Red Eye

What was considered an initiation in the olden days, would now be considered hazing and or abuse.  

A true story

            It was a cool evening in October, the sun had gone down about 30 minutes earlier. We were in a wooded area near a pond (tank for you Texans). We had built a large fire with big stones placed around it to keep the fire from spreading. The flames from the fire were about 2 feet high and crackling repeatedly as everyone began to gather around.

            This was my first campout with the boy scouts. The tents were in place with our sleeping bags inside. A supper of chili had been prepared by the scout leaders and eaten by the boys. All was well in our jungle abode.

There was this thing called “the talking stick”.  Let me explain before that one person asks, it was just a regular stick, no the stick could not talk. It was called “the talking stick” because the only person that was allowed to talk was the person holding the stick.

The evening began as I assume many camping trips do, with telling of scary stories. The talking stick was passed from one scout to another.  The last scout to receive the talking stick was a bigger boy whose name was Toby. Toby had been a scout for several years.  His story was about a monster called “Red Eye”. 

Red Eye was about ten feet tall and was known to be in this area. This monster had one big red eye in the center of his forehead that glowed at night. He stalked through these woods at night looking for unsuspecting people to kill and eat.  He especially liked kids because they were tender and sweet, their bones would break easily.  Red eye would often catch his victim and take them back to his cave deep in the forest. 

After the Red Eye story was told the newest member of the group was initiated. I was that member. I was taken by the entire group of boys (scout leaders stay in camp) down to the pond where I was tied hand and foot. Lying on the ground I was told that I had better be there in the morning when they returned. You would think scouts could tie better knots than they did because I untied myself in less than a minute, but I stayed where they told me to in the cold dark night.

Then it happened. There I was along in the dark with the monster Red Eye coming after me. It was Toby with another boy on his shoulders holding a red flash light. They were trying to make scary noises but they weren’t very convincing. The best part was when Toby stepped in a hole and they both fell to the ground. They weren’t hurt but the monster was no longer.

I guess this could have been frightening for some kids but to me the whole thing was just plain fun.

From the monstrous mind of             Don Ford

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