©
2024 Duleigh Lawrence-Townshend. All rights reserved. The author asserts the right to be identified as the author of this story for all portions. All characters are original. Any resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental. This story or any part thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the expressed written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a review or commentary. All characters in this story are over the age of 18, but not by a lot.
The Last Road Trip
Sometimes the journey itself is the destination.
At long last, the 'Terrible Trio' was back together. Dale Lane, a lanky, sandy-haired nineteen-year-old fellow, was on leave from the Air Force before heading to his assignment in Germany. His lifelong buddy Skip Ross, a shorter, brown-haired, bookish fellow, was on leave from the Navy before shipping out on the USS Antietam. Along with Dale's cousin Tommy Mayer, also known as the Wombat, the inseparable three, Dale, Skip, and Tommy gathered at Skip's house. Tommy was about the same age and build as Dale, and they were often mistaken for brothers and even twins, but now the difference was startling. Dale returned home from basic training slim, solid and short-haired. Wombat was just the Wombat. He was shorter and slightly heavier than Dale, but had very similar facial features, not counting his first attempt at a beard.
Dale, Tommy, and Skip had been buddies as long as anyone could remember. They were called the "Terrible Trio" by all of their parents and practically lived in each other's houses. They haunted the Lewiston-Porter Elementary school since first grade, and they stayed together through thick and thin... until they graduated From Lewiston-Porter High School.
You could tell what season it was by the games they played. They grew up sledding down the long slope on the 12th fairway at Niagara Valley Country Club right into Four Mile Creek every winter using plastic garbage can lids as sleds. Every summer they biked together all the way to Dickersonville High School for swimming lessons, their towels rolled up and tied to their bike handlebars.
Their spring was spent playing baseball over at the softball diamond at Washuta Park. They weren't in a league; leagues require uniforms and cleats. The Gang played when they wanted, and they played what they wanted. Hardball, softball, wiffle ball, kickball. Whatever ball was available was brought to the diamond. Autumn was always football, games of two-hand touch played all weekend long at Escarpment Park with the Buffalo Bills game on the transistor radio on the sidelines. Skipp's younger sister Cindy called out any change in score because it was hard to hear the game over the crunching of the dried leaves that covered the field.
Winter was street hockey played under the streetlight in front of Skip's folks' house. They would play all night long using a tennis ball if the streets were dry, and a real puck if they were covered with ice and snow. Cindy played also and was always on Dale's team. She turned out to be an incredible goalie. The only thing that would stop the hockey was the church bells that rang every night at 9:00 PM or the inevitable call of "CAR!" and the nets would be pulled off the street, and everyone got a break before the resuming face-off after the traffic rolled by.
Of course, the #1 thing to do in the winter was check the driveway when you woke up. If it was covered with snow and dad's car left deep tire tracks, you turned on the TV or radio and listened for the school closings. Dale, Tommy, and Skip always thanked the gods of weather and fertility for planting them in Niagara County because the Lewiston Schools always closed when it snowed. They would change, help each other shovel their driveways, then grab their trash can lids and head off to the golf course.
They could all remember how Tommy got the nickname Wombat. In football he was a great receiver, but he tended to forget where the end zone was. No one will forget the day that John Sprague threw a perfect "Hail Mary" spiral that went half the length of the field and Tommy somehow brought it in, but as he danced around, dodging being tagged, he got turned around. When he broke into the clear, he went the wrong way and scored a touchdown for the other team to John's cry of "YOU FUCKING WOMBAT!"
The name stuck.
But summer! Summer was for only one thing, camping! Dale's mom and Tommy's Dad's family owned a piece of heaven south of Erie county, to Dale and Tommy's folks it was called "The Farm" because it used to be Great Grandpa Mayers farm, but to everyone else it was called "Harlequin Lake." The farm had a good size lake that was named after Great Grandpa Mayer's favorite duck, the Harlequin. (Side note: there's never been a sighting of a Harlequin duck on Harlequin Lake, other than Great Grandpa Mayer's hand carved decoys.)
Harlequin Lake! Just the name evoked memories of camping under the pine trees, the smell of bacon cooking over a campfire in the morning, Tommy's older brother Mike buying beer for them (at a 10% cut for him) and cooling the beer in ice for hours while The Gang splashed and played in the lake until the beer was ice cold. Steaks grilled over the fire, potatoes wrapped in foil on the grill next to the steaks, along with ears of corn that were soaked in the creek next to the campsite.
At night, they'd relax around a bonfire under the trees, drink beer, pass around a bottle of cherry brandy or apple schnapps and tell stories all night long. Skip, Tommy, and Dale. Sometimes 85-year-old Aunt Gladys would appear out of the woods and join The Gang and help empty those bottles.
The trio never changed. Other fellows would join them. Steve and Rob Fasanello (The Dago Twins) were there most often. They were always welcome because Steve had the best fake ID in Niagara County, and they loved to drive down to Pennsylvania to pick up fireworks. Then there was Archie. Everyone had called him Archie for so long they almost forgot his real name of Kevin Lane. Archie was a little slow, but he was Dale's lifelong friend, and Dale defended him against bullies throughout school. And if Dale defended Archie, so did Skip and Tommy.
Girls finally entered the terrible trio. Skips girlfriend Maria Cucinotta was known as "Coochie." She was a tiny brunette with huge tits. She was cute and feisty, and she had Skip wrapped around her little finger. Tommy's girl, Karen Hauser, always went camping with the group. Karen was a tall, slim, flat-chested girl with a round ass, and she was nicknamed Birdy (for Big Bird) because of her shape. She was a straight-A student, a perfect counterpoint to Tommy's straight D record. People couldn't figure out that couple, but she was crazy about Tommy and never called him Wombat, and Tommy just adored her.
As for Dale, there was never a question that his steady girl was Skip's sister, Cindy. Cindy was a head shorter and a year younger than Dale and had beautiful pale blond hair that glistened in the sun. She had a figure that inspired erections wherever she went, but she saved showing it off for one man. She was the type of girl that could be what she needed to be, depending on her situation. At a fancy restaurant, she was a delicate, well-dressed lady. In school, she was a scholar (when not out by the bleachers sneaking a smoke with Dale) and when camping she was a woodsman that could survive off the land.
It was painful for everyone when Dale and Skip went off to basic training, but the economy was sluggish, and this was the best way for them to pay for college. Now, with Dale and Skip back, they had a few weeks to re-live their glory days in the summer sunshine.
Dale had returned just in time for Cindy's graduation, and everyone took pictures of them together. Cindy with her cap, gown, and honor student regalia, and Dale with his dress blues and his one little ribbon for surviving the "Battle of San Antonio." (The Air Force nickname for the Basic Training Graduate ribbon)
It was a warm summer morning that promised to be a hot and muggy afternoon and Skip, Tommy, and Dale were sitting on the shaded patio of Skip's parent's house. Cindy stepped out of the house with a beer in each hand and Skip reached up for one. "Thank you, sis."
The sexy blond glared at her brother and said, "get your own damn beer." She parked her warm round ass on Dale's lap and handed him one of her dad's Labatt's Blues that she had opened. She and Dale kissed, tapped bottles and drank deeply.
