The Big Idea!

Charlie and Terry were the best of friends but Charlie always seemed to be way ahead of Terry in the way of practical jokes. Terry had found everything from artificial bugs in his soup, to golf balls that wobbled or exploded. Terry had been the brunt of many a joke and one day Terry saw his chance to even the score just a bit.

It was hunting season and the two of them always went hunting together. They would each find a place to hunt and then agree to meet back at their camp at a certain time. On this particular day, Terry was on one side of the wooded area and Charlie had taken the 4-wheeler to the far side of the woods. Time passed and things were pretty quiet. It didn’t look like they were going to bag anything today and it was getting late. Terry was beginning to wonder if Charlie was ever going to come back toward camp when he heard a 4-wheeler in the distance. That’s when Terry got “The Big Idea”.

Very slowly and carefully Terry put down his hunting paraphernalia along with his jacket and stashed them behind a bush. Next, he crept stealthily behind a huge oak tree where he knew he couldn’t be seen. The tree would be perfect, and right along the path where Charlie would be riding his 4-wheeler into camp. He stood motionless behind the giant tree and waited patiently. “Oh this was going to be so good!” Terry thought to himself excitedly as he smiled in the anticipation of finally getting even with Charlie.

The sound of the 4-wheeler was getting closer and closer. “I have to be really still, thought Terry to himself. Charlie is a sharp thinker and he just might figure I’m up to something.”

Oh, but this was going to be Terry’s big day! Here came the 4-wheeler, it was close now, really close….just a few more seconds. He decided he would remain hidden until the very last instant and then come out fast. He would wait until just after the 4-wheeler barely passed the tree where he was hiding.

He was waiting for just the right moment when Terry said to himself, “Now!”

Quick as a flash, Terry jumped from behind the tree just as Charlie passed by him, and he leaped up on the 4-wheeler right behind Charlie! Terry felt Charlie’s reaction because he felt his body jump forward. The 4-wheeler jerked as Charlie reacted, speeding up then slowing down, and zigzagging back and forth. It all happened so fast! The next thing Terry knew, he and Charlie were laying face down on the ground with the 4-wheeler sputtering on down over the hill. Terry began laughing like crazy. He couldn’t believe it, he had done it; he had finally gotten the best of old Charlie. Terry laughed and laughed hysterically as he kept yelling, “I gotcha, I gotcha!” He continued to laugh and repeat the words, “I gotcha!” as he reached over, slapped Charlie on the shoulder, and turned him over. That was when “the big idea” turned on him. For you see, when Terry turned Charlie over, he was looking into the frightened eyes of a complete stranger. It wasn’t Charlie at all!

Terry had no idea what to do. He was so shocked at the terrible thing he had just done that he instantly started shouting, “I’m Sorry! I’m Sorry!” He yelled the words over and over again, as he ran off into the woods as fast as he could go.

I can’t help thinking that as I tell this story of “The big idea”, there is a man out there somewhere telling the story about a wild and crazy man running loose back in the hills of Missouri.

By

Pamela R. Blaine