A Midnight Venture Gone Aerie

A Midnight Venture Gone Aerie1

Mistakes were apart of my growing up, and I made more mistakes as a teenager than in any other period in my life. Thankfully those mistakes only added to my life, and taught me lessons that would carry on to adulthood. I made all the normal mistakes in high school, a little drinking, a little experimenting, and a lot of trouble, but the one thing I  never did was drag someone into trouble with me. That all changed one Spring day in May right before our graduation; It was my greatest mistake.  The night we went skinny dipping two weeks before graduation, we learned how many snakes go swimming at night, caution signs are there for a reason, and running from ones best-friend's parents had lasting consequences.2

The day we went skinny dipping was unnaturally warm for May, and there was no wind at all. It had been a busy week packed full of tests and term papers, so naturally we all we're more very restless. My mom had decided a week before that I was too old for a curfew, a big step in a teenagers life especially if ones parents were as strict as mine were, so naturally I took full advantage of my new freedom. We had been driving around for at least an hour bored out of our mind when someone got the bright idea that we should go to the river of course everyone thought it was an absolutely great idea.  By the time we got to the river we were all burning up, and it was all ready ten o'clock at night. The heat was unbearable, so we all stripped down and jumped into the water. Being so early in the year not one of us even paused to think that the warm weather would bring out the water snakes that lived in that part of the state. We soon found out there were more snakes than we thought possible. My friend David has always had an extreme fear of snakes, so he was looking out for them.  It was a good thing he was too, because we had only been swimming for ten minutes when David spotted something moving across the top of the water. At first we thought David was just being his normal self, but then we heard a plop. There was a whole slew of snakes not five feet from us. It's a good thing no one was around to see us, because we all flew out of the water. 3

After our snake scare no one wanted to hang around the river anymore so we got dressed, and filed back into James run down old truck. We were so stirred up about the snakes that no one saw the caution sign,4

we drove right over the curb. It popped the back right tire, and we came screeching to a stop. Luckily James kept a spare in the back, but for some reason he didn't have a tire wrench. There was a cabin that was rented out to people during the spring, and summer right next to the road. The sound of the truck going of the road brought the tenants running out with flash lights.  They were all drunk, but David and James talked them into loaning us a flash light and a tire wrench. Parminder was now late for her curfew, but we talked her into going to Siloam Springs with us, for we didn't want that night to end. Even though all this bad stuff was happening to us we where still having fun. Finally the tire was fixed, and the things we borrowed returned to the drunks. We where on our way again.5

We had not gone too far when we saw a pair of head lights fallowing us. James was really paranoid by then, because it was four in the morning. He swerved on too a dirt road and stopped. It was Parminder's parents. James drove away in a cloud of dust, but her parent's followed. James had always been good at losing people or cops it was a game to him, so he took us first one way then the other until we could no longer see them behind us. We thought we were off the hook, but to be on the safe side we thought it would be best to go back to my house.  When we got there my mom was waiting in the drive way. I jumped out, and was greeted by mom yelling at the top of her lungs. She told us that Parminder's mom was on her way over here to get her. James backed out of the drive, and took off back down the highway. My mom pulled me inside, and told me that I would have to explain to Parminder's mom what happened. It was the hardest thing I had ever done.  She just looked at me with this glare that made me feel two inches tall. I found out later that Parminder and her parents had a fight, and she had moved out.6

I made a lot of mistakes that night, but I also learned something.  My actions effected more than just me, and I spent a long time regretting them.  Life put a snake in my stream that night and a bump in my ride, but I learned that running is always worse than facing the consequences. Even though it was stupid teenager stuff. I learned a lesson, and that is what truly matters.7