Duncan Takes a Vacation

Chapter 20

             
                  After the chipmunk twins were cooled down, they disappeared for the rest of the day.  It felt comforting not having to constantly look over your shoulder to see what they were up to.  Actually, the air was finally clear without them being around, and my nostrils, once again, were able to breathe in fresh clean oxygen. 

          Old Pops didn't seem to be upset when he realized the twins had sawed the wooden rockers off his rocking chair.  He casually got up from the hard porch floor, dusted himself off, and laughed about it.  I would have been furious if someone had done that to me.  I did admire his control, but I wondered what he was really thinking.  I'm sure that somewhere in the back of his mind, he wanted to show the twins how much he appreciated what they had done to him.  I could only hope that I was around when he showed his appreciation.

          Mom, Dad, and the boys were going to go sightseeing that afternoon.  I figured that they could get to where they were going without me.  Anyway, this would give me a chance to spend some time with Pops.  I jumped on his shoulder when the family was about ready to leave.  When Jimmy called for me to join everyone, I said, "Duncan stay here. Duncan stay here."  Jimmy knew that I was in good hands, so they piled into the station wagon and started on their way. 

          By then, Uncle Wally was taking a nap in his rocking chair, and Aunt Irma was setting up lunch for a few customers that had pulled up to the trading post.  So it was just Pops and I, buddies of the desert, riding off into the sunset.  Actually, the sun was still high in the sky, and we didn't have a horse, but true cowboys always rode off into the sunset.

          Pops headed straight for the little house behind the trading post.  So this was the place where he spent his time when he wasn't roaming the desert.  This rickety, run down, old shack was in great need of a carpenter as well as a painter.  The roof was buckling and had several holes in it.  Luckily, it didn't rain very often in that part of the country or the hole filled roof would have presented a problem.  The paint on the outside of the house was blistering, and paint chips were covering the ground like a blanket as they surrounded the color faded shack.  Unsteady steps led to the porch of this soon to be condemned place.  I had expected them to cave in when Pops placed his foot on one and then another.  I could hear a creaking groan of the rotten boards as they started sinking under his weight.  I was very surprised that we were able to step onto the porch escaping injury.

          The broken door to this shack creaked noisily as Pops pushed it open, and there, directly in front of us, was one of the messiest rooms I had ever seen.  Huge tables were covered with bottles, tubes, pipes, wires and other assorted junk.  On the far end of this trash filled room was a locked door with a sign saying, "PRIVATE - DO NOT ENTER!"  Entering that room was the furthest thing from my mind.  There was barely enough room to step around all this clutter to even make it to the other side of the room. 

          As we made our way through the garbage, Pops said that he would only be a minute.  He was looking for something.  How he could ever find anything in this jungle of litter was beyond me, but to my surprise he found what he was looking for and started his journey back to the open door.  I was sure glad we were soon outside because all that clutter made me feel like the walls were closing in on us.

          Once outside, I noticed what Pops was carrying.  It was a long pole with string wrapped around a wheel at its base.  There was also a sharp hook attached to one end of the string.  I looked at Pops in a curious way by turning my head down to the side. 

          He must have known what I was thinking and said, "Well, Pardner, we're gonna' go fishing." 

          Fishing?  How were we going to go fishing in the middle of the desert?  There wasn't any water around for miles. 

          Pops, again, must have known what I was thinking, and said, "I know about a secret water hole just down the road a piece."  He winked at me and smiled.  This was going to be very interesting because I had never gone fishing before, and stranger yet; we were going to go fishing in the desert!