Last Day In West Virginia

Hello future readers!

Well Vivienne and I slept until about 8:30 on Saturday morning. That felt really good because we've been getting up early all week!

Vivienne woke me up and wanted to know if I wanted to watch Saturday morning cartoons. Outta site! I love Saturday morning cartoons!

When we went downstairs to the kitchen, Mrs. Walton was fixing us a tray to take into the rec room so we could eat while we watched television. She said Vivienne always takes a tray in there about this time every Saturday morning. Next to my mom, Mrs. Walton is the grooviest mom there is!

We watched "Speed Buggy", "Sigmund & The Sea Monsters", "Scooby Doo" and "The Bugs Bunny-Road Runner Show". And we sang along to Schoolhouse Rock's: Verb! That's What Happening!"

                                                             I love Trix cereal!

At 11:30, Mrs. Walton kicked us outta the rec room, and told us to get dressed and go outside and play. Vivienne wanted to take out her scooter, and I wanted to  roller skate.

But Vivienne gave me a turn on her scooter too!

We had been playing for almost an hour when Kevin came over.

"Hey, do you girls wanna go fishing?", he asked.
"Just us? Where are C.J. and Betta?", Vivienne wanted to know.
"C.J.'s spending the day with his friend Bobby McIntire today, and my mom has to do some shopping and other stuff, so Betta's watching Little G.  So do you wanna fish or not?" Vivienne and I just looked at each other.
"C'mon, I'll even cook'em and we could have a picnic. What do you say?"
"Would we have to bait our own hooks?", I asked, making a face.
"Nah, I know how girls are about squirmy things like worms. I'll bait the hooks for ya."
"OK, you've got yourself a deal", Vivienne told him.
"Groovy. Meet me at Harlan's Pond in an hour. See ya then." He turned and walked back to his house.
"Hey Julie, let's bake some cookies to snack on while we're fishing."
"Yeah, far out! And I also wanna cook up a surprise for Kevin to get even for the spider on my back."
"Really? What do you have in mind?", Vivienne wondered.
"Something really good", I said, rubbing my hands together. "Something that will make Mr. Kevin Fleagle think twice before he plays any tricks on me again."
We went back in the house and told her mom about fishing, and asked if we could bake cookies. She told us that would be fine.  So we got to work.

When the cookies were ready, we packed them in a Tupperware container,we grabbed Mr. Walton's fishing pole from the hall closet, and my little surprise and headed out to Harlan's Pond. When we got there I was surprised at how beautiful it was. It looked like something out of  Huckleberry Finn.

When we got there, we found Kevin sitting on the bank with his dog Barkley.

"Hi Kevin, we're here!", we called.

While I offered Kevin a cookie, Vivienne put my little surprise in Kevin's tackle box. It was really hard not to laugh, 'cos I knew this was gonna be good!

"Want a cookie, Kevin?" I offered. "Vivienne and I just baked them."
"Oh no you don't! I remember what happened the last time you girls offered me a cookie. I'll pass, thanks."
" Fine, that leaves more for us. Let's just  fish, OK?
"OK, Julie, you can use C.J.'s pole."
"Great! Thanks,"
"Hey Kevin, remember you said you'd bait our hooks?"
"Yeah, yeah. Boy, are you girls ever squeamish. I've got a can of worms in my tackle box."

As Kevin went to open his tackle box, Vivienne and I had to practically hold our breath to keep from cracking up!

"AAAHHHHHHHHH! It's a human finger!", Kevin shrieked. "A bloody dead, human finger!"  He was so scared that he fell backwards onto the ground!

We couldn't hold it in any longer! Vivienne and I busted out laughing and slapped each other some five!

"Are you two crazy?" Kevin screamed. "I told you there's a dead human finger in my tackle box, and that's breaks you guys up! We've gotta do something! We should call the police, or the FBI, or somebody!!"

Now we were really howling! I walked over to the tackle box, picked up the "finger", and took a bite out of it!
"It's only a wienie, you weenie!", I laughed. "The blood is just ketchup."
"What was that about being squeamish, Kevin?", Vivienne teased. I passed the hot dog to Vivienne and she took a bite, too!
Kevin stood up and dusted himself off, and was he ever mad!
"That was NOT funny! I mean, a joke's a joke, but that was NOT funny!"
"Oh yes it was and you know it!", Vivienne told him. "You're just mad 'cos Julie thought of a really cool way to get you back and you fell for it."
"Yeah, Kevin. And you oughtta know by now that if you play your dumb tricks on me, that I WILL get you back, and get you good."
"So you might as well just say "Uncle", and knock off the dopey jokes",  Vivienne continued.
"OK, I promise....I won't play any more stupid tricks on you, Julie", Kevin said.
"Pinky swear?", I said, holding out my pinky.
"All right, pinky swear", Kevin said as he linked his pinky with mine. Then he kinda snickered a little. "You know", he began, "that hot dog really did look like a finger. That would be great for Halloween."
"Would it ever!", I agreed. I pulled the almond "finger nail" out of the hot dog and fed the rest of it to Barkley. "Now let's get back to fishing."
"OK, lemme bait your hooks."

So we fished for about an hour and while we were fishing we rapped about what we were gonna do for the rest of the summer, and what T,V, shows and records we liked and stuff like that.

All of us caught a fish! Even me! And I had never even been fishing before. This pond must be good luck!

                          "Barkley! You just ate a hot dog. Get away from those fish!"

Kevin set up a fire pit and some chairs a few yards away, and he cleaned and cooked fish while Vivienne and I played frisbee.

                            "Barkley! You silly dog! You don't know how to toss a frisbee!"



Kevin told us the fish was just about ready, so Vivienne and I got the rest of the stuff out of the picnic basket and laid everything out.

We were just about to sit down on the grass and eat when we noticed we weren't the only ones who wanted to share our picnic.

Yuck! Ants! We quickly picked up all the food and sat in the chairs to eat. Kevin is actually a pretty good cook for an 8-year-old. He told us his dad took him and Betta and C.J. on many fishing trips every summer and Easter vacation.

It was starting to cool off a little, so we decided to pack everything up and head back. We thanked Kevin for inviting us and for that groovy lunch. I told him good-bye, since I wouldn't be seeing him for a while. He said to tell Danny, Jason and Kyle he said hi. I told him to tell his family good-bye from me. When we got back to Vivienne's house, she helped me pack, because I had an early flight back to Springfield the next day.

Mrs. Walton cooked one of her fabulous dinners, chicken and dumplings, for my last night at their house. After dinner, we all took a nice walk. It was just getting dark and the sun had started to set.

It was a really pretty summer night. I've had a dynamite time in West Virginia. I made new friends, went to neat places and had a super groovy time. I was kinda sad to say good-bye, but not too sad, because Vivienne is coming in a few weeks to go to Camp Echo Hill with me! All right! And now I'm on the plane on my way back to Springfield. I've had a great vacation, but I'll be glad to get back to my mom and Boomer. So the next time you hear from me, future readers, I'll be right back home again.

Until then,
Your friend,
Julie Newman