Mischief at the Barn

Thomas pulls up to the old barn just outside of town. It had been old when he and his peers were young, and 20 years of exposure to the elements without upkeep has only degraded it more - hardly any of the paint that once adorned it remains. He wasn’t at all surprised when Jim and Ross pitched it as the meetup for their class reunion; they all have a history with it. He’s passed several familiar vehicles parked in the nearby empty field to reach the barn - he’ll park in the field after they unload his truck. He can hear a din of voices through his open window.

It used to be an old horse barn, before any of them were born. By the time they all stumbled upon it on a late-night drive to nowhere as teens, it had sat abandoned for at least 10 years. Structurally sound, they had quickly adopted it as their hangout. Whether they were skipping class or throwing their summertime parties, this had been the place they all came to.

Now, while the outer structure still seems solid, Thomas can see how rotten some of the inner sections are. The closer he gets to the building, the more a particular patch stands out. Ross and Jim - notorious trouble-makers - had once taunted one of Carl’s bulls. His meanest actually; Tank. Carl had stopped by to check in on the teens with Tank in tow in his trailer one night, and while he stepped away to check who was in the barn, Ross and Jim worked the aggressive bull into a frenzy. Carl’s hands weren’t as nimble as they had once been, and the trailer door was not fully secured.

Thomas had been up in the hay loft when Andy came crashing through the side of the barn alongside a snorting, furious Tank. While he hadn’t taunted Tank, he had been in the bull’s path, and he was the one who bore the brunt of the bull’s rage. Fortunately, Carl was able to trick the rampaging bull back into his trailer with some difficulty, and this time he made sure that the door was secured. The two sheets of plywood they had used to repair the giant hole all those years ago were still well-anchored.

Bringing his truck to a stop, he intentionally slings some gravel towards the back halves of some familiar faces: Ross, Jim, “Sparky” and Andy stand out front with beers, talking. Their instantaneous glares give way to rueful guffaws as the cloud of dust dissipates and the men see who has showered them in dust.

“Thomas! You jerk-off!” hollers Andy, shaking with laughter as he shakes his head and brushes dust off his clothes. The rest break out in another fit of chuckles.

“Well, don’t just stand ‘round shooting the breeze and I won’t have to get your attention that way! Now, you guys come on - I got grills, propane tanks, and some coolers with burgers that gotta come out and get set up,” Thomas explains, unhooking the tarps he’d used to cover his cargo from flying gravel. With the group, it takes only a few minutes to unload. As they walk the last of the items to the long-time designated grilling area, they hear their names being called.

“Is that Amy?” “Sparky” asks, awed.

“Yep. That’s little miss Amy, back in town for the reunion. Think she moved out to - what was it, Jim? Arkansas? I think Arkansas,” Andy replies. “Sparky” wastes no time in approaching Amy, and the group collectively hopes the former sweethearts rekindle their affections. They’d always been such a nice couple.

“Thomas!” a voice suddenly calls. Immediately, he smirks; he recognizes that voice. Turning, he spots her as she hustles over to the rest of the group.

“Hey, Tina! Glad you made it!”

“Thanks. I wasn’t going to come, but Amy needed a ride. And since I’m already here, I figured I may as well stay.”

“Good call - James is manning the grill.” Ross says.

“Oh, then I will definitely stay! James makes the best burgers!” Tina exclaims excitedly.

As the group catch up and begin wandering towards the barn ahead of him, Thomas spots a lone Marigold growing in a shady spot next to the barn, the bright orange color catching his eye. He admires it only a moment before picking the flower, and he slips it in Tina’s hair before they rejoin the group. Caught off guard, she touches the flower to identify what it is he’s put in her hair.

By the time the rest of their class appear, someone has turned on the old neon OPEN sign on the front of the building. No one knows who stole the sign from the gas station as a teenager, as the item had been left in a suspiciously placed box, wrapped in plain brown paper. It had been a familiar sight to the teens arriving late at night. Now, the red lettering has burned out completely, leaving just the circular green light casting illumination. Still, nostalgia runs high, and many exclaim upon seeing it, “Oh, the old neon sign!”

Tina and Thomas retreat to the old hay loft, eager to eat together with some privacy. Before Tina can get comfortable however, Thomas instructs, “Hey, some of these old boards aren’t any good - let me get by and check these out before we sit. Don’t wanna fall through, do you?”

“If I do, I’m taking you with me! We’ll call it payback for the time you fell through the frozen pond and grabbed onto me and we both went under!” Tina responds with a sneer, but she shifts out of the way to allow him to test the planks.

“You still on about that? That happened back in grade school and I’ve apologized at least 5 times a year since!”

After a minute of visual inspection and pressing on various boards, Thomas pulls back and nods.

“Most right here are good, but be mindful of that one with the obvious bend here on the left.”

“Gotcha,” responds Tina. The two get comfortable and begin eating, watching the chaos of the rest of the group from their perch. Every once and a while, they elbow the other and point to a classmate and recall some of the shenanigans and rumors about them.

“Remember when Todd carved his and Stacy’s names in that little pear tree he and Jason were monitoring for a school project?” asks Thomas.

“I remember Mrs. Sweet when the project was due telling him she never wanted him to carve up one of her trees again. She was not happy about that.”

Sundown is close at hand when the first of the class starts to leave. One by one, their peers begin clearing out.

Andy announces his departure, says his goodbyes, and hops in his truck, ready to head out. He has a known habit of honking before he leaves, so while everyone expects the horn, no one expects what happens next. Instead of the usual horn, the sound of an enraged bull blares out. Startled, Andy sends the truck through the front panel of the barn. Ross and Jim burst out in laughter somewhere outside.

Everyone near the truck rushes over to Andy to make sure he is all right. After a long moment, he flings his door open. His face is dark red and his rage tangible as he begins tearing into the troublemakers.

“Dagnabbit! Don’t you fools ever learn!?!”

“Sounds like there won’t be any peace here tonight,” Thomas states dryly, mood soured by the incident. Trust the knuckleheads to screw up what had been a good time and a favorite haunt. Tina takes note of his change in demeanor.

“You wanna get out of here, then?”

“What, you wanna go home?”

“Nah,” Tina says, thinking before continuing, “I’d say we could go to the old waterhole, but I bet half the class is thinking the same.” Another pause, and her hand touches the Marigold he’d slipped into her hair earlier. “Oh! We could go to old John’s fields! Moon’s bright enough, we can still see the flowers!”

Thomas considers a moment. Tina is right that after this incident with Andy’s truck in the barn, many will leave and go to other old haunts, and the waterhole is bound to be crowded. No one else is allowed in old John’s fields, though.

“All right. Old John’s it is.”

“Meet you there in thirty,” Tina says cheerfully, climbing down the ladder to the ground floor.

Both say their individual farewells to their peers, and Thomas hops in his truck. With everyone crowded around Andy and his truck, he decides it will be easier to come back for the grills and coolers tomorrow. Tina informs Amy that she is leaving; fortunately, Amy will be getting a ride with “Sparky”. With that, Tina and Thomas head to old John’s.

Old John and his wife, Denise, grow Marigolds in large fields. Thomas has long been one of the few “youngsters” old John trusts on his property, and he and Tina are welcome to stroll through as they please if they desire a walk among the flowers. The old-timer appreciates it since he doesn’t move very well and can’t patrol the fields in the evenings like he used to.

Tina was right; the moon is indeed large and bright enough that they can easily survey the rows of flowers as they walk through the fields. Thomas has quickly calmed in their presence. He takes Tina’s hand in his as they walk.

“We ever gonna tell them?” asks Thomas.

“I’m fine keeping them guessing,” Tina smirks mischievously, and he grins back.

“Sounds good to me.”

They walk through the rows leisurely for over an hour before turning back. Old John suddenly appears on his porch as they walk by to their vehicles, and he waves them over. Denise follows him, carrying something.

“Oh, don’t tell me that’s Denise’s chocolate cake,” Tina mutters with a small whine, “It’s so good! I’ll eat, like, half of it.”

“I’m sure Denise would love it if you did.”

“My jeans won’t!”

As the couple approaches, Tina can confirm it is indeed Denise’s chocolate cake. She has to remind herself to be polite and talk to the elderly couple instead of simply staring and salivating at the delicious-looking cake.

“Evening!” greets old John. “Two out for a walk?”

“Yeah, the class reunion got a bit out of hand there at the old barn, so we figured we’d take a little stroll through the flowers to relax,” Tina says. Old John nods.

“I was wondering why Daryl was in such a hurry down the road,” Denise responds, motioning for Tina and Thomas to sit. “Well, come here and have some cake! Just made it this afternoon!”

“Oh, that looks so good. Denise, what do you do to make it so perfect?” Tina replies as she receives her slice of the rich, chocolate cake. Denise wags a finger at her.

“Tut-tut! Family secret! You don’t find out until you find it in my will.” Denise and John were childless; neither had wanted children. That Denise might write her into the will for the sole sake of obtaining the coveted recipe touches Tina, though she hopes Denise will be around to make the cake for many years yet.

The four of them sit and chat on the porch until the two elders begin yawning with gusto. Tina and Thomas take their leave; Tina with the remainder of the cake. Denise insisted. They both jump into Thomas’ truck. He'll drop Tina off to pick up her vehicle in the morning before they go round up his items left at the barn.

As they head towards his house, they notice flashing lights near the barn.

“Looks like Daryl’s gonna have his hands full with Andy and the knuckleheads….”

“Yeah, it does…Wanna go steal another OPEN sign?”

———

Playlist I made on Spotify for this Challenge: