The thing gets underway ...

 

 

 

The next morning I could barely contain myself . I went through the morning breakfast ritual like competition hot dog eater at Coney Island ..though at the time I didn't know about Coney island or Competition Hot dog eating at the time.

Rex and Wheezy had been sworn to secrecy . I Had a slight nudge that what I was about to do might be wrong , and only wanted a few witness to the " test " firing .

Kissed mom on the Cheek , told my Brother I was going to pay down at the School as a diversion . Slipped out the back door ...and retrieved the "Hop along Bomb".

As I rounded the Garage I saw Rex already heading into the woods ..I also saw a couple of neighborhood kids headed that way as well , we would have to wait till they cleared the woods to begin with the days festivities .

The weight of the " HAP " was heavy in pocket , probably because in my pocket was also my Japanese Army Knife ( too poor to afford a Swiss army Knife , a banana , and a half eaten peanut butter and Jelly sandwich .

The woods seemed noisier than usual ...it was filled with Neighbourhood kids , and a few strangers , and as I found out later a pair of twins from Iowa who were visiting .

To this day no one who was present know who invited the kids from Iowa .

Apparently Rex who had been uncomfortable being with us as we made the device , had been comfortable enough to wander the neighbourhood telling the kids about it .

There were two compelling issues facing me . One was that great group of witnesses , any one of which might tell on me ...and two was if I chickened out now , I would have to convince my Parents to move back to Vallejo or worse yet Climax colorado and even there so far way living in fear that I would be pointed out .

The only responsible action was doing the unresponsible deed .

The first step was finding an appropriate place for detonation . The large tree we had incorrectly identified as a Balsa Tree seemed perfect . With my knife i was easlily able to gorge out a small cleft in the tree . about 3 feet up just at the point where the first great branch diverged . All the while the crowd of children kept growing ...As I dug deeper nto the Tree ..my cheap knife snapped a blade ...I called out for Help , and in a scene reminiscent of the loaves and fishes i was surrounded by a bevy of knives and implements to use ..there were kitchen knives , one grapefruit spoon , a hand made aluminium knife several screw drivers and the one i choose to complete the task a Leather working awl. In those days venturing into the woods demanded some sort of protection . I had hear later that one of the Twins from Iowa had even brought a pitchfork ..but I didn't see it myself ,and have chosen to only relate that which I can personally testify too.

The soft outer part of the tree decended into much denser wood ...the going was going less ...the task was made even more difficult by constant interruption from others who felt they had a better way ..in fact several started their own test holes in the tree ... Time slipped away ...in the distance we could begin to hear different mothers calling out that lunch was ready ...I knew my mothers voice would soon be heard as well. We didn't have cell phones then ...but we had mothers with Lungs power full enough to belt out a cmannd from more than three blocks away ...one of the Kids actually lived four blocks away , but His mother was an accomplished swimmer and was able to belt out a Prodigious " TIMMY" that could be heard above the din of the Weekly Air Raid test . Knowing that lunch was imminent , we decided en masse to retire to our homes to Have lunch ...the Test would have to wait . ...