Chapter 14

Friday night was quiet. I went to the youth center, but for some reason couldn’t get into the conversation or antics of the other kids. The only cute girls there were traveling in packs, and I couldn’t get close to them, so I went home early. Being in at ten o’clock when I had an eleven o’clock curfew about floored my parents.

They wanted to know what was going on. I told them it just was boring.

Dad laughed and remarked, “After your summer, the rest of your life might seem boring.”

That was really frightening, had my life peaked at fourteen?

Mum said dryly, “I suspect he will get up to something to relieve the boredom.”

I went to my room and listened to records on my portable stereo record player while reading the latest from Robert Heinlein. I made a mental note to get some more of the plastic inserts for my forty-five rpm records. The insert went into the large center hole of the 45’s so they would adapt to the spindle which was made small for 33’s.

On Saturday I was up early and did my exercises, including my new one-hour run-walk. My stamina was getting a lot better. I could now run the whole distance without getting winded. The first couple of tries I would get a stitch in my side, but Coach had told me to run through that. It worked. I guess that was the second wind.

The bad part was, I couldn’t seem to run any faster, no matter how much I practiced sprinting. After running I mowed the lawn. Once I got cleaned up the rest of the day should be mine.

After taking my shower I went downstairs to look for some breakfast. Mum was there and came out with a typical Mum statement.

“Your hair is still wet. You will catch your death.”

Since it was a beautiful fall day I didn’t think it would be a problem now, but when it got cold out, I would have to rethink the situation. I remembered that handheld industrial dryer I saw at the gold mine. I should check up on that. It would be neat to be able to dry my hair quickly.

I had a Boy Scout meeting at the Lutheran Church so I rode my bike down the hill coasting most of the way. The whole town of Bellefontaine was on the side of Campbell’s Hill. It is the highest point in the State of Ohio. At fifteen hundred feet above sea level, it wasn’t really that tall.

At least it didn’t seem that tall going from east to west in town. Going from west to east you realized that it was long and steep! I could pedal all the way going home but it was a strain.

The scout meeting was to plan for an upcoming camporee. There would be contests such as knot tying, chopping logs, and fire building, swimming and orienteering. I was a patrol leader and had to decide who in my patrol would compete in which contests. The trick was to pick the best at each event, but also not leave anyone out. If my patrol didn’t have someone that was good or wanted to perform I had to do it.

My Scout Master cornered me. He asked, “Rick, when are you going to complete your Citizenship in the Nation merit badge? You have twenty-nine badges so you have more than the twenty-one required for Eagle, you just don’t have the last required badge, or would you rather switch to the Brother in the World one?

You were the Senior Patrol Leader last year, and still are a Patrol Leader, so you have met the leadership requirements. That spring cleaning we did at the church took care of service so you only need the one badge for Eagle.”

“I will complete the Citizenship in the Nation badge within two weeks,” I promised.

“Why the push to do it now, I have till I am eighteen?”

“Simple Rick, it is well established once a boy discovers girls and cars all thoughts of Eagle Scout go out of their head.”

I couldn’t disagree with that, as he was talking, a couple of girls walked by the window distracting me.

“What is holding you up, Rick?”

“The tours of two federal facilities requirement, I have to do that yet.”

Mr. Geist, my Scout Master shook his head. “Rick, remember that tour of the radar base on top of Campbell’s Hill we took last year?”

“Yes.”

“What about the tour of the Post Office? If I remember right you organized that when you were Senior Patrol Leader.”

“Yes, I had to call the Post Master Mr. Williams to make arrangements.”