Camping Buddies
By sock_gagged
Chapter 1Tom and Henry first met in the 7th grade. Tom and his mom had moved to Aurora, Illinois from the Ozarks after his dad had passed away. They had just settled in with his mom’s sister when the school year started and Tom found it quite the culture shock when he arrived on the first day of school. Growing up in the boondocks of southern Missouri hadn’t prepared him for a life in the upper middle class suburbs of Chicago. His new classmates had shown up in their trendy new back-to-school clothes and Tom couldn’t help but stick out in his worn, faded jeans, simple t-shirt, scuffed work boots, and dirty blond mullet. It also didn’t help that even at 13 years old, Tom was a gangly 6 foot with size 13 feet. All these differences between him and his new peers was like blood in the water for a middle school full of sharks. By the end of his first week Tom had been labelled “Hick,” “Hillbilly,” “Cletus”, and “Redneck.” Luckily his towering height and constant scowl had dissuaded any bully from taking physical action against him but the taunts still hit their target as intended.
On the Monday of his second week, Tom was sitting alone in the cafeteria and angrily eating a PB & J when someone approached his table. To his surprise it wasn’t one of his tormentors, but a smaller quiet boy who was in a couple of his classes. They stared at one another, each expecting the other to make a smartass remark, when the other boy asked, “Can I sit here?”
Tom almost told the twerp to buzz off but he hesitated. He gave the kid a quick look over. He was about 5 foot 6 and skinny as a reed with bright red hair, large expressive green eyes, and a constellation of freckles across his face. His clothes were nice but extremely nerdy - a button-up plaid shirt, tucked into nice freshly pressed jeans and simple sneakers. Tom guessed that before he had shown up, this kid had taken the brunt of the bullying from most of his current tormentors in the prior years.
“Sure,” Tom replied.
The redheaded boy’s face broke into a wide grin and plopped himself down into the seat across from Tom. He stuck out his hand and said, “I’m Henry.”
Suddenly for the first time since he had left Missouri, Tom was smiling too. He clasped Henry’s hand and replied, “Tom.”
That was all it took. Despite their immense differences in personality, from that point on the two boys became inseparable. Tom learned that Henry’s mom had passed away when he was a baby and his father was the town’s librarian who had raised him as a single parent. Henry had obtained a love for books from as early as he could remember and devoured volumes on subjects ranging from French history to at-home gardening. Once he got going on a subject there was almost no stopping the deluge of seemingly infinite random facts and trivia. In spite of himself, Tom found Henry’s incessant chattering amusing and became a regular patron at the library much to his mom’s amazement. Whenever Henry really got on a blabbering streak, Tom would simply clap his hand over Henry’s mouth and bring the subject to a close. By the time they graduated from middle school both Tom and Henry were at the top of their class.
In return Tom took on the task of turning Henry into a true outdoorsman. He taught him how to whittle figures out of blocks of wood, set traps for rabbits, identify birds by their call, the best lures to use when fishing, etc. He even tried to teach Henry how to wrassle like a country boy but it always ended with a grinning Tom sitting astride Henry’s chest in a schoolboy pin while he struggled and shouted curses from underneath. On warm Summer afternoons they’d hike to a secluded pond deep in the nearby woods and spend hours swimming and fishing, their barefeet dangling in the water. This part wasn’t Henry’s favorite though as Tom seemed to never change his calf length white socks and the sweaty, acrid scent of them always wafted from where he wadded and stuffed them inside his boots.
Freshman Year of high school both boys experienced major changes. After a rowdy session of wrestling (though it involved more Tom pinning Henry and tormenting him) Henry’s dad suggested Tom look into the wrestling team. And after watching Tom struggle to catch Henry when he had drawn a mustache on his face with a marker when he fell asleep watching TV, Tom’s mom suggested Henry tryout for the track team.
In a reversal of their middle school years, Tom and Henry found themselves slowly becoming two of the most popular guys in the entire school. Tom spent Freshman and Sophomore year bulking up and being trained by one of the best wrestling coaches in the state. Junior Year he won the state’s wrestling tournament in his division and by Senior Year he was being courted by the best college wrestling programs.
Henry grew another 4 inches, packed on lean muscle to his previously slim frame and was soon running circles around the rest of the track team. Junior and Senior Year he led the track team to their first victories in Cross Country and Relay Race. Suddenly, Henry had just as many offers from top colleges all across the country.
By spring semester Senior Year, Tom had committed to Penn State and Henry was heading to Stanford. Both had been excited to share their news with each other but after their initial celebrations they realized that soon they would be separated - starting new lives on opposite sides of the country without their best friend. It was a sobering realization and the young men suddenly felt awkward and hesitant around each other for the first time in their friendship. Henry felt sick and worried that Tom was starting to pull away in an attempt to ease their parting but he was surprised when a few days before Spring Break Tom surprised him with an announcement.
“We’re going camping!” cried Tom as he burst into Henry’s room.
“What? When?!” exclaimed Henry, laughing at his friend’s return to his usual energetic self.
“We’re heading out Friday after school, just you and me. I’ve got the tent and supplies already squared away,” Tom boasted. “I’m finally going to get you down to the Ozarks and show you how a real country boy lives.”
Henry was thrilled and that Friday they set off first thing after school. Tom’s mom had lent him her car for the week and it was packed full of camping gear, fishing equipment, and enough food to feed a group of 7 for a week. Strangely there was also a duffel bag full of rope and duct tape and when Henry asked its purpose, Tom winked and said, “For climbing and emergencies.”
The 18 year old boys talked and joked throughout the car ride as they travelled south into the deep rich forests of Missouri, each unaware of how their lives would change in the coming week…
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This is my first attempt at writing a story so please let me know what you enjoy so far and any recommendations for improvement. I love a good backstory so hope you guys stick with me as there will definitely be more TUG action ahead
I do like a good smothered mouth!
