Long Ago and Far Away

I seem to be stuck in past.

Mayhaps it's the New Year channeling ghosts of days gone by.

Return with me the Summer of 1967. Lake Tahoe, North Shore, near Tahoe City. A roommate from college has hooked me up with a summer job. I'm working for a company that builds A-Frame cabins in the area. The crew are all near my age, some on summer vacation, some just hangin' out.

The company has rented two houses for the summer, and rents rooms to us...eight to ten guys in each house. No supervision except for our self control and (cough, cough) discipline. I feel so badly for the people who lived or stayed nearby that summer. We were atrocious.

One of the houses backed up to a campground, and a couple of the guys had watched way too much Yogi Bear as children. They would actually raid unguarded picnic baskets if the opportunity arose. The other house had a chest freezer, locked with a padlock. As we all know locks only keep out honest people. I doubt the rent covered the freezer contents.....

Then there was the stereo. Ours only had one setting for the volume control...wide open. Any complaints were greeted with not only trying to get even more volume, but playing the most obnoxious music we had available, usually Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. I'm sure we ruined at least a portion of many a citizens' holiday. If any of my readers were on the other side of the fence back then...I am truly sorry.

The story I want to tell is set against this backdrop. It's Friday or Saturday night, doesn't really matter which. A gaggle of us want to go to Stateline and see if we can find some fun. There are enough of us to require two cars maybe three. We fool around for a while, but none of us are old enough to gamble. One of the guys says he knows a cool place.

We pile into the cars and head back towards Tahoe City. Before we have gone too far, the lead car turns off the highway to the left and heads down a driveway towards the lake. We pull into a parking area, stop and get out.

We are parked in a cul-de-sac in front of a house. The house is completely dark and all is quiet. Our 'Guy' leads us along a path beside the house, past the back yard and up to a sort of cliff made of granite boulders. Following the others I discover that the cliff is honeycombed with passages. Climbing through and under these large boulders, in several minutes we are all on top of the cliff behind the house and probably 50' above the ground. We all sit down along the edge of the cliff; our feet dangle over the edge.

The night is clear and cool. My light jacket is good enough tonight. A half moon provides ample light. I can clearly see the house below and wonder who lives there and how our man knew about this place. Would the owner return soon?

I hear some talk down the line, and someone seems to busy at something down there. I'm not sure why we sitting here, but everyone else seems content to wait so I am too. At the end of the line, a match flares in the darkness. Someone has lit a smoke. I see the glow of the ember on the end of the smoke. It brightens briefly, I hear a sharp intake of breath, then the glowing ember moves closer to me. This sequence is repeated a few more times and then it is my turn. I take a drag, and immediately exhale. The guy next to me says in a funny, kinda choked whisper,trying to conserve what he has just inhaled, " No. You gotta hold it in!" I do better next time.

Several more joints are rolled, lit and passed. My friend explains that I may not even feel the high the first time. I don't know what to expect, and have no clue if I am gettin' high or not.

Don't know if we smoked all he brought, or if somebody decided we were good, but the smoking part was done. Everybody got up, me extra carefully, we were on the edge of a friggin cliff, ya know! We began to go back through the rocky labyrinth again. I seemed to hear guys everywhere. I thought they we all ahead of me, but now I hear some behind me as well. Soon I am confused and a bit lost. This concerns me more than a little...what if I can't find my out...what if no one can?

Guys are laughing and hooting. Must not be their first time..... they seems to be feeling it just fine. I keep heading down every chance I get. Suddenly I find myself at the bottom of the cliff. Glad to have escaped with my life, I work my way along the path to the front of the house, sure I'll find at least a couple of my buddies at the cars. Nobody. Ok. I'll wait.

I can see the cliff behind the house. And an occasional flash of light from a flashlight or two the guys had as they climb around and through the rocks. And then it hits me.... the noise! They are laughing and hollerin' like crazy, makin' a ton of noise. Somebody is bound to notice, and the Sheriff will soon be on his way. Shit! I call up, "Hey! Guys! Hold it down! We're gonna get busted!" Nothing...if anything it gets louder.

Houston, We have a Problem! They aren't paying attention and don't realize just how freakin' loud they are. Seriously. I am concerned someone is gonna get hurt up there, and I know the cops have to be on their way.

Who really knows where strokes of brilliance come from? Not me, but I do recognize one when it strikes me. Suddenly I KNOW how to get them down.

I cup my hands to my mouth and bellow in the general direction of the cliff, " You men up there! This is the Police! Come down with your hands in the air!"

Dead silence from above. Then whispered calls amongst the guys, "What was that? Did you hear something?"

Again, "You! Up on the cliff! Come down! We have you surrounded!"

From the cliff, "Shit what do we do now?"

This is working soooo well, I get into it a little deeper. I begin to shout instructions to my posse, "Bill, take the dogs around the back! Joe, don't let 'em get by you on the right! This is your last chance! Come down with your hands in the air!"

Then, much to my amazement, I see them walking down the trail, hands high over their heads, looking dazed and confused. They walked up to me and said, "Where are they?"

Where are who?