I drove to Huzzy lake last week with great anticipation. I had connected with the Kronewitter family via Facebook and for the first time in about 25 years, I was going to see them again. The family was celebrating Andy’s birthday and I brought along a super soaker pump as his gift. Not only was it a tribute to the fourth of July boat parades of the past when we would go around and soak the other boaters, but it was also a gift for traumatizing him as a kid.
In my teen years, I hung out with Andy’s sisters, Tammy and Tracy. The three of us spent entire summers together on the water, sometimes skiing up to eight times a day. In a previous post, The Older I Get, The More Adventure I Want, I wrote about them here:
Then there were the ATV toys that the Kronewitters brought into the picture. They had two ATVs and a Dune Buggy. The very first day that we unloaded the brand-new ATV off the truck, the youngest Kronewitter rode it into a tree and bent the foot rest. That didn’t stop us. Tammy, Tracy and I would pack a lunch and hit the roads around the lake. We explored abandoned houses and got lost a couple of times. We built a dirt ramp in a field and borrowed Tim Brown’s dirt bike to add to the mix. At one point, I had to go to the bathroom, so I rode the dirt bike home and headed inside. Mom stopped me at the door. “Whose motorcycle is that and why are you riding it?” She was not pleased.
Fun was the operative word of my childhood. Tammy, Tracy and I often came up with crazy ideas to pass the time. We did an all-girl pyramid with me at the top. We did three of us on two pairs of skis, with me riding in the back binder of each. We tied ropes around black truck inner tubes which folded practically in half when pulled, but we hung on. We boat jumped (don’t even ask). We attempted to jump over each other with kneeboards–which ended right after I knocked Tammy in the head. We settled for pulling up on the rope and jumping over the rope instead. And one day, we had a competition with another boat on the lake, to see which boat could pull the most skiers. We won, with eight.
(Tracy and Tammy on bottom, me on top)
One day, I drove up to the lake by myself for the week. I invited a bunch of friends over that night and we sat around playing cards. Suddenly, they all jumped. “What’s going on?” I asked.
“There’s a noise coming from the bedroom,” one of them explained. They all jumped again and some of them started to scream.
“Ok,” I said. “Follow me into the bedroom and we’ll see what’s going on!”
I grabbed a monkey wrench and Tammy grabbed a broom and we all crept into the bedroom. I flipped on the light.
Nothing. We all relaxed a bit and then suddenly, the screaming began again. The girls rushed back into the kitchen with me following behind.
“It’s coming from outside!” one of them said.
Another one screamed. “It’s coming from that window!”
“Ok, we’re going outside,” I said. “Jenny, flip on the floodlights and let’s head out. If we all go together, whatever it is, we can handle it together.”
As soon as Jenny hit the lights, we saw them. It was Andy and his friend, Billy. We chased after them but they took off into the darkness.
So what do six scared girls do? They plan revenge.
The next night, we removed a screen in Tammy’s house and crept inside the window. We were armed with duct tape and ropes. We tiptoed over to where Andy and Billy were sleeping and we pounced on them. Duct tape went over their mouth and rope on their hands and feet. We hauled them outside and tossed them into the rowboat and set them loose, minus the oars. We sat on the bank and watched them wriggle loose as the sun came up. As soon as they started paddling to shore, we took off.
Later that day, we held a meeting and declared a truce. They never messed with us gals again.
So when I saw Andy again, I promised to reimburse him for any therapy that he needed as a result of that kidnapping.
“I sure hope you weren’t traumatized by that,” I chuckled as we reminisced.
“I’ve got some duct tape and rope around here to return the favor!” he said.
Tammy and me
Tammy and me on bottom, Tracy on top
and learned about the “kneeboard start.” I dragged my mom to a local boat shop and we purchased a kneeboard.
