Authors: Brian MacLearn
When our time finally came to enter the field, they gave us purple-colored flour to use as our ammunition. The opposing team had green-filled flour baggies. To be safe, they would twist the top of the bags until all the empty air space in the baggy was let out, then it was folded over and the opening sealed with a small piece of duct tape. To color the flour they would use different colored packets of Kool-aid, which also necessitated the need to change clothes or hit the water games to rinse off the stickiness, too, not that anyone who played minded it one bit.
We ended up with Zach Branson’s little brother David on our team. He was barely twelve, the minimum age you needed to be in order to play the game. He was grinning from ear to ear, once he learned he was going to be playing with us. He couldn’t stop rambling. Over and over he told us how he was going to pop out from behind one of the cardboard cutouts and nail his friend Aston, who was playing on the other team. The other team had Aston and his older brother Jarrod, Zach, and some of their friends. We all just smiled at David, knowing he’d last about thirty seconds as soon as the game got under way. His brother, Jarrod, and their teammates were going to make tough opponents. This would be a battle without any mercy. Jarrod and I got along pretty good, but he and Matt had always been extremely competitive with each other. I had no doubt things would get really interesting. I’m sure they were both thinking about taking the other one out, and in the most painful of ways.
We had it all planned, rationalizing all the options and possible outcomes. As soon as the horn sounded, the three of us were going to run straight at the other group. We hoped to take them by surprise. After we did an acrobatic dive and roll we’d jump up firing. If we did it right, we would catch them off guard and, even if they did manage to throw a baggy, the odds were it would miss us.
Both teams had to stand on a white chalked line on opposite ends of the field. In the center of the playing field there was a four-bale stack of hay. The top two bales were standing on end and placed so that they were on a slight angle, touching at the top. If you weren’t careful, a well-placed shot could hit you through the gap. Other bales of hay and decorated cardboard castles were also placed in strategic spots throughout the battlefield. I stood in the center of our group and Jarrod was directly opposite me. I could see him from the shoulders up over the bales of hay in the center. His brother was on the far end to his right and directly across from David. Matt was on one side of me with Nick on the other. Next to Nick was where Allison stood. I could hear Nick tell her to stick close by him and he’d look out for her. I was just about ready to say something in response to Nick’s overly apparent come on, when I heard Allison’s response back at him. I smiled when she instructed him how she was more than capable of taking care of herself and if anyone needed watching out for it was probably him. I turned to Matt and he rolled his eyes, as he looked back at me. Both of us just smirked at each other and, with Nick under control, we prepared for battle. Neither of us got a chance to make a comment, anyway, as the horn sounded and the game began.
I wanted to keep an eye on Allison, but the plan of attack made it next to impossible. With the blare of the horn, the three of us rushed forward, and so did Jarrod and his friends. After five quick steps we dove forward into a roll. Matt was the first to bounce back up to his feet and let one of his bags fly. At the same time, Jarrod was flinging one at him. Matt had great aim and his bag flew true, hitting Todd Williams square in the chest. Flour exploded and covered Todd’s entire front in purple. He happened to be looking down when it hit and much of it doused his neck and face too. Todd stood there with a dazed look on his face, staring at the purple blotch on his once, clean white shirt. Out of frustration, Todd carelessly tried to respond with his first bag, throwing it wildly at Nick. Nick easily skirted the airborne bag as he raced for cover along the side of the field and behind one of the castle cutouts.
Matt didn’t have much time to gloat, as Jarrod’s shot hit him perfectly, along side the head. His black hair instantly took on a green tint. When he turned to see who it was that had wasted him, his face had taken on a half-HULK look, as green flour mixed with his perspiration.
Matt let out a loud war whoop and shook his head while running for cover behind one of the hay bales. When I popped up from my tuck and roll, I took aim at Jarrod and let my baggy fly. My shot flew past him on his right. He glanced my way with a responsive smirk, and then he took off for cover along the side. I saw Zach getting ready to launch one my way, and I managed dodge it by flattening myself behind the center bales just as his bag hit and exploded on the other side. I knew I was pinned in by Zach in front of me and by Jarrod, over to my right.
I looked around for Allison but didn’t see her. She must have been hiding behind a bale or one of the cutouts. It was never wise to stay put for too long. A moving target was much harder to hit. I stood up to go left when I caught Stephen Demister out of my peripheral vision. He was less than ten feet away and taking aim at me. From out of nowhere a bag hit him flush in the face, and his throw went way over my head. I heard him yell out, “son of a…” stopping short before he finished his exclamation, remembering the posted rules about no swearing on the field. I didn’t see who threw the baggy, but I was grateful to still be clean.
I made it to the side and spied Allison lying on her stomach peeking around one of the bales. Nick was crouched next to her and wearing a mad man’s grin. He glanced my way, and I pointed to Stephen now running for cover, and he nodded. I gave him my two-finger salute and raised my head to look out over the bale I was hiding behind. As far as I could tell, only Matt on our side had taken a hit, and we’d gotten two of them in the initial foray. Now the cat and mouse game would begin. Luck and patience really played a large part from now on. The best thing to do was to sacrifice one of your teammates. The decoy would draw their fire while giving the rest of the team a chance to gain the upper hand, by throwing at them when they released their shots. We had compensated for this exact maneuver during our strategic planning session a few nights back. The first one hit would be the one to make a mad dash across the center of the playing field. The other team members would try to knock off the enemy as they stood up to fire.
Nick and I didn’t have to wait long. Matt raced out from behind the cover of the hay bale, yelling at the top of his lungs. Both Stephen and Zach stood up and threw at Matt as he made his way across the field. Matt dodged Stephen’s shot but took another hit on his backside from Zach’s baggy. I threw my baggy with tremendous force and nailed Zach on the side of his leg. As Matt ducked in behind the castle cutout, he lobbed a floater over the backside hay bales, just missing Jarrod, where he lay, holed-up. Matt cursed under his breath for attempting a difficult shot and using up one of his baggies.
After Matt’s shot exploded behind him, Jarrod stood up and ran towards the center. Nick also stood up and threw one of his baggies at Jarrod, missing him by a mile. It was poor timing, and Nick took two bags for his trouble. Both Todd and Aston easily hit Nick with their throws. Nick took one shot in the stomach and the other one on his left shoulder. Nick’s yellow shirt was now mostly green. Allison made herself known by taking out Aston with one, well placed shot. She hit him on the back of his head, changing the color of his hair from blond to purple. David ran out from behind his hiding place and instantly got pelted with a bag from Jarrod and the last shot from Zach. Not wanting to stop until he had scored a hit on his friend, David raced straight at Aston. Aston turned to see David charging him, but before he could avoid the attack, David threw a shot that blew up nicely as it hit his best friend dead center in the chest. It sent purple-colored flour soaring up, into the air. David just laughed as he threw a second shot, again at Aston. His close range throw completely succeeded in coating Aston’s glasses with a layer of purple flour dust.
Nick took a turn at running across the field. He and Todd exchanged hits from close range, each of them hitting the other one in the side. If you had a camera to take a picture of everyone’s expressions as they played the game, you would see nothing but maniacal looks on each and every face. It didn’t matter how nice or sweet you were, once you tossed that first bag and hit one of the opposing players, friend or not, a permanent, crazy grin became plastered on your face. It would only fade away long after the game was over, only to reappear during the next few days as the triumphs and tribulations of the battle were relived and shared over and over again.
You’d did your best not to lose count of how many baggies were still out there against you, and I guessed the enemy only had three left, maybe four at the most. As close as I could count, our side had four or five left. So far, only Jarrod on their side hadn’t been hit and on our team it was Allison and I who were still clean.
When you are in the middle of playing the game, you tend to tune out the sounds going on outside of the war zone. Our game must have drawn a lot of attention, because you could hear shouts coming from all sides. “Watch out, there he is, look out behind you….duck,” were constantly being called out. Jarrod took a run towards the opposite side, and Allison tried to hit him with one of her baggies, but it was way off the mark. David and Aston each threw their last bags at each other, standing less than five feet apart from each other. Both of them were laughing and pointing at each other as the mixture of green and purple flour dust swirled in the air around their heads.
Matt had carefully snuck up behind Stephen and let his presence be known by letting loose a blistering throw of his last bag and squarely hitting Stephen in the middle of his back. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Stephen’s last bag hit me, when he turned to face Matt. Stephen threw at Matt in retaliation, but Matt ducked in anticipation of the throw, and the baggie zoomed past him. It skidded on top of the hay bale before impacting with the top of my left shoulder. I was making my way, on hands and knees, towards Allison, when the errant shot hit me. The bag exploded, coating the side of my face with green flour.
I knew for certain they only had one bag left, and Jarrod, who was also still clean, had it. Allison and I each had one bag left, and she was the only one without a hit on our side. I figured that Jarrod would be using his last shot to get Allison. I snuck up close to Allison and told her what I had in mind. She smiled and nodded. It was obvious she was having a blast, and I was determined to make sure she stayed clean. We both jumped up, and side-by-side we ran straight toward Jarrod’s hiding place, on the opposite side of the playing field from us. When I was within striking distance I let me last bag fly. It hit the castle cutout where Jarrod was hiding, billowing purple flour into the air as it burst. Jarrod was unable to resist, and knowing I was out of baggies, rose from his cover. If he could take out Allison, their team would win.
He stood with a devilish grin and took deadly aim at her, completely ignoring me. With nothing short of well-timed perfection, I moved in front of her at the last possible second and took the baggie intended for her, full force in my chest. Still running, I peeled off to the side and let Allison, who was now less than five feet from Jarrod, paste him with her last shot. He stood transfixed in his spot, as Allison’s baggie flew true and burst open on his front, left side. He looked over at me and shrugged his shoulders. He raised his hand in a mock salute and the three of us started laughing. Allison was the only one still clean, and I felt like the knightly hero who had come to her rescue, even though she was the one who was the champion of the moment.
Everybody headed over towards the exit on the far side of the field, friends once more, now that the war was over. Everyone tried talking all at once, wanting to express their greatest highlights of the game. We stood outside the playing field as many of the onlookers came over to add their own thoughts about the game. It was fun to relive the great shots and watch as each person pointed out where they had hit one another and then making excuses for why they had gotten hit. Allison did something entirely unexpected. Once we were on the outside of the fenced-in war field, she reached out and grabbed my hand, locking her fingers into mine.
I felt the electricity of her touch race through my body. I stopped and turned towards her. She stood in front of me and, with her free hand, she reached up and brushed some of the flour away from my face. My heart was beating wildly, and I thought it would explode out of my chest. Before I could say or do anything, she rose up on her toes, lifted her head to look into my eyes, and kissed me tenderly. It was over before I could even react, but I would never forget our first, brief kiss.
She looked into my huge and startled eyes, then said, “Thanks for a great time. I can’t wait to see what’s next!”
Chapter 6
I was brought back to the present when one of the large, double doors leading into the church opened. I could hear the old familiar creaks and groans, as it swung open and then fell shut again. I didn’t have to turn around to know that it was my father. I could sense his presence. He hesitated, staying in the back of the church. When I didn’t hear his footsteps moving down the aisle, I wasn’t sure what to do or how to react. When he finally did start forward, he stopped along the outside of the pew where I sat. I looked up at him and could tell instantly he was totally drained of emotion. I knew how he felt. It was obvious he didn’t quite know how to approach me. Finally, he just asked if he could sit there with me for a spell. I nodded and slid over a little to make room for him to sit down.