East Mountain Strider

Hi I’m Tommy, If found please return me to the Ostberg’s house, That was the sign my mom would pin on the back of my shirt, At only 3 years old I’d escape on my “BIKLE” my tricycle and ride down the sidewalk in search of adventure.

My mom also tells a story of how when  just a Toddler, I’d shake the side of the crib over and over till I could reach over and unscrew the bolts, push off the side of the crib, and crawl around the house at night.

When My brother was born, I was not happy, but I gained a dog as a protector

My dog Prince was really big,  brown short haired, with pointy soft ears, and blue eyes!

We went everywhere together, 

But when I crawled exploring behind the couches, the lamps would break, 

I said sorry mom, prince did it. 

And when there were sooty foot prints from the fireplace all over the living room rug,

I said sorry mom, prince did it.

But I always got the spanking, because prince was my dog 

and also because mom couldn’t see my imaginary friend. 

When I was maybe 8, my imaginary friend was replaced by a REAL friend Byron, a boy cut from the same cloth, The two of us crew cut terrors would run in the woods every day, play games and bring home treasures

We never wanted to be apart , We’d bring back logs from the woods and put them up between trees 20 feet up over the driveway, 

Of course sometimes the logs would rain down on dad’s driveway, and scare him,

Or lay in pine needles watching the clouds

Or we’d bring back treasures, rocks , frogs, bugs,

We’d say Sorry mom, when she screamed from the kitchen because there were snakes all over the place, 

• But mom, who knew the garter snake was pregnant and could have up to 40 cute live babies at a time? (never did find all 40)

One day at the end of winter, being pent up to long and with the remaining wisps of snow and ice still on the lawn, Byron and I were playing tag in the house, running from couch to cushion to chair, slamming one too many doors, 

My MOM yelled "GO OUT SIDE"...    great I said, can we go to the brook..

“JUST GO OUTSIDE NOW”

"AND DON'T COME BACK ALL WET"

She always said don’t come back all wet

So off we quickly struggled into hat, coat, and mittens and down to the end of the street where the brook ran out into ADVENTURE land, a forest and a pond out in the closed golf course.

Soon we were kerplunking rocks through the  white fracturing thin ice at the edges of the pond, 

but farther out the ice was bluer and  thicker with cracks that had refrozen into a beautiful jigsaw pattern, and our rocks and sticks would slide making echoes and otherworldly sounds

I bet that ice would hold us, I said

He said I DARE YOU TO, 

But he wasn’t sure, 

So I said “There’s only one way to find out”

So I grabbed his hat and tossed it out on the ice, 

“What did you do that for”

    “Well now we have to go get it”

Dropping a few logs between the brown mud over the water to the thicker ice

Slowly ever so slowly we crept out one at a time onto the ice to get his hat,

Gingerly and keeping well apart, we shuffled out farther and farther,

We took the Long sticks we had tossed and started chopping off pieces and pushing them out into the current to float away.

Then back away quickly because the ice would start to sink at the edge,

"wow this is really cool" I said looking at the sky and the trees and the drifting ice

Another piece… wonderful time, thinking about the stories, and watching the spring birds, 

I turned to see  a sly grin on Byron’s face, and a widening gap between the ice we were on and the shore on the other side. 

"I dare you to jump across that" he said...

But it was too late, the current was widening the gap, the ice flow was slowly twisting us out into the river. We all shuffled carefully to keep the ice from rippling. 

With the long branches we could paddle the ice flow, "wow we're just like Tom Sawyer and Huck Fin "!! this is really great I said as we started to float across to the other side. 

Suddenly the long thin crack in the ice raft ran between me and Byron, but my side was big and Byron was on a very small Wobblies piece and slowly the gap was getting bigger

Then I could read his mind, and I didn't like it.

With the amazing spring of a young youth, he sailed into the air and arched over the opening crack as I screamed ... NOOOOOoooooooo DOOOnnnnttt , and when he landed on my piece, long long cracks instantly ran the length of the ice and it shattered into a million tiny pieces and we both screamed and dropped into the frigid icy waters of the lake.

Abruptly though, we realized that it was only waist deep, so we linked arms and waited to the shore laughing, keeping our sticks high over our heads.

On the run home our blue jean legs  frozen into solid tubes like tin soldiers,

Laughing Adventurers and Friends for life

And When we got home and knocked at the door

Mom looked out at us,  two frozen and  muddy to the shoulders boys and screamed,

 “what happened to you two” !!!!!!. . . . 

And holding out my nice dry mittens I said

Sorry mom, but we didn’t get all wet.

BECAUSE WE DIDN"T GET ALL WET....

Because Our Mittens Were Still Dry !!

 Sorry Mom, Teller Notes

• hi I’m Tommy, if found, Please return to the ostberg’s house

  • Sign on back

• Toddler Crib escape

• Prince my new dog, big brown, pointy ears, Blue Eyes

  • Broken lamps, sorry mom, prince did it

  • Fireplace soot, sorry mom

• Bryan best friend, dirty blond ,  crew cut terrors

  • Always in woods, exploring, 

    • Logs in tree, falling

    • Pine forests, watching clouds

  • finding treasures, rocks, frogs, fish

    • Screams from the Kitchen, 

      • Didn’t know Snake was pregnant and 40 babies

• End of Winter, playing tag in the house, 

  • “go outside”,      Can we go to the brook

  • “But don’t get all wet”, (she always said that)

The rising action

• Golf course tossing sticks and stones on the 

  • white fracturing refrozen ice

  • Thicker echoing sound of harder ice

• Byron. “Bet you could walk on that”

  • Only one way to find out

  • Toss hat

• Putting a log  across the water gap,

  • commitment

• Slow careful log crossing

  • Beautiful trees, ice

• Byron’s silly grin

  • Chipping sounds

• FLoating.  And the big Split

• Bryan’s jump

The falling action

• The frozen run home, laughing, 

  • our pant legs  frozen into solid tubes like tin soldiers,

  • Laughing wilderness explorer little Friends for life

• And When we got home and knocked at the door

• Mom looked out at us,  

  • two frozen and  muddy to the shoulders boys and screamed,

• Sorry mom,

• And holding out my nice dry mittens I said

• But mom, we didn’t get all wet.