The Goose Trail
I have such fond memories of the summer of 13. I spent it with family in Victoria, after my parents got divorced. A healthy distraction is what I needed, and luckily the divorce hadn't split my morals up and I remained able to safely navigate my way through some pretty serious situations.
Graham was 28, or so the tale goes. He had sandy red hair and freckles that seemed to distort his face, or maybe it was his creepy gummy voice that did it. He was the local drugdealer who spent time at the lake in Langford, selling god-knows-what to unsuspecting teenagers.
It was cast of characters. There was Bunyon, who was 15 and had all the fixings for a future convict. He had already been in trouble with the law, and I'll never forget the day he escaped the hold of a cop outside of Mac's. We were hanging out there with our bikes and the cops showed up with their arrest warrant, and as he was being lead to the car, he twisted his wrist and took off into the woods. I never saw him again.
There was Matt, who tried to drown me in the lake. I thought up until that point he had a crush on me, but then I thought he actually wanted to kill me. I later found out and wrote all about his lies, which, at the time, seemed like a big deal. He'd bragged about being 15, smoking since the age of six and being a badass. He was 13 and had only smoked for a year, which to me, at the time for whatever reason, wasn't cool enough.
There was Willow, who later became a teenage mom, Ashley and Melissa, Robby, Rick and Paul. Sean, Cory, Sam, Me, my cousin Kate, Bonnie, Mike, Angela, Pete, Toren, Arlissa, Faye, Chris, Marty, Rene, Shannon, Debi and Morigan. The only way I remember is because I wrote down all their names in my journal and titled the list, "Lakers."
Then there was Andre. And Jason. My two loves of the summer.
Andre was Robby's friend. Robby and Melissa were friends of Kate's, and they lived right around the corner from her. Jason was from Langford, and lived in a small house on the other side of the highway.
I confessed to Andre that I liked him from a tree branch. He was standing on the ground and bugging me about telling him what I was thinking about. I kind of yelled it at him like it was a problem. Then we set a mailbox on fire and eventually I lost interest in him because he offered me a hug in a wetsuit. It was soaked, and I thought that was lame.
Jason and Kate seemed to be hitting it off more so I let that go, and came back to Montreal the same person as when I left, only with a whole bunch of stories under my belt. At the time, I saw these kids as ordinary kids. It was exciting that some of them were in trouble with the law, that they drank and smoked and did all kinds of dangerous things... but as I reflect about that summer, I can only say that poverty is such a vicious cycle.
Most of them didn't have a fightin' chance. And I'll never know what happened to any of them, I remember hearing that Graham the drug dealer finally went away, and that Willow had a baby.
I went back to visit the lake a few years ago, rested in the woods off the Galloping Goose Trail in Langford BC, a bike trail we'd take every day for weeks that summer. It seemed a lot smaller and the dock had changed, but there was still a tonne of teenagers partying in the water.
Choices? Life circumstance? Maybe the choices are already made for us...
DJ Brace,
Katie
Graham was 28, or so the tale goes. He had sandy red hair and freckles that seemed to distort his face, or maybe it was his creepy gummy voice that did it. He was the local drugdealer who spent time at the lake in Langford, selling god-knows-what to unsuspecting teenagers.
It was cast of characters. There was Bunyon, who was 15 and had all the fixings for a future convict. He had already been in trouble with the law, and I'll never forget the day he escaped the hold of a cop outside of Mac's. We were hanging out there with our bikes and the cops showed up with their arrest warrant, and as he was being lead to the car, he twisted his wrist and took off into the woods. I never saw him again.
There was Matt, who tried to drown me in the lake. I thought up until that point he had a crush on me, but then I thought he actually wanted to kill me. I later found out and wrote all about his lies, which, at the time, seemed like a big deal. He'd bragged about being 15, smoking since the age of six and being a badass. He was 13 and had only smoked for a year, which to me, at the time for whatever reason, wasn't cool enough.
There was Willow, who later became a teenage mom, Ashley and Melissa, Robby, Rick and Paul. Sean, Cory, Sam, Me, my cousin Kate, Bonnie, Mike, Angela, Pete, Toren, Arlissa, Faye, Chris, Marty, Rene, Shannon, Debi and Morigan. The only way I remember is because I wrote down all their names in my journal and titled the list, "Lakers."
Then there was Andre. And Jason. My two loves of the summer.
Andre was Robby's friend. Robby and Melissa were friends of Kate's, and they lived right around the corner from her. Jason was from Langford, and lived in a small house on the other side of the highway.
I confessed to Andre that I liked him from a tree branch. He was standing on the ground and bugging me about telling him what I was thinking about. I kind of yelled it at him like it was a problem. Then we set a mailbox on fire and eventually I lost interest in him because he offered me a hug in a wetsuit. It was soaked, and I thought that was lame.
Jason and Kate seemed to be hitting it off more so I let that go, and came back to Montreal the same person as when I left, only with a whole bunch of stories under my belt. At the time, I saw these kids as ordinary kids. It was exciting that some of them were in trouble with the law, that they drank and smoked and did all kinds of dangerous things... but as I reflect about that summer, I can only say that poverty is such a vicious cycle.
Most of them didn't have a fightin' chance. And I'll never know what happened to any of them, I remember hearing that Graham the drug dealer finally went away, and that Willow had a baby.
I went back to visit the lake a few years ago, rested in the woods off the Galloping Goose Trail in Langford BC, a bike trail we'd take every day for weeks that summer. It seemed a lot smaller and the dock had changed, but there was still a tonne of teenagers partying in the water.
Choices? Life circumstance? Maybe the choices are already made for us...
DJ Brace,
Katie
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