Old Smoky

It was an all day excursion into the redwood forest. We were going to picnic, hike and enjoy the great outdoors.

It started off as a pleasant day, until someone stole Christine Meteor’s lunch. And even though I shared my lunch with her she wouldn’t stop crying.

She finally wore me out, so I decided to go for a hike along the banks of Mill Creek. That’s where I discovered several girls skinny-dipping.

Naturally I stopped to watch for a couple of minutes. That’s when I was surprised by Lori Stobert as she was also walking along the creek bank.

She alerted the girls who scrambled to cover themselves. I was busted and I had no place to go.

Within seconds another girl from my class, Patricia Bilderback climbed up on the bank and started dragging me towards the water. I managed to struggle free and run for my life.

I spent the rest of my time trying to avoid every one of my classmates because I didn’t want to be teased for having been caught staring and then running away from a girl.

Later on, I was seated across the school bus aisle from Christine, who was still very upset and still crying about her stolen lunch. As embarrassing as it was, I decided to sing “On Top of Old Smoky,” to her, hoping to settle her down.

And what do you know, it worked. Also, I decided that day — I like being in the woods by myself rather than with a whole bunch of people.