Growing up on a fruit farm was wonderful for all the night time games we could play like flash light tag or hide N seek. In the evenings as the sun set we would play baseball, volleyball and soccer. But at Night time when it got so dark, and our friends came over for dinner, we kids took to the orchards. The farm had miles of plum trees and apple orchards, we got lost in our world of being a kid and running our hearts out!
My sister Dana and I are very close in age so we often stuck together while running around at night. Our friend Sara was a bit younger, Often we played boys vs. the girls. Our brothers would chase us or hunt us down if we were hiding among the trees. One night while Dana and Sara walked with me, we could our brothers shouting down in the valley below. "They will never find us!" I declared. We were so far away from where we heard them yelling out to each other. On that clear fall night with sparkling stars and a full moon. Dana complained about the brightness of moon not allowing many hiding places, so we just kept on the move. Sara has 2 brothers Lucas and Jordan that are close in age of our brother Derek. Now Sara and Derek were always clear cut enemies, It was fun to watch the war of words between those two. As the boys ran around below us, I felt safe to talk at a normal level.
"They are so far away! They will NEVER catch up with us." I laughed, Dana and Sara were walking side by side looking back behind them, we girls were catching our breath from running up hill for so long. Now on the ditch bank we visited. I decided to walk backwards so I could see the girls faces, Sara was laughing as she repeated what the boys were shouting. Dana warned me "Don't walk backwards, you'll trip on a rock." I felt cocky, as I held out my arms "This is easy, I know the farm like the back of my hand." Dana rolled her eyes and Sara said "Maybe we should keep moving up hill to your Grandparents house. The boys would never look there!" I was still walking fast backwards as I talked to Dana and Sara trying to think what our next move should be to stay ahead of the boys, they were still looking for us down by the big canal. It was at this very moment the earth left me. my feet were still moving backwards but the loud piercing scream from my lips filled the quiet night. Dana and Sara stopped walking as they couldn't see me anymore in the moon light. I had walked right back into the empty irrigation ditch. It was a 3 or 4 foot drop into soft dry dirt and river rocks. My body went flying with out my understanding and all I felt was pure air. So by landing on my back I got the wind knock out of me, (where it feels like you can't breath but you really want to.) I was panicking as the boys now knew RIGHT where we were on the farm from my startled scream! I was lucky to not have really hurt myself. Sara was down in the ditch pulling me up on my feet and Dana was pushing us into hiding as our brothers were arriving quickly. Sara whispered to me as we scrambled into weeds of the ditch bank "Tell me Debby, does pride really go before the fall?" I rubbed my bruised elbows replying "I only felt all air before slamming into the ground...That was scary!" Sara walked next to me as we ran to catch up with Dana. "It was so weird how you were there then suddenly gone!" Sara explained as we climbed the steep hillside to my Grandparent's house. Dana called back over her shoulder at me "You dumb-ass." Then Sara and I shot each other a quick look as we burst out laughing.
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