(Let me start out by saying that this was a tall tale until I found a video on the internet that proved it to be fact - well, at least its proof enough for me.)
It seem a few years ago, so the story goes, a group of people where out camping deep in the Texas hill country. After driving for an hour or so, down and old abandoned road somewhere northwest of Kerrville, they had found a small clearing in the woods.
It was the first day of the camp out; a day of loading camping equipment, traveling to the site and setting up camp. Tomorrow was to be filled with fishing, hiking and just generally enjoying nature in it’s finest. But, as the campers were to find out, nature doesn’t always go by the plans and wishes of the visitors to its domain. Yes, nature can provide very exhilarating and unexpectedly joyous experiences but sometimes, in a seeming callous way, it can also put people in harms way. Both were to be on natures agenda for these temporary escapees from civilization this weekend.
After enjoying a meal cooked over an open campfire, everyone started to take advantage of the first opportunity to relax. Then as the evening gave way to a brilliant star filled night sky the campers all lounged around the warn glow of the campfire's light. The conversation started to taper off until all that could be heard was the crackling of the fire and the frogs croaking in the near by pond - or tank as we call then in Texas.
With everyone wrapped in their own thoughts, watching the fire's sparks rise ever so high into the starry night above, a gentle peace settled over the camp site. As the smell of the campfire filled the night air, a slight breeze picked up out of the south. The tree leaves rustling in the soft breeze caused a shimmering effect as the campfires light reflected off their shinny surfaces.
Damn!!!!, bellowed out one of the young men. The exclamation split the calm like a meat cleaver as everyone jerked in shock. "It is way too quite around here, I'll be right back." said the man as he jumped to his feet and bounded off into the darkness. Expletives of disgust and slurs to his parentage muttered throughout the group.
In a few seconds a happy music could be heard off in the dark towards where the cars were parked. The pulsating Latin rhythm, highlighted by the sound of a cow bell clanking on the top of every beat, grew louder and louder as the young man bounded back toward the campsite. The lid on one of the ice cooler was flung open and sounds of hands plunging into cold icy water and the pop of beer cans being open joined with the music.
Conversation and laughter once again started to fill the air as the young man - boom box in tow - enter back into the glow of the fire's light with the music now blaring. A marshmallow flew over the fire and bounced off of his forehead as one of the girls stood up, whacked him on the arm and called him a name that refers to part of the neither regions of the human anatomy.
A big, playful grin then spread across his face. After seeing that grin, no one in the group was able to hold anymore animosity toward him - although, the name of the neither region did ring out a few more times.
Several more logs were tossed on the fire as an eruption of sparks flew up into the air. Everyone was now caught up in the beat of the music, the camaraderie of good friends and the joy of the evening.
Then, off in the near by bushes, a ruckus started. Only a few of the merrymakers heard it at first. But as those few stood motionless looking off into the darkness, others stopped and became aware of the commotion. Soon the flames from the fire, lapping up into the air and the happy, pulsating music was the only activity going on around the campfire. Everyone was deed still, fixated on the bushes as they continued to thrash back and forth. Fear then started to appear on the campers faces as they huddled together at the though of some sort of night creature jumping out at them.
The petrified group just watched as the thrashing bush with the fires flickering light upon it, surreally danced to the blaring Latin rhythm of the music. One of the gentlemen then slowly squatted down to pick up a log as the only means of defense for the isolated band of weekend adventures.
Everyone’s eyes opened wider and wider as the thrashing of the bush grew more intense. Then, in a final convolution, out popped a two foot bundle of green and brown rags that immediately tumbled to the ground. Within the wink of an eye the fear pasted on the faces of the campers morphed into utter astonishment. They all leaned forward in unison to see if what they were seeing was actually what they were seeing.
It was Dopey, one of the seven dwarfs… and it seems he is a big time sucker for a good cumbia - as it turns out, all seven were. So, instead of a fierce night creature getting ready to pounce on everyone, it was just Dopey dancing in the bushes.
Even though he now lay prone on the ground, his little soft brown leather clad feet still danced to the music. Totally oblivious to his audience he hopped back up and kept moving to the clanging beat of the cow bell in the cumbia’s rhythmic pulsations. Dressed in a soft green dwarf coat, that went all the way down to ground, his floppy dwarf hat bounced on his head as his floppy dwarf ears did the same. The mouths of the campers started to fall open and absolute wonder replace the astonishment on their faces. A bit of laughter started to trickle throughout the gathering.
Then another head popped out of the bushes. It was Doc. Unlike Dopey, he immediately saw that their presence and been observed. Grabbing Dopey’s coat, Doc yanked him back into the bushes and as they hurried off his small dwarf voice was heard shouting in alarm, “Run everyone, we’ve been found out!”
Full fledged laughter then erupted in the camp. Giddiness’ filled the women as the thrill of an upcoming hunt raced through the veins of the men. Without a word being said the group unanimously chose to ignore the dangers of running recklessly through unknown woods in the middle of the night and all speed off in pursuit. The only command being barked out at the last second was to make sure that someone was bringing the music.
No one is sure as to the exact turn of events after that. Silence has been strictly observed by all party evolved. No one is even really sure who was actually their; the story being past down as what someone heard from a friend of someone who knew someone that was their. It is surmised that in exchange for the music and total silence as to the existence of the new Texas residence, the campers were invited to an evening of fun and merriment in the home of the seven dwarfs - or the Magnificent Seven, as they preferred being called now that they live in Texas.
Jim
*** End of the tale, now for the proof. ***
But you know what, even with the silence being strictly adhered to by the participant, in this new age of technology there always seem to be a video - doesn’t there? Look what I found on the internet. Now Robert (aka zorro69) claimed that he manufactured this video. But to me, with these rumors flying around and then this video all of a sudden shows up, I’ve pretty well have it all figured out. You see, Robert (aka zorro69) was actually one of the campers that night and snuck a video camera in to the party. He is just saying that he manufactured this video in order to stay in compliance with his oath of silence. Anyway, here’s the link to the video, see for yourself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAq3hWBlalU
Home Page
It seem a few years ago, so the story goes, a group of people where out camping deep in the Texas hill country. After driving for an hour or so, down and old abandoned road somewhere northwest of Kerrville, they had found a small clearing in the woods.
It was the first day of the camp out; a day of loading camping equipment, traveling to the site and setting up camp. Tomorrow was to be filled with fishing, hiking and just generally enjoying nature in it’s finest. But, as the campers were to find out, nature doesn’t always go by the plans and wishes of the visitors to its domain. Yes, nature can provide very exhilarating and unexpectedly joyous experiences but sometimes, in a seeming callous way, it can also put people in harms way. Both were to be on natures agenda for these temporary escapees from civilization this weekend.
After enjoying a meal cooked over an open campfire, everyone started to take advantage of the first opportunity to relax. Then as the evening gave way to a brilliant star filled night sky the campers all lounged around the warn glow of the campfire's light. The conversation started to taper off until all that could be heard was the crackling of the fire and the frogs croaking in the near by pond - or tank as we call then in Texas.
With everyone wrapped in their own thoughts, watching the fire's sparks rise ever so high into the starry night above, a gentle peace settled over the camp site. As the smell of the campfire filled the night air, a slight breeze picked up out of the south. The tree leaves rustling in the soft breeze caused a shimmering effect as the campfires light reflected off their shinny surfaces.
Damn!!!!, bellowed out one of the young men. The exclamation split the calm like a meat cleaver as everyone jerked in shock. "It is way too quite around here, I'll be right back." said the man as he jumped to his feet and bounded off into the darkness. Expletives of disgust and slurs to his parentage muttered throughout the group.
In a few seconds a happy music could be heard off in the dark towards where the cars were parked. The pulsating Latin rhythm, highlighted by the sound of a cow bell clanking on the top of every beat, grew louder and louder as the young man bounded back toward the campsite. The lid on one of the ice cooler was flung open and sounds of hands plunging into cold icy water and the pop of beer cans being open joined with the music.
Conversation and laughter once again started to fill the air as the young man - boom box in tow - enter back into the glow of the fire's light with the music now blaring. A marshmallow flew over the fire and bounced off of his forehead as one of the girls stood up, whacked him on the arm and called him a name that refers to part of the neither regions of the human anatomy.
A big, playful grin then spread across his face. After seeing that grin, no one in the group was able to hold anymore animosity toward him - although, the name of the neither region did ring out a few more times.
Several more logs were tossed on the fire as an eruption of sparks flew up into the air. Everyone was now caught up in the beat of the music, the camaraderie of good friends and the joy of the evening.
Then, off in the near by bushes, a ruckus started. Only a few of the merrymakers heard it at first. But as those few stood motionless looking off into the darkness, others stopped and became aware of the commotion. Soon the flames from the fire, lapping up into the air and the happy, pulsating music was the only activity going on around the campfire. Everyone was deed still, fixated on the bushes as they continued to thrash back and forth. Fear then started to appear on the campers faces as they huddled together at the though of some sort of night creature jumping out at them.
The petrified group just watched as the thrashing bush with the fires flickering light upon it, surreally danced to the blaring Latin rhythm of the music. One of the gentlemen then slowly squatted down to pick up a log as the only means of defense for the isolated band of weekend adventures.
Everyone’s eyes opened wider and wider as the thrashing of the bush grew more intense. Then, in a final convolution, out popped a two foot bundle of green and brown rags that immediately tumbled to the ground. Within the wink of an eye the fear pasted on the faces of the campers morphed into utter astonishment. They all leaned forward in unison to see if what they were seeing was actually what they were seeing.
It was Dopey, one of the seven dwarfs… and it seems he is a big time sucker for a good cumbia - as it turns out, all seven were. So, instead of a fierce night creature getting ready to pounce on everyone, it was just Dopey dancing in the bushes.
Even though he now lay prone on the ground, his little soft brown leather clad feet still danced to the music. Totally oblivious to his audience he hopped back up and kept moving to the clanging beat of the cow bell in the cumbia’s rhythmic pulsations. Dressed in a soft green dwarf coat, that went all the way down to ground, his floppy dwarf hat bounced on his head as his floppy dwarf ears did the same. The mouths of the campers started to fall open and absolute wonder replace the astonishment on their faces. A bit of laughter started to trickle throughout the gathering.
Then another head popped out of the bushes. It was Doc. Unlike Dopey, he immediately saw that their presence and been observed. Grabbing Dopey’s coat, Doc yanked him back into the bushes and as they hurried off his small dwarf voice was heard shouting in alarm, “Run everyone, we’ve been found out!”
Full fledged laughter then erupted in the camp. Giddiness’ filled the women as the thrill of an upcoming hunt raced through the veins of the men. Without a word being said the group unanimously chose to ignore the dangers of running recklessly through unknown woods in the middle of the night and all speed off in pursuit. The only command being barked out at the last second was to make sure that someone was bringing the music.
No one is sure as to the exact turn of events after that. Silence has been strictly observed by all party evolved. No one is even really sure who was actually their; the story being past down as what someone heard from a friend of someone who knew someone that was their. It is surmised that in exchange for the music and total silence as to the existence of the new Texas residence, the campers were invited to an evening of fun and merriment in the home of the seven dwarfs - or the Magnificent Seven, as they preferred being called now that they live in Texas.
Jim
*** End of the tale, now for the proof. ***
But you know what, even with the silence being strictly adhered to by the participant, in this new age of technology there always seem to be a video - doesn’t there? Look what I found on the internet. Now Robert (aka zorro69) claimed that he manufactured this video. But to me, with these rumors flying around and then this video all of a sudden shows up, I’ve pretty well have it all figured out. You see, Robert (aka zorro69) was actually one of the campers that night and snuck a video camera in to the party. He is just saying that he manufactured this video in order to stay in compliance with his oath of silence. Anyway, here’s the link to the video, see for yourself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAq3hWBlalU
Home Page
I knew you were exaggerating (predictably Texan!). The Magnificent (er, WEE!) Seven were doing the cumbia around a fireplace inside a warm Disneyesque cottage in the woods, not around a Texas campfire. Sheesh! I'm gonna SNOPES this one!
Posted by: DeNeice DeNeice DeNeice | December 22, 2009 at 09:58 AM
Hi Denise,
First off let me say; I am so excited someone took the time to comment on one of my essays. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.
Second off; it was my intention that in paragraph 16; 3rd sentence - Without a word being said the group unanimously chose to ignore the dangers of running recklessly through unknown woods in the middle of the night and all speed off in pursuit – the phrase “speed off in pursuit” was to show that they actually left the campfire setting to a destination unknown. Once the reader opened up the url link they would then know where the unknown destination was. But then; I have to admit, I am a neophyte at this writing stuff. If my intent was not properly demonstrated I would appreciate any advice - be it sarcastic, comical or constructive - as to how I might take my readers from the campfire to the cottage.
Posted by: Jim Matej | December 23, 2009 at 11:24 PM