CAUTION: THEY'RE TOO DANGEROUS ! !

"I'm bored!" Ace said. "Let's do something exciting!!"

"I agree." Freddy jumped in.

"Let's play on the railroad tracks again." Will said, enthusiastically.

"Yeah!!" Ace nearly choked on his spit.

We were a little gang of 3rd-grade hellions and were always looking for fun.

"Sounds fun." Gary preached. "But we'll have to be way more careful from now on."

"I agree." Ben said. "Jimmy could have lost his life trying to hop that train."

"It's too easy to lose a leg or two." Gary said.

"And once you're legs are caught, you can be sucked under it----and then----!" Benny bawled.

"Guys." Said Jimmy. " Let me tell you, just don't do it."

"Hey, you bunch of meat-heads!" I said. "How many times have I told you to just listen to me?"

"The train was going too fast," I lectured. "Pure and simple."

"And when a train is going too fast," I continued. "You don't try to hop it. Got it?"

"I keep telling you guys that it's too hard grab the ladder." I explained.

 "Even if you can hold on for a second, it can rip you arm off." I said, getting real annoyed.

"Yeah." Ben said. "Good thing Jimmy jumped off when he did or - - - "

"I'll bet I could do it and ride for as long as I want."  Freddy said.

"It'd be your funeral!!!" Jimmy snapped.

"I've done it, and had a lot of fun," I said, "but now I think I'll just stay with the regular way."

"It's fun enough for my blood!" I proclaimed.

"Please, guys, can we change the subject? Jimmy said. "I'm getting sick!!"

We all were quiet for a couple of minutes until I said:

Hey, fella's,' I said, excitedly. "I just thought of something I did at my cousin's place!"

"We'd take turns shooting off some 30.06 bullets."  I said. "We put them on the railroad tracks."

"Awesome!!" Will yelled. "Those are some big, powerful, rifle bullets that can bring down an elk!"

"POW!" Screamed Ace, as he jumped up and down like an idiot.

"Pipe down, Ace!" Ben said. "You and Freddy are starting to drive me nuts! Now settle down!!"

"What would your dad do, if he caught you borrowing his deer rifle?" Ben asked.

"He'd wrap it around my neck and strangle me!!" I joked, and a few guys actually got scared.

Without wasting another minute, I ran to Dad's gun case and pulled out all of his bullets.

I slowly placed my first bullet on the railroad track, making sure that it was aimed the right way.

CRACK!!! The big bullet exploded. It propelled fiercely into it's target.

Our plan was to take turns, but it took forever!  We had to wait for the next train to come! We were getting bored and some of the boys were about to give up and go home.

"Hey guys, don't leave!!! " I yelled. "I just thought of really cool idea!!"

"I just figured out a way that we won't have to wait, at all!" I said, kinda spitting.

"We can set off the bullets with a sledge hammer!" I yelled. "It will work just as good!"

"What?" Gary asked. "Is it safe?"

"Gary, you'd better go home to your mama!" I said. "That's what our gang does- - - take fun risks."

"Okay guys." I commanded. "Each of you go get a sledge hammer from a train.

When they got back, I demonstrated how to do it.

"Perfect!!" I exclaimed. "You see, the sledge hammer works just fine."

"But you don't have to wait!" Said Will, too excited to let me finish.

"Duh." Freddy smarted off.

"First dibs to do it next!" Ace announced loudly, too excited to control himself.

Then Ace reached for a rifle bullet and hurriedly, just about dropped it on the tracks.

He raised the sledge hammer and brought it down with all his might to fire the bullet.

"NO, NO, NO!" We all bawled.

The bullet went right into Ace's knee!! He was squealing with pain!

Ace failed to hit the bullet in the center. He hit it on the edge of the bullet, spinning it around as it fired. It fiercely penetrated Ace knee, and went right through it.

"Ace, Ace, are you okay?" Everyone kept asking at once. It was good to know that everyone cared. But all the noise really bothered him.

AND THE PAIN WAS KILLING HIM!! 

"Freddie, run and get him 3 aspirin and a glass of water!" I barked.

"Ace, Ace" The boys kept bugging him. "Are you okay?

"No!!! He screamed. "Obviously I'm not okay!! Just quit annoying me!

Then it occurred to Ace. He had a much bigger problem. How was he going to explain this to his mom and stepfather?

His mom would first start bawling and then she would lecture him forever.

His stepfather would hit him until he was black and blue. While doing this, he would throw him against the wall, and use every nasty word imaginable and take the name of the good Lord in vain.

"George, you gotta help me!!" He begged. "I need a story that my mom and dad will believe."

Ace knew that his stepfather would nearly kill him if he believed that Ace did anything really foolish or illegal.

I struggled with the challenge for a few minutes. Then I yelled triumphantly:

"I got it!"

"Us fella's were racing down the big hill over at the Jennings's farm. I was going really fast. I didn't see a huge, wooden gatepost that holds up the barb-wire fence at the gate. Then dang it, I ran smack dab into a long nail coming out of the big wooden post. As luck would have it, the big nail went right through my knee."

"That's a good story." Ace acknowledged. "But the old man won't believe it without some poof."

"There's got to be an old gatepost with a nail on it that fits our description." I said.

"I promise that I'll find it." I said, assuring him. "And I'll kill a little bugger of an animal to get some blood to put on the nail.

"Now, let's you some rest in a comfortable bed." I said, caringly.

"There's an extra room in our bunkhouse." Freddy offered.

Well, Ace didn't get into any trouble at all, even though neither one of his parents really bought the story. His mom was so compassionate that she just wanted to comfort and spoil poor Ace. Ace's step father knew that is sometimes wise to pick his battles.

Well, we all learned an important lesson about trains that day - - -


THEY'RE TOO DANGEROUS!!!!