Duck Creek

Back in the 1980’s, there was a successful book called “All I Ever Needed to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten”. By the time that book was published, I was married with three kids, and I remember thinking, “All I ever needed to know, I learned in Duck Creek.”

In 1958, my hometown was a sparsely populated berg about twenty miles from Dallas, Texas. I grew up in the very Northwest corner of that town, in an even more sparsely populated sub-division.

At the far Eastern border of my neighborhood was Shiloh Road, a “major thoroughfare” consisting of two asphalt lanes divided by a white stripe down the middle. The road was raised a good foot above the surrounding terrain and had sloping gravel shoulders. It felt like the great wall of China, dividing civilization from the great unknown.

My parents’ rule was that I could ride my bike all about the neighborhood but should never cross Shiloh Road. I crossed Shiloh Road. About ten yards East of Shiloh there was a rusty three-strand barbed-wire fence enclosing a sheep pasture.

Leaving our bikes against that fence and gingerly crawling through the rusty wires, my friends and I could hike fifty yards across the pasture and enter the thick woods surrounding Duck Creek. I spent a lot of my youth in Duck Creek and learned a lot of valuable lessons.

Nature
I learned that nature is in a constant struggle to replace everything. The opening to our obscure path through the woods was constantly being overgrown at the edge of the meadow and we often had to hunt for it. Tromping down through those dark woods, I learned about trees, thorns, poison ivy, and snakes. Once, I saw a snake swim across Duck Creek with its head out of the water and exit on dry land like a writhing, wriggling demon.

Hunting
My friend, Paul, was a year older and owned not one, but two Crossman, pump-up pellet rifles. In the Summer of 1964, Paul and I spent a lot of time in those woods hunting wild game, mostly in the form of squirrels. Paul taught me that you had to quietly and carefully stalk animals because they had really good ears and could hear us coming.

Firearm Safety & Vocabulary
Once, Paul and I spotted a red fox walking through the woods near the creek, so we set off in stealthy but hurried pursuit. We had to jump across a wide gully and Paul, being the natural leader, went first. When I made my leap, the impact of the landing caused my finger, which was gripping the trigger, to flinch and my air rifle went off, narrowly missing Paul’s head.

My misfire wasn’t as close or deadly as the nutjob who shot at President Trump, but Paul heard it go by and would have boxed my ears if the fox wasn’t getting away. He still mumbled some swear words I’d never heard before and I committed them to memory for future reference.

Anatomy
One afternoon, Paul and I were slinking through the woods in hopes of encountering a mountain lion or elephant when we heard splashing and laughing over in the creek. Using our best stalking techniques, we crept up a slight ridge and peered through some tall grass. Just below us, next to a dammed-up section of the creek, were a high school boy and a high school girl.

To our utter astonishment, they were buck naked! The male didn’t look like anything we’d ever seen — he was hairy and had a long “appendage”. The girl too was unlike any of the petite pixies in Mrs. Pitts’ fourth grade class. She also had interestingly exaggerated features.

After a few minutes, Paul suggested we leave before the police arrive. Personally, I thought he was being paranoid, but while I favored further investigation, Paul was the boss. I’ve never responded well to authority since then.

Reptiles
A few years later, I was with my older brother and his friend Roy, exploring much further down the creek. South of the low dam, the creek was just a trickle of water, especially in the Summer so we would spend entire days hiking through it and enjoying general mischief.

It was Roy who spotted the snapping turtle lounging in the sun. And it was Roy who nudged it with the tip of his Converse All-Star sneaker, only to discover how fast it could react. The beast clamped down on Roy’s shoe, piercing the rubber sneaker and taking a thin chunk out of Roy’s toe.

Roy had to remove his shoe with turtle still attached and walk all the way back home with that monster clinging relentlessly to his sneaker. Roy threw the turtle in an old plastic wading pool in his back yard and kept it captive for years but he never dared to stick his foot in that pool.

Physics
About a mile from our regular creek entrance, there was a railroad trestle. We spent a lot of time on that bridge and eventually figured out when the train would make its routine trip across. One day, we laid a handful of coins on the track in anticipation of the approaching locomotive. The outcome was spectacular. We retrieved most of our coins in a much-altered state.

Before we left that day, I secretly laid a three-inch stone on the track and later stayed awake all night fearing the train derailment it might cause. Nothing ever happened.

Geology
In seventh grade Earth Science class, we learned about fossils and I was excited to discover that the white shale of Duck Creek, contained hundreds of fossils. Everything from shells, to leaves, to worms, was fossilized in that rock.

I simply borrowed my dad’s best wood chisel and framing hammer and went to work on that old creek. When my dad later discovered his badly misused chisel, I feigned ignorance and blamed my brother (although that lesson should probably go under the heading of “Plausible Deniability”.

I honestly feel sorry for contemporary kids who are tethered to Gameboy consoles and never get the opportunity to break anything more than a fingernail. They may never experience the drama of getting a tetanus shot because of the rusty barbed-wire fence or seeing their friend almost lose a toe to a snapping turtle. No wonder they’re all such timid little weenies.

A meeting of great minds who think alike