Old Man Cook

My friends and I took off on one of our missions. I was twelve, and the woods and fields behind our house provided excitement for boys our age. We entered the trees at the top of a deep ravine and crept down the side, using branches for hand-holds and rocks as stepping stones.

A small creek ran through the valley at the bottom, and we stopped to roll up our pants and wade in the water, searching for crayfish. A kid had to be careful because the stones in the bottom were moss-cove...