Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2009 00:04:50 -0800 (PST) From: John Nail Subject: My Time with Uncle Bill Ch.1 "Hey Joey wait up!" my friend yelled as he ran up behind me. We were walking home on our last day of school and first day of summer vacation. Randy said," Thank goodness this is the last day of school being so hot and all." We lived in Mississippi on that late May of 1978 and our school didn't have air conditioning so we had to suffer the humid heat in the school building and being 2 energetic 14 yr. olds that was just too much to take. Randy asked," So what are you going to do now?" I said," Probably go swimming at the lake behind Uncle Bill's house." I was talking about Bill Somerset now he wasn't my real uncle but he and dad grew up togather and went to Vietnam togather their friendship was like brothers that is how close they are. Now that lake was the one place where I could go skinny dipping because rarely did anybody ever go there and itwas nestled under a thick grove of trees. Randy got a mischievious gleam in his eye and he said lets go. We ran to the lake and 3/4s of the way there we were chucking our clothes as fast as we could so by the time we got to the edge of the lake we were completely naked and splashing and generally rough housing. We did this and about 30 mins. later Uncle Bill came down to the pond and saw us. He laughed and said," I thought you boys might be here." I looked at him and asked," How did you know that Uncle Bill?" He said," Remember your father and I graduated from the high school here. Your father and I after school let out for the summer we would skinnydip in this very lake." I said," Uncle Bill you are just joshing us." He said," No,no that is how I found you two." He said," Randy your mom called and she was worried about you, now you two come with me and I think I can talk to your mom and I think you boys will be fine swimming in the lake." We scooped up our clothes and started putting them on. Uncle Bill said," You should be just fine with just your britches." We put our pants on and went with Uncle Bill and made our way to his house. Now Uncle Bill's house was a white clapboard single story house with shutters on the outside so it was a fairly nice house and it had his garage/shop sitting right beside it. Uncle Bill called," Yes Mrs. Merideth yes yes I am doing fine thanks for asking and how are you on this fine day. Yes I know I think it is going to be a hot summer. How's your husband? Oh you don't say he's got a promotion and a raise well tell him congradulations for me he deserved it. He works real hard at that dealership. Oh ok Judy fine, your boy Randy is over here and he and Joey were swimming in that lake behind my house. Yes Yes, naked as newborns but there is plenty of privacy at the lake. No, No there are no trouble Judy these are two really good boys. Ok Judy will do and I will tell them." Uncle Bill smiled and said," Ok you two here is the deal. Randy your mom says you can swim for one more hour and than skedaddle home, don't worry I have my watch on and I will tell you when it is time. And Joey since you are here your mom and I will tell your mom that you are here you will stay with me for the evening, because your mom and dad well they will be going out." I smiled and hugged him and said," You are the best Uncle Bill." Uncle Bill said," Now you 2 don't go out more than half-way out in that lake you know how deep it is." We both said," We promise we won't go out further than half-way out Uncle Bill." He chuckled and said," Go you two time is wasting." We sprinted out of his house and towards the lake and little did I know that this was going to be the evening I would never forget.