i would suspect boys did more of this than girls. what activities did you get into that was truly dangerous... but you were oblivious to that. what did you do that didn't kill you?
One of the things us neighborhood kids loved to do was play king of the trees.
Douglas fir trees are plentiful in NW Oregon, and huge. They can reach 300 ft in height, and these were not the exception.
Three or four of us would pick our tree and race each other to the top.
Whoever would first get to the point of being able to bend the top over and touch the tip was king.
The best part, however, was not being king, but just camping there in the limbs, letting the wind blow us back and forth.
Folks woulda crapped their pants if they’d known what we were doin’.
Well, little Brady, a new foster kid of the neighborhood, (my personal Timmy of Lassie) wanted to climb.
I became a bit evil right there, and cautioned him that climbing those trees were not the same as yer everyday apple tree…but in the tone of lure and enticement.
The little guy was doin’ quite well, as doug fir limbs are rather close together…hell you could almost walk up them.
Then he musta made a misstep.
I heard some yelling, and some thumping sounds.
Then I caught sight of him flopping from one bough to the next.
Kathumping all the way to the bottom.
Seemed like he took forever.
Thing is, there’s about 20 feet of no limbs at the bottom,
and he was in no way gonna grab wunna those boards we used to start our climbs.
So he landed in a little Timmy heap, on his shoulder, in the bed of fir needles.
For another evil moment I sat at my treetop, kinda hoping he’d not move, at all, ever.
But the little bastard just got a dislocated shoulder and some bruises….and a new guardian.
Things sometimes just have a way of workin’ themselves out.