House of Pain

Harry and I went to an old house in the middle of nowhere a few miles outside of our town with another boy from school. He was a year or two younger than us. We knew him, but never hung out or did things together, so I'm not sure why we were with him on this particular day. Harry must have been at least 16 because the house is too far out of town to have ridden our bikes. So we were a little older for this story.

This house had once been a large two-story farmhouse (if I remember correctly). And no one had lived in it for years. So what were we doing out there? Speeding the effects of time on an abandoned building, of course. We were throwing bricks, kicking things down, just causing harmless damage to an old object that didn't mind.

And then this boy's face went white as he saw a vehicle driving up the lane to the house. Harry and I did the natural thing, we ran and hid behind something large (a fallen down section of wall if I remember correctly). The vehicle stopped and it was this boy's dad. They didn't live too far from there. And then the terror hit me and Harry.

This boy's dad got out and started yelling at him and cussing. I don't think he was happy that his son was there. And then we heard his dad hitting him. Ouch! There was no way we were showing ourselves, we just hoped the boy didn't say anything about us being there too. After what seemed like eternity they both got in their vehicle and left.

Needless to say, as soon as the dust from their vehicle was gone we were in ours and headed home! I haven't been in that area for a LONG time but I doubt the house is still there. And when we saw the boy at school again we never did mention that day to him.

Monday, August 25, 2008 - UPDATE

After reading this story, Harry provided these additional details via email:

Harry and I had a friend with us that day. We three had been out presumably looking for trouble when we found this abandoned farm "complex". In addition to the house there was an old barn and possibly one or two sheds. There was a U-shaped driveway and we hid the car behind the last building. The boy in this story lived near there and rode up on his bicycle and joined us in our "destruction fever". So Harry, our friend, and I were in the barn when we heard another vehicle pull up. And that was the boy's dad. You can read the original story above for what happened next, but the way Harry put it was "...his dad turned into Mr. T on a pissy bad hair day!"

Harry's epilogue: Harry talked to the boy at school the next Monday. Harry nervously mentioned the incident and the boy said it was no big deal. Nothing was ever said again about that day.