There is something about a hot May day in the south that beckons a young high school-er to take the rest of the day off after lunch. Being and average young man with good friends that shared the same out door activities as I, it was not hard to get together and skip school to distract the mind from overkill of learning English. We set up the plan the day before and had all our bait and tackle for a fishing trip at the river. Russ Sims had the jeep his father allowed him to use to go to school. He also brought a twenty five quart cooler to put the fish in if we caught any.
Gary, Russ and I made our sneaky trip through the amphitheater with its over growth of shrubs and old oak trees that concealed our escape from the school grounds. We cautiously looked up the road for the teachers that were on duty to catch school skippers. They took their job seriously and if you were caught by them it led to lengthy study hall time as punishment. Nothing to do in study hall but look out the windows at a beautiful day pass you by. We were lucky on this day and we planned ahead well. No teachers in sight as we clambered into the four wheel drive jeep, started the engine and we were off on our adventure for the day.
Gary and Russ sat in the front seats with Russ driving and I sat in the back narrow seat with the cooler and bait behind me. We entered the hunting club road that lead down into the river bottoms and came upon the gate that completely blocked the road for entry. Russ had lifted the key from his fathers key chain the night before and soon the gate was open and we locked the gate behind us once we were through. No one would surprise us this day. We were determined to have a relaxing day pulling fish into the boat.
The five mile dirt road to the hunting club was surrounded by sage fields and brier beds along both sides. A hot May sun rained down on us and all seemed good with the world until Russ saw a rattle snake laying in the road sunning itself. Russ was a notorious snake catcher and he and a other friend had a snake pit back at his home. They sold the snakes to commercial handlers for their meat and made good money doing it during the summer months when out of school.
Russ slammed on the brakes and the jeep slided to a stop. He quickly jumped from the drivers seat and grabbed his two pronged stick from the back of the jeep where I sat. I could only think how crazy this was for him to catch a snake that was as big around as a mans arm. The I though about where he was going to put it once he rounded up the big snake. Russ trapped the snakes head under the pronged stick and reached down with his other hand and grabbed it behind the head. The snake wrapped itself around Russ's arm and was about to pull its head back through his hand. He screamed for me to open the cooler so he could put the irate snake in. The ticking sound of the snake rattles definitely had me on edge as I watched every move Russ made while he had the snake in hand.
There was no way I was getting anywhere close to Russ or that snake. I did how ever open the cooler lid for Russ before jaunting out the side of the jeep. Gary stood up in the passenger side seat and closed the cooler lid with one of the jigging poles we use to frog gig on Friday nights. The lid came down with a thump and Russ quickly snapped the latch to hold the cooler lid down. I was real reluctant to ride with my back to the cooler the rest of the trip, so I turned around and braced my back against the roll bar of the jeep as we continued on towards the club house to get the fishing boat. I never took my eyes off that cooler the rest of the way and was so relieved when we finally made it to our destination.
The rest of the day was perfect and we caught many fish and even a few turtles to make some soup later own when we cooked the fish. The hot air coming off the water as the boat moved back towards the boat ramp had a intoxicating effect on us and we wished we could have spent more time there, but we had to get back to town before it got to late and our parents might suspect something of our school skipping. We put the boat back on the trailer and placed it back behind the club house where we got it from and carried the fish and turtles to the back of the jeep. To our dismay someone had stolen the twenty five quart cooler from the jeep after we left on our fishing boat. Russ seemed to not be too upset but Gary was fit to be tied and wondered how we were going to keep the fish fresh with out the aid of the cooler. Russ said we don't have a choice Gary but if they do go bad before we get home we can still smile about it all. After all we all had a great day today and when I think about that cooler I can not help but laugh when I imagine the peoples eyes when they open that cooler with the snake in it.
We laughed about the stolen cooler and made faces on how the culprits would look on opening the cooler lid to find that big rattle snake inside. We skipped school many times after that but that one trip always stuck in our minds the most. We would have never experienced that day if we had stayed in school and who ever stole Russ's cooler will never forget that day as well.