Gil and the creature ran all the way to the creek again, to the same haven after their first encounter with Jess. They collapsed breathlessly on their backs, side by side. When they caught their breath, they turned to look at each other at the same time and burst out laughing.
“Oh, it was perfect, just perfect! I wish you could’ve seen it, Gil!”
“Well, I did see the end of it. Dang, if ol’ Juni didn’t kick him almost to the moon! I’ll give him extra treats for the next year!”
The creature stood. “You should’ve seen him go flying through the air…” the creature doubled over in laughter as he tried to mimic Jess’s expression. “He…he…he had this look…on his face. His lips…were all twisted…and his eyes…were practically coming out of his head. And the way he yelled…did you hear it?”
“You bet I did!” Gil twisted his lips grotesquely and imitated the yell. “Aaarrroooaaahheee!!!”
The creature fell to the ground in a fit of laughter. “That was it exactly! He yelled just like that!”
Gil stopped laughing for a moment and asked, “When I come outta the barn, Jess was rubbing his head…what was that from?”
“Oh, that was the best part! Remember when he goes ‘Hah! I ain’t scared!’?”
“Yeah…”
“Well, he grabs the measuring board from me and holds it on top of his head.” The creature mimed the action. “And while he’s standing there holding the board…BOOOM! Up he goes with the board, and after he lands, the board hits him on his big, stupid head!”
Gil roared with laughter. “Hoooooo-eee! I wished I’da seen that! I ain’t never done a trick this good on Jess before. How’d you think of it?”
The creature smiled. “I don’t know. It just came to me when I saw Juniper kick the board.”
“Man, I’m gonna have to show you all around and see if you can’t think up some more things.”
They both laughed, but then the creature said in a more serious tone, “Boy, Jess, sure is gonna be mad at you. What are you gonna do when you have to go home? He’ll kill you.”
Gil waved a hand at the creature. “Naw. If we was to see him right this minute, I’d be worried, but at dinnertime tonight, we’ll tell daddy, and he’ll laugh the walls outta the house, and we’ll have a grand time talking about it, and Jess himself’ll say what a corker of an idea it was, and how he wished he’d thought of it, you can bet. I just gotta stay away from him ‘til dinner is all.”
“Well, I hope you’re right.”
“Aw, don’t worry about it. I learned how to survive around Jess a looong time ago. It’ll come out OK.” He paused a moment, then said, “Say, I know what! Jess and me’s got a tree house and a tire swing the other way down the river a piece. You wanna see it?”
“Sure.”
“Well, let’s go then!”
The two boys trotted off down the river, away from the farm.