Leeches! | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Leeches! | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jennifer Percell
03/02/23
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Leeches!

Johnny Quest and Hadji did it, I can too. The mud squishes between my toes as I struggle up the bank of the creek. I stay far away from the big pipe that carries the spring run-off down to the Mississippi River. I know kids drown in those pipes but that's only when it's raining a lot. Today my muddy playground is safe.

The bank right here is tall and covered with weeds. I have to climb it because I am too little to get over the tree that fell in the water. I grab a handful of saplings and pull myself up. As I slide over the top the cool mud splashes my chin and leaves a long track down the front of my sundress.

There are stickers in the weeds beside the creek, I think they are raspberry bushes. I fling my waist length braid over my shoulder and the stickers catch my hair. I work to free my braid from the brambles and cut my hand. When I see the blood, I feel I am bravely fighting the dangers of the jungle just like Dr. Quest and Race Bannon and I grab a trusty sword from the underbrush to scare off the enemy.

Finally, I see my prize. I discovered this patch of reeds yesterday. I told Shelly about them, but she said Johnny Quest used bamboo for snorkels when he hid in the waters of the Amazon. I told her she would be sorry because I would swim underwater breathing through these reeds, and she would miss the whole adventure!

The reeds are harder to pull then I expected. I try but my muddy hands slip off. I pull again and they break, I fall hard on my bottom. With determination I break four more reeds and I have enough.

Here where the fallen tree has made a little dam, the water is pooled. I can lay on the bottom and breathe through my reeds. As I start down the bank, I lose my balance. I land with a splash and the cool water makes me laugh out loud. Shelly has no idea what she is missing!! The four good reeds fit perfectly into the space left by my missing front teeth. I practice breathing while I plug my nose. It's easy to breath in but when I try to breathe out two reeds pop out.

I lean back, place the two reeds in my teeth and plug my nose. My shoulders tremble a little as I try not to fall back. I lay down and the water swooshes around my ears, I see my braids float up beside my head. The muddy water stings my eyes a little, but I keep them open. I lay very still and breathe in and out through the reeds.

Lying in the mud I think of cartoon Johnny Quest and Hadji floating down the Amazon with their bamboo snorkels and I believe I am as brave as they are. I like the squishy mud and I don't even flinch when some minnows swim right by my reeds.

In my watery, quiet world I think of another creek my teacher read about, where Laura and Mary Ingles played with nasty Nellie Olson.

Leeches!!!!

I sputter and gasp as creek water fills my nose. I choke on a mouthful as the reeds float away. The mud seems to pull me down as I splash frantically to get out of the water. My feet slip deeper in until I finally grab a branch of the fallen tree and pull myself up on the dry trunk. Scraping at my arms and legs I check every inch for those awful black leeches. I walk the trunk until I am well away from the muddy bank and any more danger of the clingy, slimy worms Laura and Mary hated so much.

I was brave, I did snorkel with the reeds, just like I said I would. But there will be no more adventures for me today. I go home and turn on the garden hose. I pull a wash rag off the clothesline and scrub at the mud until my legs and arms are red.

I will get a book and read under the lilac tree, Charlotte's Web or Winnie the Pooh, any book but Little House on the Prairie!!

*Based on my childhood adventures in the early 60's.

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