The 105th One 4/17/24

If you read these please start from the first day or not whatever-it's your life!

I'm going to tell you a story about the time me and my friend were walking past a dead body for like six months and didn't know it. It's nothing creepy, just weird and appropriate for this forum.

In fourth and fifth grade I was best friends with Ben Pamplin. His mom was the manager of “The Glen Apartment Complex'' which was a set of like sixteen apartment buildings right across the park from my house. For two years we were pretty inseparable. We walked home from school together and played football or basketball or tennis or explored the entire city until it was time to go home. I long for those days. In sixth or seventh grade his Mom remarried and moved to the next town over, Belton, TX, which was like 10 miles away from me. Not too far, but enough he had to go to another school district and change schools. He moved into a really nice lake house with his mom and new step dad. His step dad was actually a pretty cool guy, I think they're still together like 30 years later. I'm happy for them. But anyways.

They would invite me out for the weekend and we would play in this big house and run all around the woods and go swimming in the lake right down the cliff from his house. There was a trail leading from his back porch about ¼ mile down to the lake. We walked this trail all the time to go swimming. So we would play around the neighborhood and apartment complex all day and then when his Mom got off we would drive out to the lake house. These were the glorious times. Twelve years old, no responsibilities, the run of this complex with two pools, woods, tennis/basketball courts, creeks, the mall was walking distance and 100 friends with nothing to do all Summer. I've said it before and I'll say it again-with the exception of my children I would trade anything to go back to these days. We had no idea how lucky we actually were. 

So one day we notice on the news they found a dead body in Demons Landing Two. This was the development where they lived. His Mom and we were excited. We all piled in his Suburban and drove to the lake house. We got out there and drove around the neighborhood for like an hour looking for the police or anything that looked like the news. We found nothing so we went to the house. We forgot about the news and decided to go swimming. So we walked down the trail that we had been using for like 6 months to get to the lake and half way down we noticed YELLOW POLICE TAPE! It was to the left of the trail. That's right, what we were looking for was right under our noses the entire time.  There had been a dead body off this trail that we had been walking right by for like 6 months. We never suspected a thing. By the time we found out that day everything including the media, the police and the actual body was gone. The body was just bones by that point. It turns out it was a homicide. Two guys are co-workers, somehow got in a fight and that's where he hid the body after he did the unthinkable. I remember that night me and Ben plus his big brother and little sister all slept in the same room because we were scared. At that time they had not caught whoever did it so we had no clue if it was a neighbor or what. It was really weird and a little scary. Ben and I eventually grew apart but about five years ago I went back to my hometown and me and him had a beer. I asked him about this and he shrugged it off like it wasn't a big deal. I had been thinking about it for twenty years and even though he lived right by it, he forgot all about it. 

Anyways, I miss you Ben , I hope you and your family are well, if you read this, send me a message or give me a call if you have a chance.

The Artwork-”Im Gumby dammit” Even though I recognize the character Gumby I dont know where he's actually from. Was he a cartoon character? All of my knowledge comes from Eddie Murphy on SNL.  But I like this drawing. The proportions are good, the smile and eyes look great and the colors match up perfectly. This must have been one of those where I didn't have a lot of time so drew an easy character. He still looks cool. 

Day One of treadmill-1 Minutes. I did more but for purposes of my challenge I'm starting with one and will count up from there. I must say-it felt good, like great. I'm excited to get into everyday exercise. 

Stay tuned to win gift cards.