Bush Pumpin'

My grandfather was a retired dentist. When I was in high school he still owned a small office building, but it was vacant. Every so often I drove by the office and make sure everything looked okay. The property was surrounded by tall hedges along the front and sides, with only one driveway to enter or exit the parking lot.

One day I drove in and immediately saw two boys standing tightly together in one corner of the hedges. From the street they were invisible, but there they were, hiding in the bushes and now looking at me with huge eyeballs.

The office was a couple of blocks from a middle school and the boys were clearly "that age." They ran like hell. To me it was a very funny situation. What would two middle school boys be doing in an empty parking lot surrounded by tall bushes?

Very likely they were busy with a private matter. I was pretty sure I'd interrupted them while they were assisting each other with a secret project to stroke their erect little seventh or eighth grade stiffies.

Io them my arrival meant serious danger of getting caught and reported to their parents or even the police, so they sprinted out of that little parking lot like the devil himself was after them.

I began driving through Grandpa's property more frequently, generally ten or fifteen minutes after school let out. But I never saw another pair of boys collaborating in the corner of the bushes.