The Unknown Last

Sometimes things happen in our lives for the last time, and we don't even know it. This is a story of one such event, which took place on a hot summer day in a tree house. Jimmy helped his father build it when he was 10, and it had served as the meeting place for him and his three best friends for over five years. His father was a carpenter by trade, and the tree house was a reflection of that. It was large enough that it protruded outward from the tree in such a way as to require two support posts embedded in the ground below. It was wrapped in siding that was left over from another job. The wooden ladder came up through a small porch to access the four foot tall door to the inside. The walls were insulated and covered with wood paneling, which was spotted with hand-drawn artwork that had been taped up over the years. A small window by the door allowed the boys to see any visitors. Sleeping bags were rolled up in one corner, worn from multiple uses every summer. On one wall, shelves held board games, and action figures frozen in moments of battle against unseen adversaries. Four differently-colored bean bags surrounded a small, short table in the middle of the room which was cluttered with magazines about sports, fast cars, and women.  

Jimmy was short enough that he did not have to slouch or duck through the six foot tall structure, but Steve was a tall kid. He had grown considerably over the last year and it was awkward for him to navigate. Tucker and Sean both just barely had to tilt their heads to walk around. They were each plopped lazily in a bean bag, staring at the ceiling. When the boys were younger they had decorated it with glow in the dark stars. On the wall closest to Jimmy's house, an air conditioning unit meant for windows had been installed to help combat the sweltering heat of the day. Steve reached toward the table and picked up a copy of Fast Engines in Fast Bodies, and began perusing through it.

"If you could have any car in the world," Steve mused, "what would you pick?"

"What? Only one?" Tucker asked, implying it would be an impossible decision.

"Yea, just one."

After a moment of thought, it was Sean who spoke first. "A Venom GT," he proclaimed, and added after a short pause, "Black."

"A blue Dodge Viper", Steve chimed in. "With a black racing stripe, and a huge spoiler." The other boys are chuckled at him.

"You can't fit in that", Tucker laughed. "You would be steering with your knees!" Steve frowned.

"At least I won't be steering with my belly", Steve chided Tucker. Sean and Jimmy laughed even harder.

"I won't apologize for my appreciation of food", Tucker scoffed and looked toward Jimmy. "What about you? What's your car of choice?"

Jimmy ceased his laughter and thought for a moment. "Mustang", he said definitively.

"A Mustang?" Sean raised an eyebrow, seemingly confused. "Why would you want a Mustang? That's so basic compared to everything else. It's 'what car do you want?', not 'what car can everyone afford?'." Tucker and Steve nodded their agreement.

"Well", Jimmy started. "I happen to think Mustangs are awesome. And I don't mean the new crap they are putting out. I mean like a '67 fastback. Cherry red with black trim. Cars had more soul back then. It doesn't have to just be about speed."

The other three considered his words for a moment before all agreeing that it was indeed, a solid choice.

"I want a Bugatti." Tucker stated. "I'm not even sure I care which one, I love them all!"

As the afternoon progressed, topics shifted to what they had done over the previous week, being nervous about the new school year, and girls.

"I'm gonna do it," Jimmy blurted out in a moment of quiet. He looked around at the other boys. "I'm going to ask out Shannon."

"You said that last year," Steve reminded him.

"I know, but I'm really going to do it!" Jimmy insisted.  

Tucker scoffed. "I'll believe it when I see it," he said with a slight sneer.

Shannon was a year older than Jimmy, and almost as tall as Steve. He had a crush on her, but had always been too afraid to ask her. The year prior, he had finally gotten the courage to ask her, when he saw her with another kid, Tommy. Tommy was a little taller than Jimmy, but he was an athlete and strong. Jimmy knew he didn't stand a chance. Tommy also turned out to be a jerk, and Shannon dumped him near the end of the school year.

"Do you think she has already found someone else?" Jimmy asked.

"Are you kidding?" mocked Sean. "She probably has a line of guys trying to get with her. She's like, the hottest girl in school."

Jimmy frowned. "Maybe you are right. It's not like I can compete with any of them."

"Well, not with that attitude," Tucker said. "You just said you were gonna ask her out, and not even two minutes later you are giving up. No girl will be with a guy with no balls."

"Tuck's right," Steve chimed in. "You said you were gonna do it, we all heard it. You have to do it. We are going to make sure you do it." The others nodded in support.

"Yea, we aren't going to let you chicken out, bro." Sean proclaimed.

Jimmy's cheeks flushed a little and he stared at the ground. "You're right," he said. "I shouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it."

Tucker beamed. "That's the spirit!" 

Outside, Jimmy's mother called the boys for dinner from the back door of the house. One by one, they ducked out of the tree house and scrambled down the ladder. They raced each other to the house, an easy victory for Steve. They sat down at the dinner table with Jimmy's parents and dined on grilled chicken and mashed potatoes with a side of broccoli. Discussion centered primarily on preparations for the school year, peppered lightly with mentions of making plans for college. Jimmy was not sure what he wanted to do. Tucker planned on going to the MIT School of Engineering. Steve hoped to earn a basketball scholarship. Sean wanted to start a rock band as the lead guitarist, maybe vocals too.

After dinner, the boys thanks Jimmy's mother for the food and went back out to the tree house. They laid out their sleeping bags in place of their earlier seats. They played board games, card games, and laughed about all manner of things well into the late hours of the night. Some time after midnight, the battery-powered lamp went out and all went to sleep. The following morning, Sean, Tucker, and Steve trickled out to head home.

Steve made the basketball team at school and became more popular as a result. He started hanging out with other kids more, and began dating one of the team's cheerleaders. Tucker focused on his school work, joined the chess club and the computer club, and found a youth program for teen engineers. Sean did start a band called "Death Magnet", and even got to play for the students at one of the school dances. Jimmy took Shannon to that dance. After successfully asking her out, he began to exhibit more confidence in himself, and kids started to take notice and want to hang out with him more. While they all four remained friends, they found little time to all hang out together for an extended period. The tree house became used less and less, and never again for sleepovers. It would become a topic of conversation years later, after they had all graduated and moved on to their own lives.

Sometimes things happen in our lives for the last time, and we don't even know it.