HOMEMADE FORT (short story)A Story by Richard🖌 My second ever Short Story. “HOMEMADE FORT” by Richard W. Jenkins ©2018
It was only two weeks after summer break started and I got up at 7:AM, ate a big bowl of Cheerios with honey, oven-made toast loaded with butter, and piled-on blackberry preserves. After brushing my teeth, I slipped on my favorite Levis and t-shirt, yelled, “Bye, Mom!” and ran barefoot out the door, down the street, toward the park to meet my buddies, Jimmy and Ken. Mom yelled after me, “You boys come to eat lunch when I blow the horn, ya hear!” I waved back and yelled, “Okay, Mom!” She had a can air horn she blasted when she wanted me, and if I wasn’t there soon enough, she’d come looking. I just rounded the side of the park's clubhouse and stopped dead in my tracks. Holding a cat, there she stood in the sun, soft flips of golden curls framing her angel face, wide, blue, innocent eyes, gentle to a young boy’s tender soul, with as brightly beaming a smile as ever graced full, rose blushed lips … and, thin, tanned legs with knock knees protruded from beneath a short yellow summer dress. White turndown socks and brown lace-up saddle oxfords supported this glowing, heart-stealing vision. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The neighborhood cat, Bingo, was the meanest cuss I had ever seen, but in her arms he was relaxed as warm pudding. Even though he was held hugged and suspended by his neck, he seemed as helpless to her charms as instantly as I was thunderstruck. I couldn’t believed it, either, when she actually lowered her head, stuck the tip of her finger between her teeth and looked at me shyly from behind her lowered lashes. Ohhhh, that did it … I was a sure goner! In the softest voice I could ever even dream of, she said, “Hi, I’m Sandy.” If I thought I was stunned before, this was all it took. I was so smitten I could feel my heart thumping like it would jump out of my chest as I watched her put Bingo down and, and … was she walking over to me? What should I do, what should I say? I was panicking, my throat felt dry and raspy. I mumbled something that sounded like a croak! “Uh, I’m Jack,” awkwardly extending my arm with a nervous, numb-feeling hand on the end. When her fingers touched mine something happened inside me I can never explain, except it was a little bit like when I stuck my finger in the lamp socket, but this time it went all through me and left a sort of shaky excited feeling all over. Turned out, Sandy was only twelve and I was thirteen, but she instantly owned my heart, my fawning eyes, and gawked-open mouth, too. I stammered, “H-how do you know Bingo, and why wasn’t he scratching you to pieces, like he does everyone else?” “Oh, does he?” she answered in a surprised tone. “I just saw him laying over there on the picnic table, started petting him and he purred, so I picked him up to take him home and feed some milk.” “Uh, where do you live?” I hesitantly asked. “Just over there!” she said, pointing to the red brick house across the street. “We just moved in and got everything put in place. You want to see my room sometime?” This seemed to be moving fast, and I had never really talked to a girl very much. “Uh, I don’t know,” I said. “ Right now Jimmy and Ken are waiting for me. We’re going to build a fort down by the creek.” “Oh, that sounds like fun!” she said excitedly. “Can I help?” “I don’t think so, it’s supposed to be for boys only.” Sandy looked sort of hurt, so I bravely said, “But, maybe you can come with me sometime when they’re not around, and I’ll show it to you when we’re finished,” to which she smiled softly, her eyes sparkled, and I got that nervous feeling again. About that time her mom called, “Sandy, time to come in for breakfast. You can bring your friend if you’d like!” I felt my face turn red, and quickly said, “I have to go meet my buddies. See ya later!” and ran off across the park, where I could see them picking up limbs to start the framing. Soon as I got there, Jimmy asked, “Who is that you were talking to?” “Just some girl!” I answered in a deep voice, so they would not see how nervous I was feeling about her … I was still sorting that out, too. Ken hollered, “Come on, ya’ll!” He was the real builder. Jimmy and I just brought everything to him and helped put it where he said. We were all the same age, but Jimmy was skinny and Ken was taller than us both, with more muscles than us, too. I was average build, about half way in height between them. We had been friends since kindergarten and always played and hung around together. In this part of our neighborhood there are older homes and older grownups, with not very many kids our age. Most of the kids who lived here were already in middle school or high school; so, Jimmy, Ken, and me naturally “buddied-up,” as Dad says. The fort was looking great. We’d worked hard and fast until Mom honked, and we ran hungrily to eat whatever she fixed for us -- it was always something good. I’d already forgotten about Sandy and that weird feeling she made me have, or I got just being around her. After washing-up, we sat on the front porch and had peanut butter ‘n jelly sandwiches, potato chips, cheese and apple slices, with large glasses of ice-cold milk. We gulped it all down and couldn’t wait to get back to the fort-building. As we passed in front of Sandy’s house she called out, “Hi, Jack!” I felt my face turn beet red, as Jimmy and Ken looked first at her, then at me. I glanced over and saw her and her mother outside cutting shrubs and picking-up. I gave sort of a half wave and kept on running. Jimmy started first with, “Aw, look at Jack, he has a girlfriend!” and Ken joined-in with, “Ooo, she’s sooo pretty, too … I’ll bet she wants a kiss!” We’d never, and I mean NEVER done any teasing like this before, and I could feel my temper rising, but I ignored them and sped up down to the fort. They must have sensed I didn’t like their ribbing, and to my relief, nothing else was said about it for the rest of the day. By dusk, we’d pretty well finished our fort, and a really good fort it was, too. The day before, Jimmy had brought two sheets of old metal roofing his dad gave us and Ken brought a piece of plywood just the right size for a small door. The leaves and branches made great walls to keep it cool inside, with just enough light. I took the plywood home that evening and Dad held it while I drilled three large holes for hinges and a handle, and he cut three two-foot pieces of rope for us that worked perfectly for hinges and a handle. I, also, used one of Dad’s throwaway brushes to paint in big red letters, “BOYS ONLY!” on it. The next morning I took the door and pieces of rope to the fort early. I was the first one there, so I sat down against a tree to wait for Jimmy and Ken. Something drew my attention to Sandy’s house and I saw her sitting on her front steps looking my way. It was across the park, but she must have known I was looking at her, too, and she waved vigorously. I could feel a smile coming my way; so, I smiled and waved back. It was then that “feeling” began to come over me again, the way her eyes, her hair, her lips looked, her smile and how she was so, I don’t know … pretty(?) in her dress, and that other feeling when our hands touched, too. Then, I saw Ken walking toward me. He smiled when he saw “BOYS ONLY!” in big red letters, and said, “Cool!” He tied the door to the branch frame with the ropes as I held it, and we found a stick to act as the lock to put through the other loop. Jimmy showed-up, so we walked to his house and got three empty five gallon paint cans for seats, and found a discarded lawn table beside the park’s dumpster. Now, we were set. Ken’s dad donated an old cooler we could keep drinks and water in, and Mom gave us a bag of ice and some sandwiches, apples, and chips. Jimmy brought a six-pack of canned Pepsi and a big bottle of water. We sat inside all day with the door locked and talked, laughed, thought-up jokes, made plans about planting things around the fort, making a walkway down to the creek with log stairs, and a rope to swing on when we went swimming. We were lost in a world all our own. It was getting late, so we split for home. Jimmy lived one way, Ken another, and I lived only half a block from the park. On my way home, I saw Sandy sitting on the bench beside a picnic table petting Bingo. I was going to walk by when she said, “Have you been having fun, Jack?” Something about her voice was like a charm that made me not want to keep going, so I said, “Hi, Sandy!” walked over to her and sat down on the other side of the table. Bingo stretched, growled, jumped down, and ran off in a huff. She asked why I didn’t sit next to her, and it made me feel awkward, because I didn’t really have an answer, and I don’t know why, but it seemed natural to ask if she wanted me to come over there and sit with her? She answered, “Yes!” as I knew she would, but it sounded more like a gentle invitation I couldn’t resist, or maybe didn’t want to, resist, that is. All I know is I really wanted to, so I did. For some reason I sat down closer than I’d intended. The sun was going down and the air was beginning to cool … I could feel her heat and liked it. She had shorts and a halter-top on and I kept looking at her legs, shoulders, and tummy. She must have noticed and moved closer to me as she said, “It’s getting cold, Jack, can I lean on you? You feel sooo warm.” “Uh, I guess,” that electric sensation surging through me again when her bare leg touched mine and her tummy pressed against my arm, her hands cuddled to her breasts. She looked up into my eyes, her breath smelled like peppermint and I had the sudden urge to kiss her, and I think she wanted to kiss me, too. Mom’s “HONK!” sounded and I jumped-up as if I was caught doing something wrong, but Sandy pulled me back down until our lips met, and I felt like I was walking on stardust, as all of my young body came alive. She stood and pressed her body into me, touched my cheek and said, “Thanks, Jack.” As she took my hand and I walked her to the curb in front of her house. She slowly, finger-by-finger, let go of my hand and went up the walk to her front porch. I waited and watched until she opened the door, turned around, and waived at me. The rest of the way home, while eating supper, during my shower, and as I lay my head down on the pillow, I could not forget the sensations flowing through me, how her touch felt against me, or the peppermint taste of her soft lips on mine. Something was happening, something scary, but something exciting that felt special and good. As I fell asleep, I wondered if I was falling in-love? “Nah, we’re both too young,” and that’s all I remember. When morning came, there was a mixture of feelings blending Sandy and the fort together, and I knew I’d never again be able to concentrate completely on either. Sandy and I, indeed, fell in-love, and a couple of years thereafter, consummated our love on a blanket on the floor of the fort (many times), stayed loyal to one another, graduated high school, went off to college together, and graduated again, Summa Cum Laude. Jimmy moved-off and became a preacher, got married twice, and had a son and a daughter with his second wife. His first wife died from liver disease after an operation. Ken became a fireman, got married, had two sons and a daughter, and retired as a captain. He married twice, but his second marriage didn’t last long. His first wife died with cancer. He lives alone now, and I drop by every once in a while to share a beer and laugh at old times. Sandy and I? I became a master electrician and a general contractor and Sandy became a lawyer, and is now a judge. We married after college and have three sons, two daughters, and seven grandchildren. As you now know, our dating romance has lasted many years, with many more to come. We are still deeply in-love ~ more than ever. Years passed, the fort fell into disrepair, and was taken over and rebuilt by younger kids to spend their moments dreaming and enjoying what life would bring for them, as it had for Jimmy, Ken, Sandy, and I.
There is no telling what magical spells that old homemade fort might have cast on many young boys and girls over the years, or inspired in new young lovers’ lives … wink* The End  1st Place "Short Story Romance Contest" FanStory International
© 2020 Richard🖌Author's Note
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3 Reviews  Last Updated on November 28, 2020 Tags: Romance, Nostalgic Coming-of-Age, Marriage, Children, and Death Author
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