Down the Paw Paw without My Ma-Ma - Page 3

Deliverance

I see a Full Moon Rising. I see trouble on the Run. The two-hour trip we had planned for, A five-hour nightmare had become.

The Scoutmaster was right, We'll need a few flashlights: We'll be searching thru the night.

Meanwhile, on the river, some scouts did the first thing any arrogant teenager does in a moment of stress – blame the grown-ups. One group had left the river with the three adult leaders (Neal, Steve and Pierre) and found their way to a trailer park/hunting camp of West Virginian locals. Another group of lost boys left the river and arrived at a railway trestle at dusk. Wet, scared and uncertain, they carried their inner tubes thru the railway tunnel and, by the grace of God, arrived at the West Virginian's compound. At this point, two scouts (Alex and Alex) remained unaccounted for and Neal, (the one adult leader who didn't speak French) headed into town in a West Virginia pickup to call for emergency response. To his surprise, when Neal got to his car, he found it locked – not the way he had left it earlier in the day. After he called a locksmith, who jimmied open the door, Neal was again astounded to find his car keys were missing – not where he had left them earlier in the day. Shouting and male bonding ensued. Even the Scout Leader was lost at this point. Back at the hunting hideaway, nine scouts were looked after by a drunk (out of uniform) state trooper, who was hiding from his ex-wife and kept watch while the Assistant Scout Master was attending to his locked car. The scouts soon learned that another of the trailer park denizens was something of a gun nut. He was showing off his favorite toy: a 30-06 semi-automatic rifle which normally uses a 10-cartridge clip. This guy had rigged up the weapon to hold extra rounds; so if he ever had to defend himself from the Feds, they would think he was out of ammo when he still had a few shots left in the clip. He let the lads know that he could hit a deer in the dark across the river. The lost boys had wandered into an alternative universe. Without neither keys nor car, Neal arrived back at the trailer compound, where the conversation had turned to the other lost boys (Alex and Alex) and a decision was in the works to call a rescue helicopter to search the river. About this time, the Fisherman (remember him?) arrived and reported that the missing lads had been pulled out from the Maryland side of the river. Soon after, the other adult leaders (Claude and Peter) appeared and the whole adventure began winding down. At nine o'clock at night, the lost boys were found. Back in the parking lot, safe with Alex and Alex, I was saying my prayers and practising the deposition I would be giving in court.

Out there – lost in West Virginia, Our scouts had headed for the banks. Some scouts had made it to a cabin; Some scouts were on the railroad tracks.

The Scoutmaster was right; We'll need a few flashlights. We kept searching thru the night.

At our campground that night, male-bonding ensued – again. Over the years, this story has been told and re-told as a cautionary tale for future generations: what not to do in the great outdoors. A little preparation (and some good map reading skills) would have saved the day. Years later, four of the lost boys would go on to earn their Eagle Scout rank. I offer this story and one more song verse for them:

A Tribute to John Fogerty

Just a few weeks ago, We went out for some fun. Troop 33 went tubing A Potomac River Run.

'We'll see you around the corner,' They cried. 'Just around the Bend.' Oh Lord, We lost the boy scouts again!

"Tubing...tubing...tubing on the river." Down the Paw-Paw Without My Ma-Ma by Tim Weil - Stories and Songs