Summer 1984
Two young kids, barely a decade old, stood on a beach in the face of the biggest thunder cloud the season had seen.
"So will you marry me?" the boy asked softly, as they crouched over a smoking hole in the sand.
"Wow, cool!" The girl whispered, reaching her hand out.
"It's hot, don't touch
it," The boy cautioned.
"We'll be safe here," Jake continued, backing them up a bit.
"Says who?" came the timid response.
"Everybody...lightning never strikes the same place twice," Jake soothed.
"Why would you wanna marry for anyhow?" Melanie questioned, standing to face him.
"So I could kiss you anytime I want..." Jake replied.
The two kids leaned in awkwardly, hesitating for only a moment, before sharing a chaste kiss.
Mid-September 1984
"What's wrong with him?" asked Melanie, eyeing the scruffy cat that Eldon was carrying.
"Oh, you know, he's sick," Jake told her.
"Yeah, his name's Fuzz, and we rescued him, the vet says he's got some kinda cancer," Wade piped up.
"They're gonna kill him since no one wants him," Bobby Ray added.
"Ooh, I bet they'll put him in one of those machines that just sucks the life outta ya," Eldon said.
"They can't do that, can they?" Melanie questioned, "Don't they have to treat him better than that?"
"Nah, sure they can, and they will, and he'll probably die real slow and all," Eldon continued.
"Like being blown up is gonna be any better?" Bobby Ray said.
"Well sure, at least he'll go quick," Wade said.
"Oh, alright then, we need something to stick 'em on anyway," Jake said.
"Let's go then!" Eldon and Wade said together, and so they set off to collect the explosives from near the old highway and begin yet another classic prank.
As far as the town of Pigeon Creek was concerned, the five kids were reckless demons whose fun wouldn't be halted at any cost.
That same day
"You think this'll be enough?" Melanie asked, holding the coil of fuse.
"Well we'd better hope so Mel, shouldn't we?" Bobby Ray replied.
Meanwhile, Jake and Eldon were busying themselves taping the dynamite they'd swiped from the empty construction site to unsuspecting Fuzz.
"Alright, boys, we ready?" Eldon boomed.
"Let her rip!" Bobby Ray answered, lighting the fuse, after which the three kids hauled butt into town.
"Are you sure he won't feel a thing?" Melanie asked, having last minute doubts.
"He won't even know what hit him," Wade answered, "Now hush before you get us caught."
The five walked into Virgie's diner and ordered milkshakes.
About ten minutes later, Melanie looked up, mid-converstation with Bobby Ray, and said in a loud whisper, "Hey, isn't that Fuzz?"
When the other four looked up, startled, she continued, "I thought you boys said he'd stay behind in the field outside of town?"
"We thought he would," Wade told her, "that cat must really like you Eldon, what'd you give it?"
"Just some of my momma's tuna," Eldon replied.
The kids rushed out the door to stop the cat, but they got to the sidewalk outside the diner just in time to see the cat shoot down the block, as the flame neared his tail, and into a small hole in the corner of bank's front door and into the darkened, closed bank.
"Aw, shit, now what?" Eldon said a little to loudly, apparently, as two old ladies down the way glared at him.
"Maybe he'll find his way out in time," Wade said,
"Or maybe not, good thing we only strapped him to three sticks instead
of five," Bobby Ray chimed in.
The conversation was interrupted by the sound of a small explosion inside the aforementioned building.
"Poor kitty," Melanie said softly.
"Aw, come on Mel, you went along with it before, besides anything's better than cancer, right?" Jake said to her, throwing his arm around her shoulders.
"Yeah, I guess, and maybe he might of gotten out okay after all," Melanie replied, sniffling softly.
Before Jake could interject his doubts on the likelihood of all that,
the town's only fire engine, an ancient, though shiny red, model, came
zipping down the street, sirens blaring.
"Come on guys, let's split up before the sheriff gets us!" Eldon said, taking off in the direction of the outskirts of town, the others following close behind.