When Ever I Hear The Song of a Bird

When we went out to play with friends away from our own home and yard, it was difficult for us to know when it was time to come home. The standard practice in our neighborhood was for someone with a big voice to go out on the porch and yell the name of the kid who needed to come home. Each child could recognize the distinctive sound of his mother, father, brother or sister calling his name. I can still remember the sound of my next-door neighbor, Cleoma Allen calling Gaaaaryyyyy from her front porch. Gary did not have any big brothers to call him home, but I had three of them. One day I was playing with my friend, Rick, on a nice summer morning. We had been playing for quite a while and I was getting hungry. I heard the song of a meadow lark and thought to myself "Maybe that means it's lunch time." I went home and asked my mother if it was lunch time yet. She replied, "It sure is!" After that, when ever I heard the song of a meadow lark, I decided that it was probably lunch time and I would go home for lunch. Sure enough, it usually was lunch time. Sometimes we took our lunch with us so we wouldn't have to stop playing and go home for lunch. I took a tuna fish sandwich or sometimes peanut butter and jelly. My friend, Gary's, favorite was a tuna fish and jam sandwich. He tried to get me to try it but I just couldn't make myself do it. One time, my friend, Rick, and I took our tuna fish sandwiches to our tree hut to eat. He had two fire crackers with him and some matches, so we decided we would eat one sandwich and put the two fire crackers in the other one to see what would happen when we lit them. The sandwich exploded in every direction, covering us both with tuna fish! We both agreed that it had been a great experiment, but when our moms did the laundry that week they suspected something fishy had been going on. I went over to Rick's house to play with him late one afternoon, but he didn't come to the door. A big girl in the neighborhood, whom I didn't know well, said to me "He's in the back yard. I will show you." She knew the family was on vacation, but I did not know it. When we were out of sight, she held me tight and took my clothes off and would not let me go. I cried and pleaded with her, but she poked me with sticks and held me tight. Then one of my big brothers began calling me from our back porch over and over again. I told my tormentor that I had to go home or they would come looking for me. She believed me and feared she would be caught, so she let me get dressed and go home. I told my family what had happened. My big brothers made sure that girl would never bother me again. I was sure glad that my big brother had come out when he did and called loudly from our back porch so that the whole neighborhood could hear him. It may not have been the song of a bird, but it came when I needed it the most, and it certainly was time to come home! Terry Stephens