Shenanigans With My Cousin

You never know what kind of trouble one can get into on a farm when you’re a kid — especially when you have a horse and miles of farmland to explore, and a cousin who is willing to get into mischief with you. 

We used to ride all over the place and had permission from several of the neighboring farmers to travel across their land. Riding our horses was our little getaway after school and on weekends. We would load up the saddlebags with hot dogs, drinks, and supplies and take off for the majority of the afternoon.  

We had one particular spot that we loved to visit in the trees of one of the neighbors' fields. There was a patch of trees in the middle of the field, surrounded by wheat. We’d always light a fire, roast hotdogs, and sit around and talk.

Those are some of my fondest memories of hanging out with my cousin.  

One particular summer, it was extremely dry. It was the end of August and my cousin and I decided to go to our favorite spot. Back to school was looming upon us, so we thought we’d enjoy the last of summer to the best of our abilities. One of the supplies we always carried with us was a plastic pop bottle full of gasoline in order to get the fire started with ease.

We arrived at our favorite destination, in the trees, surrounded by extremely dry wheat fields. For some reason, we were having a hard time getting the fire going that day, and to be honest, we shouldn’t have even thought of having a fire in the first place.  It was so dry! As I put the kindling on the fire and attempted to light it up, we couldn’t seem to get it going. My cousin walked over to where we had the horses tied up and grabbed the pop bottle full of gas.

Walking back, he made a comment about how dry it was, and that we should probably be careful. He then proceeded to walk up to the fire and slowly pour the gasoline onto the fire. The fire, once lit, climbed up the stream of gasoline pouring out of the bottle and went right into the bottle that he was holding. 

Needless to say, he panicked — and threw the bottle as far as he could away from him, across the hot and dry wheat field.  

As gasoline continued to pour out of the bottle, and flames continued to feed off the fuel, we stood and watched as the neighbor's wheat field lit on fire. What felt like a lifetime, but was probably only a few seconds, we watched as the flames started to grow bigger and bigger. And then we went into action.

My cousin and I began to run and started stomping out flames as fast as we could. We knew that if we didn’t get the fire out immediately, there would be hell to pay. Not only would we be responsible for starting a fire, but we’d also be in deep shit for causing the neighbor to lose part or all of his crop.  We managed to get it out before major damage was caused, and quickly packed everything up. Once we were certain that the fire was truly out, we rode away and pretended that nothing happened.

It took another two months before anyone found out what had happened when the neighbor went to harvest the wheat field and found the burned spot. 

My cousin and I were always up to mischief. We knew how to break the rules and get away with it.  We knew how to keep secrets, and we always had each other’s back. This really was the catalyst for what was about to come in my life and understanding of the rebellious attitude that I have always carried. 

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Pulled Over By The Cops on My Horse

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Dad, The Cheerleader