02 - The Battle of the Lemon Fair : The best laid plans of mice and men
Story index at the bottom
By David
Friday, June 9th 2006 - 07:56:45 AM
The Battle of the Lemon Fair
Part two: The best laid plans of mice and men
Steve rowed towards the cove with Mario, and we paddled towards our landing and home. I looked over my shoulder at our departing comrade. The skiff fell well behind the war canoe, and Mario sat facing Steve with his back angled towards me. Against Mario's tanned skin I could see the white ropes that bound his knees. Above the blue strap of his bathing suit on his left hip I could see more white ropes circling his waist and holding his tied wrists firmly against the small of his back. He appeared to be sitting calmly, accepting his captivity. But behind his back where Steve would not notice, I saw the muscles of Mario's forearms rippling as his fingers tried unsuccessfully to locate the knots on the ropes that tied his wrists. The skiff soon disappeared into the cove.
"Larry's just jealous because we've got a canoe," I said as we paddled as fast as we could down the Lemon Fair.
"Why? He's got an Old Town that's bigger and better than this thing."
"Yeah, but he's no longer the only kid with a canoe on the river. You noticed he called it "his" river? We've got to teach him different."
We secured our canoe at the landing in the narrow band of woods between my back yard and the river. Then we pulled our jeans on over our bathing suits and put on our socks and sneakers. I picked up Mario's shirt from the canoe, and wrapped it and his socks and sneakers in his jeans, then carried them up to the house. There I put them in the basket of my bicycle.
"Why are you doing that?" André asked.
"He's going to need them. His swimsuit may be fine for the river, but when he's running through the woods he's going to want some protection."
"What are you talking about?"
"We're not paying any stupid tribute. I've got a plan." I told him to get his bike, and I explained it to him as we rode around looking for guys to help us, for the north end of town was a tight community, and the kids there stood by each other. But this was late in the morning on a fine summer day, so unoccupied kids were in short supply. We were able to find a couple of our fellow altar boys, and after I told them what had happened to us, and how the enemy had Mario all tied up down by the river, four of us rode our bikes out to war.
Richard was my age. He had brown hair and eyes and a lank body, which made him the tallest of us. He was of German extraction, but only his grandmother had the language. If you ever called him German, however, you were in for a fight, because he insisted vehemently that his family was Austrian. Memories of WWII still ran strong in those days.
And then there was Patrick; a big good-natured kid who was slow to anger, but when he got his Irish up, stand back. He was a year older than us with red hair and freckled skin that burned easily in the sun. When he heard what they had done with Mario, he spat and quoted one of his father's sayings. "There'll be wigs on the green today, boys."
I carried Mario's clothes in a rucksack, along with a good supply of rope, but not one bit of tribute. We pedaled down the river road to the bridge over Alvae's Brook, which ran through the woods for a quarter of a mile to the cove that Mario had disappeared into. I was sure we would find the pirate camp there.
Since our enemies numbered five, and we were only four, I knew we had to find a way to split them up. We had learned through experience that in a rough and tumble attack where the object is to tie up the enemy by force, even one extra man is enough to win the day. One boy can grapple with another inconclusively for a long while, but two boys can tie up one just about every time.
We had a system: First we would concentrate on getting a rope tied firmly to just one wrist, which was usually pretty easy to do. Then the hardest part was to force both wrists behind the victim's back and tie the second to the first. Once the hands were securely tied behind the back, it was all over. Two on one was definitely bad news for the one.
We crept softly through the thick undergrowth until we heard voices ahead of us. We were able to get close enough to spy on them, since they all sat around a fire in a small grassy opening talking and laughing, with no one standing guard.
Their camp was on high dry ground just above the flood plain. Mario stood with his back against a small tree some twenty feet from the fire. His arms were drawn behind the trunk where his wrists were crossed and tied. They had also drawn his elbows back with ropes behind the trunk, so he stood upright firmly against the tree with his chest stretched out. His body was held even more immobile by ropes that wrapped around his chest, and crossed it from shoulders to elbows. There were more ropes around his waist, thighs, knees, and ankles. The poor guy could hardly move.
It was one thing to keep a guy tied up, but another to tie him as tightly as Mario was, and I knew that Larry was behind it. I watched Mario standing against the tree without struggling, gazing calmly at his captors who sat around the fire and ignored him. I made a note to settle the score with Larry if we captured him.
André studied the trail that ran for fifty feet from the opening down to a muddy bank where the canoe and skiff lay beached. Then he suggested a plan. He would circle around through the woods to the river, then swim quietly up to the mouth of the cove, hidden by the woods and ferns along the bank river. Then he would have to swim underwater for a short distance, until the canoe itself would hide his approach. Once at the canoe, it would be easy to slide the bow off the bank and send it drifting out into the creek. He would use the canoe to cover his retreat, and then swim underwater from the canoe to the shoreline out of sight of the enemy campfire. While the enemy ran to retrieve the canoe, he would sneak in through the undergrowth and release Mario.
Meanwhile, we would watch. If the enemy took the skiff to go after the canoe, they might leave only two or three behind, and we four would be enough to overpower them.
It sounded like a winner, so André stripped down to his swimsuit and circled around to the river. His approach was perfect. We watched the canoe slide into the water and glide out towards the river. It was just clearing the mouth of the cove when one of the pirates shouted, and they all ran down to the skiff.
We were dismayed however, to see that only Larry got into the boat, leaving four pirates on the shore. There were too many for us. To make matters worse, the pirates turned back towards the campfire just as André was sneaking up to Mario. A lot of ropes held Mario against the tree, and before André could untie even half of them, Mark spotted him through the undergrowth. He didn't shout, but motioned for the others who followed him to be quiet. Then he signaled for Jim and Greg to sneak around between André and the river.
I thought about shouting a warning to André, but that would kill any chances of freeing Mario. I hoped that André would have time to finish the rescue before the enemy struck, and if they did strike, I was confident that André would escape be able to escape back to the river and safety.
Mark and Steven proceeded to the campfire, pretending not to notice André as he worked frantically at Mario's ropes. Then Mark turned to look at André and shouted "Aha!"
Mario's legs were still tied to the tree from the knees down, but André had to run. He could have picked any number of directions to dash away in. Unfortunately, he chose the shortest route to the river and bolted into the arms of Jim and Greg, who held him while the other two run ran up and piled on. André didn't have a chance, and within seconds Greg was tying his hands behind his back.
I whispered, "let's charge them" and began to stand up, but Patrick stopped me.
"Andrés already helpless, so it's three of us to four of them, and as soon as they call Larry back it'll be three to five. We've got to play it smart."
I knew Patrick was right, and I cursed myself for not having shouted a warning to André, but how could I know what would happen?
I watched them lead André to a tree a few feet from Mario, back him up to it, and tie his wrists to the trunk. Then they wrapped the rope snugly around his waist and the tree several times. Finally they tied his ankles together and then to the tree. Next they retied the ropes on Mario that André had removed so he stood once more bound against the trunk exactly as before. When they finished with Mario, they returned to André and tied more ropes around his legs at the knees and thighs. Finally, they pulled his elbows as far back as they could and tied them with ropes behind the tree. Since André's wrists were between his back and the tree, his torso arched out at the abdomen and back against the trunk at the shoulders. His chest was so stretched we so we could see every rib.
The three of us backed away a little and pondered what to do. Two of our friends were now helpless prisoners, tied to trees in the enemy camp. I was itching for a fight, but what could we do with only three of us against five of them?
My mind worked as I watched Larry tow the canoe back and beach both craft as they were before. He then joined his comrades as they sat around the fire celebrating their new hostage and taunting him. Mario simply stared calmly at his captors and said nothing, but André was a spitfire when he wanted to be, and he gave them better than he got. He also had the advantage of being able to swear at them in French, which made Larry furious.
Larry jumped up and strode towards André with his hand raised, ready to slap him. "You better talk white, frenchie, or I'll whack you one."
Mario finally spoke up. "Boy, are you brave! Why don't you hit me instead? I'm all tied up too, and I'm also smaller than you. It'll be a lot safer."
Larry held his hand as he stared at Mario, then dropped it and turned back to the fire without a word while André continued his French onslaught. At first I translated the parts I could understand for Patrick and Richard, but stopped because I was afraid their stifled laughter would give us away.
Anger welled up in me as I watched André while he strained against his bonds, and gentle Mario as he accepted being tied to his tree without a struggle. This had started out as a fun day on the river for the three of us, and Larry with his stupid pirate games were ruining it. I swore he was going to pay. But how?
"Okay, guys. Let's try this," I said. "I'll walk towards them, and when they spot me I'll look surprised and scared, and run off into the woods. They follow me, and you guys go in and release Mario and André. I'll shake them and we'll all meet up at the road where our bikes are."
Richard shook his head. "What if only two of them go after you and you can't shake them? You'll wind up tied to a tree beside André and Mario, and just Patrick and I will be crouching here wondering what to do next."
"Okay. Any better ideas?"
Patrick, sat thinking, and I saw a fire growing in his eyes. "Yeah. I say we sneak around and steal their canoe again."
"You're loony. Look at André."
"I can see André, and I can also see that Larry put the canoe right back where it was, and no one is guarding it. It's like resetting a mousetrap. Like he wants to catch another one."
"Great plan," I said.
"No, listen. André went alone, and they didn't catch him in the water but on the land where four of them could corner him. We'll go together, you and I. When the canoe drifts out, we don't come ashore, but we'll stay in the water behind the canoe where they won't see our heads. Larry will come out with the boat again, because it will look perfectly safe like before, and he'll leave four guys to ambush us. But we'll ambush him instead when he gets to the canoe. Remember, he hasn't seen Richard or me yet. He might think you're the only one left to worry about."
I saw the beauty of his plan. If they acted as expected, we would have their leader, and we could take him to the opposite shore. That would really divide the attention of the remaining four. But if they didn't act as expected, then we could be in danger of getting caught. Patrick and I were like fish in the water, however, and I could accept the risk. "Let's do it," I said.
"Can I come with you?" Richard asked.
"No. Three of us might make too much of a commotion and tip our hand. Stay here and watch. If you get a good chance to free our guys, then do it. But don't try to be a hero and do something stupid."
Patrick and I skirted widely around the camp, sneaking noiselessly through the undergrowth in our bare feet and swimsuits. We slipped into the river and sidestroked quietly towards the cove. Patrick moved in and stole away the canoe again and soon he had it in the river sideways to the shore, and close to where I waited. I swam underwater to join him, and we hid behind the drifting canoe.
Yells came from the shore, and soon after we heard the oars of the approaching skiff creaking in their locks, but we didn't want to look to see who rowed it and give ourselves away. If Larry had come out alone again, we would be fine, but if they had come in strength and were ready to dive in after us, we could soon be tied up to trees along with Mario and André.
When the canoe started to rock, we swam under it and came up on either side of the skiff beside the oars that trailed in the water. I grabbed the oar on my side and pulled myself up. As my head broke the surface, I flipped my wet hair out of my eyes to see what Patrick and I were up against.
(Part 3 to follow.)
David
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David's stories
- 01 - The Battle of the Lemon Fair : Mario is taken hostage (m+/m)
- 02 - The Battle of the Lemon Fair : The best laid plans of mice and men (m+/mm)
- 03 - The Battle of the Lemon Fair : Into the enemy camp (m+/m+)
- 04 - The Last of the Mohawks : Captured (m+/m)
- 05 - The Last of the Mohawks : The wind changes (m+/mm, m/m)
- 06 - The Last of the Mohawks : Traitor (m+/mmm)
- 07 - Pestered by Mario (m/m)
Index of all stories in the "Archive for Everyone" section