Max was better than an alarm clock, always woke Ed between 6 and 6.30am for his morning bathroom break outside followed by scraps from last night’s dinner.

Ed threw the sheets back and swung his entire body around until his feet hit the cold hardwood timber floor, he spent a few seconds visually searching for his slippers but soon remembered that Max had chewed one of them to a pulp the day before.

 

Ed stood up and headed down the hallway barefoot, as usual all was quiet. He tiptoed across the squeaky section of floor that had previously caught him out near his older sister Evie’s bedroom.  Waking her meant sharing the remaining Corn Flakes which he wasn’t prepared to do before the big day he had planned. Both his parents were still asleep at the other end of the house.

 

Ed poured the creamy milk over his Corn Flakes and then proceeded to sprinkle raw sugar over the top, the raw sugar made a crunching sound as he ate them and was even more of a delight when he lifted the bowl to his face and drank the remaining ‘sweet’ milk directly from the bowl, something neither of his parents would have allowed but, that was the bonus of rising early in the Cooper household.

The Coopers lived in a beautiful old timber home that had been built at the turn of the century from Douglas fir and western red cedar, it had been extended more than a few times to compensate for the growing families that inhabited its four walls.

 

Arthur Cooper, Ed’s Father was a second-generation timber mill worker, the aroma of saw dust could be smelled for miles in the little town of Monroe, Oregon. This little sleepy village in Washington State also had a shady past. Ironically Ed lived on ‘Shady Oak Drive’ which seemed appropriate considering the town’s history.

 

After downing his Corn Flakes Ed hurried back to his bedroom to get dressed for the day ahead, they were heading up to the old ‘Hull-Oakes’ Timber Mill in Dawson, about a 20-minute car ride via the town of Bellfountain although, Ed and his buddies were on BMX Bikes and would probably cut through Muddy Creek to save a bit of time. Once at the timber mill they would either have a swim in the quarry just a few hundred metres up Oliver Creek Road or explore the mountainous area behind the Mill.

 

Ed grabbed his backpack out from under his bed and dusted it off: Time to think, Ed spoke out aloud. 

“Now what do I need?  Compass, gloves, cap, rope, pen knife, matches, flash light, water bottle, bowl for Max & iPhone’.

 

Ed loved his iPhone, it was a shiny new Black iPhone 6S, it came out in September and he got it for Christmas. It was his only real connection with the world outside Monroe via his favourite music App ‘Spotify’. You see, when Ed wasn’t riding his BMX bike all over Washington State, he was making song lists to share with his mates, somedays Ed would have to recharge his phone a few times with all the music he played. Ed quickly grabbed his Vans and slipped them on as he could hear his mate ‘Thommo’ coming down the street. Paul ‘Thommo’ Thompson was as thin as a wafer and really tall, he wouldn’t have looked out of place on a Basketball court.

 

Thommo was Ed’s best friend, Ed always knew it was Thommo coming down the street as he used to attach playing cards to the rear wheel of his bike with Laundry pegs, it made his BMX sound like a Harley Davidson, always made Max bark too!

Just as Thommo pulled up outside Ed’s place, ‘Willsy’ and ‘Lovelace’ arrived. Craig Wills was a stocky little fella with blonde hair and blue eyes, he had huge muscles for his age, he loved to play football and wanted to be their High School Quarterback although at 5 feet 7 inches was probably more suited to Running Back or Tight End, ‘Willsy was also the daredevil of the group, ‘Willing Willsy’ they sometimes referred to him because he would have a go at anything, especially if it involved jumping over things on his bike, He also built and collected aircraft models, mainly military stuff, he loved anything to do with war.

 

Then there was ‘Lovelace’, Steven Lovelace had moved to Oregon with his Mum, Dad and older sister Sally when he was 5 from the UK.

 

The lads used to really give him heaps about his surname, even after Steven had explained that ‘Lovelace’ actually meant ‘Lawless’ or ‘Outlaw’ in Old English it made no difference. When they wanted to tease him, they’d call him ‘Lovely Lovelace’, Steven didn’t mind as he knew they were just trying to wind him up and when he first arrived in town, they all helped him practice his American accent, his London cockney accent had all but disappeared after 8 years in Oregon. The group had all met at the local Scout Hall and had been best mates ever since.

 

‘Come On Coops!’ Shouted Thommo as impatient as ever, Willsy was riding his bike down the 5 steps on Ed’s front garden whilst Lovelace played ball with Max.  Ed came flying out the front door grabbed his bike and headed towards the guys.

 

‘Hey fellas, shall we head towards Muddy Creek? shouted Ed.

 

‘For sure’ said Thommo ‘Let’s Go’.

 

They rode up Shady Oak Drive for a few hundred metres, passed the Vineyards on the left, cut across Kyle Road and took a sharp left and into the bush towards Muddy Creek. You could hear the echo of ‘Thommo’s ‘Harley Davidson/BMX bike in the quiet bush surrounds, Max lead the way like an aircraft beacon searching for his next meal, maybe a Garter snake or even better an eastern fox squirrel for breakfast?

 

Ed attended ‘Benson Polytecnic High School’ corner of Northeast and 12th Avenue, Portland. It was a short 30-minute bus trip up the 99W Pacific Hwy.

 

‘Benson Poly’ was a giant old red brick building with four huge white columns supporting the roof façade at the entrance, it always reminded Ed of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. He’d never been to Greece although he had been amazed by the size of the building when they discussed its construction methods in Woodwork class.

 

Directly across the road from ‘Benson Poly’, Ed and his mates loved to look at the cars in the Lithia (CDJR) Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram dealership whilst they were waiting for the bus each day. Ed’s favourite car was this shiny new, bright orange 2016 Dodge Challenger SXT, it looked very much like the ‘General Lee’ car from the old TV Show ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ that he watched occasionally with his Dad, Ed pictured himself doing massive jumps across ‘Muddy Creek’ although he wasn’t sure he’d have the confederate flag on his roof? Nor that it was his thing, more like something ‘Willsy’ would try.

They continued on the bush trail towards Muddy Creek when all of a sudden Max disappeared down an embankment to the left of the trail, Ed and the gang rode towards the edge to see what it was that Max was so interested in. Ed dropped his bike and slid down to the bottom of the embankment where he found Max, eye to eye with a ‘Western Rattlesnake’, The snake didn’t seem too happy with Max’s interruption, it had slithered out of its rock crevice for some sunshine, Ed slowly grabbed Max by the collar and backed away.

 

To Max all snakes were equally a target although Ed knew one bite from this Western Rattlesnake could be potentially lethal to Max. The rattler didn’t seem too bothered as it backed away into its den between two huge rocks. They continued up the trail towards Alpine another small village, Max had already forgotten his close encounter with the Rattlesnake and was out front again. After a few minutes Ed and the gang arrived at Muddy Creek, they had spent many summers swimming here and had built both a treehouse and a swing across the narrow creek. Today they had decided to head west up Green Peak Road, past Alpine Vineyards, the property just behind the Vineyard had been the setting for a huge DEA investigation in the late 1980’s, seems they were growing more than just grapes and just a taste of the ‘shady past’ the area was known for.

 

The boys carried their bikes across a fallen fir tree that lay over Larsen Creek, the river underneath was running quite quickly and it took some nerve to carry a bike across but they all managed albeit Lovelace wasn’t too impressed.
 

Ed knew if they headed north over McCloskey Ridge they would eventually come across Hull Oakes Lumber Co’s Sawmill, the gang frequently hung out near there so they could use the 2x4 timbers to make jumps and build treehouses.

They rode down a narrowing track that was quite secluded, none of the gang had been this way before so it was most exciting.  There was an old burnt out pick-up to the left of the track, probably been there for years as it was very rusty. Ed stopped to get his compass out of his backpack. Thommo, Willsy & Lovelace also stopped to survey the area.

‘Where the hell are we?’ Said Willsy.

‘We just need to head north for about 10 minutes and we’ll reach the Mill’ said Ed.

 

They began to ride forward into the rich green forest, the trees were much taller and the sunshine was almost nonexistent, it was getting darker the further into the forest they rode. The sounds of wildlife became much louder almost like someone had plugged them into an amplifier. Max was now on high alert for anything that moved, sniffing around looking for scents. The strange thing was, they were supposedly crossing the McCloskey Ridge although they appeared to be descending, the track was now only one metre wide and the boys rode in single file behind Max upfront. Ed saw something in his peripheral vision just to the right, he stopped again to get his flashlight out.  As Ed shone the flash light to his right he saw an opening between some rocks and what appeared to be a rusty steel door.
The boys laid their bikes down and headed towards the opening, although they knew it was daytime, it was so dark in the forest it seemed like the middle of the night. As the gang approached the opening the screech of bats scared the life out of them, obviously not used to seeing humans.

 
Ed now slightly shaken, clung to Willsy’s arm with Thommo and Lovelace very close behind, Max was a few steps ahead of them. Ed was shining the flash light up and down scanning the contents of the cave, as they got deeper into the cave there was a damp smell and they could hear water trickling down and dripping from the roof, the cave was very narrow at this point. They climbed over a huge boulder and down into an amazing underground lagoon, the many years of mineral deposits dripping from the ceiling had created some amazing looking stalactites and at the opposing end rising up out of the lagoon were stalagmites.

 

Just as Lovelace climbed over the large boulder and down towards the others admiring the lagoon there was an almighty crashing sound. One of the boulders had dislodged and fallen across their entry point, seemed they had no choice but to go even deeper into the cave.

 

They made their way across the shallow lagoon with Ed leading the way, even Max had now taken refuge next to Ed for some protection. As they arrived at the other end of the lagoon they heard a very faint sound coming from up ahead. It sounded like the garbage truck but Ed knew that wasn’t possible down in a cave. They continued to move forward and the sound got even louder, as they all rounded a tight bend in the cave there was a small beam of light coming from just above them to the right. Willsy climbed up first while Ed held the flash light, just as he reached the top a deafening sound came directly across the top of them, Willsy looked up. It was a giant aircraft. But not any ordinary aircraft. It was a Messerschmitt 262!!!

 

Willsy rubbed his eyes and took another look, nope he wasn’t seeing things, this was a genuine 1942 Messerschmitt 262 with Luftwaffe insignia on the side, a black and white swastika on the tail and two gigantic Junkers Jumo 004 jet engines.

 

Willsy turned to Ed and said ‘That was a German Luftwaffe aircraft, but none exist anymore, especially not in Oregon!”

As Willsy turned back he poked his head up slightly and noticed a building to his left, there was a huge red flag with a white circle and black swastika flying high above a stone building, but how could this be? It looked like the Nazi Reichstag building that had burned down in 1933?. Thommo and Lovelace climbed quickly upwards to witness what Willsy was trying his best to describe. Another two Planes flew overhead, this time a pair of Junkers JU88 Bombers also covered in German Luftwaffe markings and being chased by three British Spitfires with the unmistakable sound of their Rolls-Royce Merlin Engines, as Thommo stuck his head up he noticed Russian ‘Red Army’ soldiers and T-34 tanks heading towards them and hid quickly, he had never been so frightened, where the hell were they? What was going on?

 

Just then Ed’s face was smothered with liquid followed by hot dog’s breath, it was Max, Ed opened his eyes and looked to his right, it was 8.15am, he’d fallen back asleep and missed his school bus but WOW, what an amazing dream, he couldn’t wait to tell Willsy, Thommo and Lovelace about his adventures. Now it was time to tiptoe down the hallway for some Corn Flakes, Ed was starving and also very very late for school.

 

END