo, was all action and the boys were mesmerized. Then Lizzie started complaining. She didn’t like to see all that blood and besides, she had to go to the bathroom.

Cy’s patience ran out real quick, and, as usual, Trip had to keep up with Lizzie. “Wait a few minutes and I’ll take you,“ Trip whispered. “I thought you wanted to see the movie, too”.

After all the usual problems, Trip decided he’d had enough. “If I have to get up one more time, I’m going to take your candy away!”

Lizzie knew he didn’t mean it, not Trip, so she took off down the aisle.

“That’s it! I’ll take that candy and you can give me the rest of your money, too.”
Sometimes she would just go buy some more.

Lizzie was furious, but she knew Trip was mad, too. She’d better give it to him. Then she just sat there and pouted, and she didn’t say another word all the way home, either.

The boys were laughing and telling their dad about the movie. When they reached the house, Lizzie went straight to see the puppies. Bedford licked her face and looked like she tried to understand as Lizzie told her what happened.

Meanwhile, Mother announced that supper was ready. When she came in from the kitchen, she noticed the empty seat. “Where’s Lizzie?” she asked.

Dad called her again. The boys said she had been in the yard a while ago.

Mom went out on the porch and called her, but there was no answer. Slightly alarmed, she came back saying, “She must be in her room.” Trip ran upstairs but came down in a minute shaking his head that she wasn’t there.

Dad got up now saying he knew she got home because he saw her get out of the car. “Which way did she go, Michael?” Mother asked.

“I don’t remember, do you boys?”

“Maybe she went to see the puppies,” said Trip. “I’ll go check." When he got there, Bedford was really glad to see him. The puppies were all asleep. When Bedford began to whine and bark softly, Trip knew something was wrong.

“Where’s Lizzie, Bedford?” Bedford got up and started toward the pond but about ten feet away from the puppies, she turned back. She started to bark softly again and whine some more. “That’s okay, girl, you stay with your puppies and I’ll go look for her.”

Trip made his way to the dock, but there was no sign of Lizzie. He decided to walk along the bank. Nothing. Then he saw a scrap of Bedford’s frayed blanket. He was pretty sure Bedford hadn’t been down here, so it had to be something Lizzie had. He called and called her, but there was no answer. He checked all their other hide-outs, even the “cave,” but she wasn’t to be found.

By now Dad and Cy had joined him. They were all growing anxious. The sun would be setting before long and the only place they hadn’t checked was the pond itself.

That just couldn’t be! Trip’s thoughts were telling him otherwise. Why did I have to get so mad at her? She really wasn’t doing anything so bad. She was just being a girl and all boys knew that girls never did what you expected them to. Trip was really getting worried, and he knew Dad was, too, because his voice was getting louder.

Just then Bedford showed up barking. She wanted them to follow her. She took off running back toward the dock. Just before she got there she stood up on her hind feet and jumped toward the big tree limb. The boys couldn’t stop so they piled up on the ground.

“Bedford, Lizzie can’t climb a tree,” said Trip.

“That’s what you think!” came this little voice from among the leaves. “I can do anything you can do.”

“Elizabeth Tucker, come down out of that tree immediately!” There was no mistaking Dad’s voice.

“I can’t. I’m stuck!”

Trip was already starting to climb up the trunk. “I’ll help you. Just stay where you are.” When he reached her, he could see that she was trembling. “You’ll have to let go, Lizzie, and back down toward me. I can’t get a good grip on you from here and you might fall.”

“I don’t care. I don’t care if I fall out of the tree and die. You all don’t want me around anyway!”

“Lizzie, you know that’s not true. We tease you because we like you. You’re our sister.”

Trip said it like that was a perfectly good reason.

Sisters were girls and girls just naturally caused problems. He just didn’t see why he was the one that always had to deal with it. Why, just once, couldn’t Cy take care of it?

“Come on, Lizzie, stretch your hand out to me and I’ll guide you down.” When they reached the ground, Cy greeted her with “Why’d you act so dumb? We’ve been combing the woods for you!”

Dad was a little less harsh. “We’ve been worried about you, honey. You could have fallen in the pond and there wouldn’t have been anyone here to pull you out. Don’t ever try this again!”

Lizzie looked at them and then back to Trip. She turned and ran to him. He automatically put his arms around her. “Come on, Mom’s probably in tears by now.”

Lizzie confided in Bedford the next day that growing up with big brothers wasn’t easy, but Trip made it bearable.

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A handful of people have made comments

AWWWW!!! What a sweet story. This is the way I've always pictured the Tucker household when Trip was growing up.

"...After a good 'talking to' and 'no TV' as punishment, the boys were hustled off to their rooms. That meant no 'Star Trek' tonight..." LOL!!! What a great line!

have to say, i loved the 'no star trek' bit.
that was kinda cute and accurate. Probly quite a close idea to how the Tucker household would be too.

:D

Very sweet, but one nit pick. You say the dog Bedford had puppies, then later refer to Bedford as "he." Unless this is a precursor to Trip's pregnancy in "unexpected" I'm a wee bit confused on the biology!

Oh,no! I really messed up. Thanks for the wake-up call.

That was such a sweet story - thanks