Cousin Teddy and the Magic Rag - Finale

[bdahunter]

After the incident with the snapping turtle we decided to lay low at the farm for a few days until people cooled down a bit, SHEESH! WE hadn’t blown the head off that turtle,. Gordon and I had thought we might keep it as a pet, it wouldn’t be too bad after we scrubbed all of that stinking crud off of it we’d thought. Teddy bunked with us in the spare bedroom too ‘cause he didn’t want to be the only one down at the lake with all those irate relatives around.
Life was pretty straightforward at the farm, we’d get up early with Gramp and help out with whatever chores he had planned for the day, then Gramp would make us breakfast after we’d washed up, the rest of the day was ours to do with however we liked. After a couple of days we got a little bored and Gramp noticed it I guess cause at lunch he told us about an old silver mine that was somewhere in the back part of his hundred acres. Gramp made a point of telling us not to go anywhere near it because it was too dangerous, so after lunch the three of us told Gramp we were going for a little walk and headed out in search of the Silver Mine. We tramped over all of those 100 acres at least twice but we never did find that silver mine and we came home at dusk in time for supper, plum tuckered out. My Gramp was a crafty son-of-a-gun, he knew we’d go looking and he knew we’d never find what wasn’t there but we’d sure be occupied for the afternoon. We barely made it through dinner without falling asleep in our plates.
The next day was much the same except our cousin Billy (14 years old) came out from the lake with his .22 and we had some target practice, basically we shot at anything that moved. Gordon, Teddy and myself are all 1/8th native Indian but Billy’s mom was a half-breed so he was 1/3rd native and he sure could hunt, nothing in the forest was safe when Billy was prowling the woods. That afternoon, Billy got to teasing my big brother Gordon about being a cityboy because we lived in Toronto. Billy said we didn’t know anything about the woods or hunting cause we were cityslickers. That really got Gordon’s temper up because we had spent as much time in the woods with our Dad learning woodcraft as any of our cousins.
“I can shoot better than you” said Gordon “you point something out and I’ll shoot it”.
Billy said “See if you can hit that bird over there then” and pointed 100 yards away to the edge of the field where a Cardinal was sitting on the limb of a pine tree. It was dirty trick because we all really liked Cardinals and Bluebirds too and it wasn’t right to shoot one of those birds, a Crow sure but not a Cardinal. Gordon was stuck now, if he shot the Cardinal he’d feel rotten and if he didn’t he’d have to eat crow and put up with Billy calling him a cityboy. Just then, the Cardinal took flight and sailed out over the field on his way to the forest on the other side of the field “Go on Cityboy, Shoot!” sneered Billy “you’ll never hit it now” and it was an impossible shot. Gordon’s face and ears were bright red he was so mad and I wondered if he might shoot Billy instead (Gordon’s temper was scary) but instead he put the gun to his shoulder and then squeezed off a single shot and killed that beautiful Cardinal, it crashed into the middle of the marsh at the end of the field. Gordon gave the .22 back to Billy and walked away with his head hung low, Billy didn’t know what to say, it had been an impossible shot and the cityboy had made it, but what a terrible thing to do. We all stood there quietly, nobody knew what to say and then Billy finally said “I got to go home for dinner” then he hopped the cattle fence and headed back down the road to the lake.
When Teddy and I got back to the farmhouse Gramp was smoking a cigarette and drinking a ‘Black Label’ on the porch and Gordon was in our bedroom with the door closed. Gramp asked us if anything was wrong and we just said “Nope”, best to leave this alone Teddy and I figured. Gramp must have been in a thoughtful mood because he started telling Teddy and I stories about the old days and we sat and listened to Gramp for the rest of the afternoon, getting him another beer when he’d emptied the previous one. Gramp finally told us about how he and our grandmother, Nan, had met at a Temperance Dance and some of the adventures they’d shared together. Gramp was one heck of a good storyteller and we were completely captivated by his tales; Gordon finally came out of the bedroom and listened too as the sun was going down.
Between the ‘Black Labels” and the stories about him and Nan, Gramp got a little tired and a little blue (Nan had died from a brain tumor a few years before and Gramp missed her terribly, as we all did). The sun was down and the farm light came on and it was time for bed. Gramp said he wasn’t hungry but that we should make ourselves something to eat and then he stumbled off to his bedroom and went to sleep.
Between the three of us we managed to rustle up a meal of beans and wieners with toast and it tasted pretty good too. Then Gordon and Teddy broke out the cards and played War and 2 handed Euchre so I couldn’t play, so I lay down on the couch for a nap.
I must have been pretty tired because I barely heard the screen door close as Gordon and Teddy went out into the night. I got up from the couch and followed after them to see what they were up to, it was pitch black outside, the farm light was off so it had to be after midnight when the timer shut it off. The only light was from the kitchen light behind me and the glowing river of the Milky Way above filling the sky with an eerie shine. I couldn’t see where Gordon and Teddy had got to and was just about to go back for Gramp’s flashlight when there was a flare of light out in the middle of the farmyard, someone had lit a match. I walked over through the dewy grass and out onto the tablerock that made up the farmyard, there I found my brother and cousin building a little campfire on the scoured granite.
“What are you guys doing?” I asked.
“Quiet” said my big brother “do you want to wake Gramp”? I sure didn’t, not with the three of us making a fire in the middle of the farmyard.
“ I don’t think we should be doing this” I said “Gramp would be mad if he found out we’d made a fire”.
“Shut up, you big baby” said my cousin Teddy “It’s cold out and we’re only making a little fire to stay warm, Gramp won’t care”.
It was cold out , even though it was June and the flames were warm and friendly from the little fire; they drove back the darkness too and at 8 years old I was still a little afraid of the dark. I helped Gordon and Teddy gather up a little more kindling to keep the small fire going, we were surrounded by granite for at least 50 feet in any direction so it was a safe fire. We all sat on the moss that filled the cracks in between the big slabs of granite and fed our little fire until we started running out of sticks, then we went looking for some more but we’d used up what little there was lying on the big tablerock. We got a little more wood from around the neatly stickered planks that Gramp had milled at the sawmill after he logged out part of the farm to increase the field where he grew vegetables. It was Jack Pine and it was tinder dry from being stickered so it burned really well but soon that was all gone too. We were all going to call it a night when Gordon got a big idea “This fire’s not hot enough, I’ll be right back” he said then he was off to the woodshed. Gordon was back in a flash with a red five gallon can that said ‘GASOLINE’ on the side of it in big yellow letters. “This will get this fire going” said Gordon then he unscrewed the cap and poured a little gas on the failing fire. “WHOOSH’ went the gas as it hit the little campfire and the tablerock was lit up for 10 feet around us, our fire was burning really good now. It didn’t take long for the gas to burn off though so Gordon took the cap off and gave it another splash ‘WHHOOOOOSHH!’ went the flames this time, as it was a big splash and the flames traveled back up the stream of gas and into the gas can. Gordon dropped the gas can like a hot potato and it fell to the ground and rolled along the granite slab spilling gas everywhere until it came to a stop against a mound of moss. Now it was really bright, the spilled gas poured along the tablerock with a weird blue flame dancing on top of it until it reached a patch of moss which worked like a wick, orange flames blossomed immediately. Gordon kicked the now mostly empty can away from the flames in case it exploded, I stared in shock at the blaze that was all around us and racing away down the slope of the granite farmyard, Teddy was running around in circles screaming in terror and pulling at his big mop of blonde hair. Gordon grabbed me by the arm and pulled me away from the blaze to safer ground, Teddy was still rushing around screaming ‘OH GOD!, OH GOD!, GRAMP’S GONNA KILL US!” Blue sheets of flame were spreading all over the farmyard and the moss had flames 10 feet tall shooting out of it, it looked like someone had cut loose with a flame thrower.
For half a minute we all stood in awe of the terrible beast we’d let out of the gas can, it was like loosing a genie from a bottle and there was no way to get it back in again, then Gordon said “Water!, help me get water” and we all followed him to the milk cans of spring water at the edge of the farmyard. We struggled to get the heavy milk can on its’ edge so we could roll it towards the flames and when we thought we were close enough we pried the lid off and dumped the milk can of water onto the hottest part of the fire, that would do it. Man, did that EVER do it, the fire took off in all directions even faster than before. (we know now that you can’t put out a gas fire with water because the gas floats on top of the water so it only spreads faster, BUT we didn’t know that then) We couldn’t believe our eyes as the fire raced down the sloping rock, right towards the chicken coop and Gramp’s huge pile of stickered lumber, it would go off like a Bomb!
The flood of water and burning gas poured down the rock towards the lumber and the tarpapered chicken coop as we stood there paralyzed with fear and shock at what we had just done. We watched as the flood approached the lumber pile and suddenly the flames erupted, 20 feet short of the planks and the chicken coop. A column of flame shot twenty feet in the air and the whole farmyard was lit up like Yonge St. on a Saturday night. There was a fissure in the tablerock that was heavily overgrown with moss and it was acting like a giant wick. Gordon yelled to Teddy and I “Help me!” and took off like a shot towards the pillar of flame, I followed as fast as I could but I couldn’t keep up with my big brother as he ran around the flames and disappeared. When I caught up with Gordon on the other side of the flames he was shoveling what little dirt there was near the lumber pile into a dam between the lumber and the burning moss, I got onto my knees and started scraping dirt with my hands to help him, then Teddy arrived.
Teddy’s eyes were wide as saucers and he was completely hysterical, he was yelling “He’s gonna kill us!”, “The fire rangers will see this and they’ll waterbomb the farm”, “He’s gonna kill us!”. Gordon grabbed Teddy and shook him like a ragdoll which seemed to snap Teddy back to reality “Shut Up and Help!” screamed Gordon, I kept shoveling dirt. By now the water and gas was starting to leak through the moss dam that had saved us so far, little rivulets of flame trickled down the granite towards us and the dam wasn’t near big enough to stop them.
Teddy grabbed an old rag that was lying on top of the lumber and jumped forward to meet the little rivers of flame, he struck out with the rag like a man possessed and the force of the blow actually knocked the flames out, at least temporarily. Teddy danced around in the streams of fire pouring out of the mound of moss, swinging his magic rag wherever he saw a flame SWOOSH! went the magic rag and the flames would be blown out, then POOF! the main pillar of fire would relight the rivulet. SWOOSH! – POOF! - SWOOSH! - POOF! - SWOOSH! - POOF! over and over again as Teddy kept swinging his magic rag. Some of the rivulets of fire got past Teddy and were stopped by our strip of dirt, Gordon and I stomped these out with our boots, but Teddy got most of them. Slowly, the gasoline was consumed and the light started to die over the farmyard with only a few pockets of burning moss left around the edges of the yard.
We stood together, weaving on our feet from exhaustion, our faces and arms blackened with soot except for where the sweat had washed lines through the soot.
THE FARM WAS SAVED!! We looked across the blackened farmyard and then at each other and Teddy started to laugh, Gordon and I laughed too, a happy/sad and exhausted laugh brought on by the terror of our experience. We hugged each other we were so happy and then we turned to head back to the farmhouse and there was Gramp.
Gramp’s face was a mix of anger and concern, his eyes were bloodshot from the ‘Black Labels” but they were hard as stone.
Gramp didn’t yell at us and he didn’t hit us, it was worse than that, he said in a sad and weary voice “Get to bed, you’ll have to be up early, you’re going home”. We were crushed.
We dragged ourselves back to the farmhouse (our feet and hearts felt like lead) and washed up at the handpump until we were reasonably clean, then with Gramp keeping a watchful eye over us we went to our room and to sleep. We had disappointed a very special man.
Dawn came and Gramp had us out of bed early to pack our things for the long trip back to Toronto, we apologized to Gramp but we didn’t beg or cry as he would have hated that, then we put our bags in the back of the old blue Ford and waited for Gramp to take us home to a certain death at the hands of our father. Gramp took his time getting ready, he sponge bathed himself out at the old hand pump like he did every morning, then he shaved his face with his straight razor in front of the small mirror he kept on the porch and when he was done he got himself a cup of coffee and a cigarette. He sat in his wooden rocking chair on the porch for quite a while as we waited beside the truck, a cigarette in one hand and his chin in the other as he always did when he was thinking. After about a half hour he came over to us and said “put your things back in the house” and then he went down to the barn to feed the horses and that’s all he ever said about it to anyone.
I thought about what he did that morning many times over the years, it wasn’t a trick to teach us a lesson, Gramp wasn’t that kind of a man. If he said something he meant it, no ifs, ands or buts. I finally realized one day that he just changed his mind.

GOD BLESS YOU GRAMP,

BDA

[Buster]

BDA.. Gramps was a very special man indeed....good story...Buster...

[mcgyver]

Man thats a great story.Its a great memory to share with your grandchildren.Later Steve

[bdahunter]

Originally Posted by Buster

BDA.. Gramps was a very special man indeed....good story...Buster...

He taught me a lot about life, what matters and what doesn't. Gramp also taught me about building and I've tried to follow in his footsteps which are mighty big shoes to fill. To this day when faced with a problem on the job I will sometimes ask myself 'What would Gramp do?'

Glad you enjoyed the read,

BDA

[prizm-pal]

Thanks Bda...I was kinda wondering when the magic rag was going to show up...and hitting a small bird in flight with a 22..was lucky shot for sure...be good Mate..Chick!

[bdahunter]

Originally Posted by prizm-pal

Thanks Bda...I was kinda wondering when the magic rag was going to show up...and hitting a small bird in flight with a 22..was lucky shot for sure...be good Mate..Chick!

It was a very lucky shot, my older brother Gordon denies he tried to hit the cardinal to this day. Gordon also has some of the best hand-eye co-ordination I've ever seen in a person and he always was a better shot that Billy which is saying a lot. I personally think that Gordon's anger got the best of him and he tried to hit the cardinal which got him close but actually taking it out on the wing at 50 yds (it flew towards and across our position) was pure bad luck. We still kid Teddy about his Magic Rag at family get togethers once we've all had a few. We haven't had a family get together that included everyone since the 1990's and that time a bonfire was started that consumed the neighbour's fence, but that's a whole other story.

Cheers,

BDA

[rip]

Cool story bud,thanks for sharing.My great grandfather "Bump"was alot like your gramps.He was a builder also.My brother still has some of his tools and my Uncle has a playhouse that "Bump" built for my Mom and aunts.

[EPC Guy]

Thanks for the story...man! that brings back memories of when I was just a lad living in the country as well! Good times...thanks again!

[gordiesgirl]

What an awesome story, My American granparents past when I was very young and My other grandparents lived in Australia. How fortunate you are to have such wonderful memories of yours, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry during the fire part. Thank God none of you were hurt.

[bbqcook]

Great story BDA. Really enjoyed it. Thanks

Earl