In the top chest of drawers in my mom and dad's bedroom lies a hidden treasure. I don't really know how long it has been there, but I am thinking for a very long time. My cousin, Moody, and I discovered it by accident. We were putting away some laundry when we found it. We were not looking for it, or any treasure at all for that matter. But there it was, hidden deep, buried beneath a mountain of underwear, socks, and handkerchiefs. I remember that it was cool to the touch. Not large, not small, kind of skinny and tall, and it sure did peak our curiosity! We HAD to investigate a little farther. We HAD to see what it was!! With my sweaty nervous hands wrapped around the coolness, I brought it up through the maze and it glittered and sparkled like a precious gem in the bright sunlight! The prettiest amber color you have ever seen! Our eyes widened at the sight, as we looked at each other a HUGE smile lit both of our lips. Well, well, well, YEP! this should be fun! Low and behold, we had found my dad's stash!! His golden treasure! His hidden bottle of PEACH BRANDY!!!!!!!
O.k. I feel the need to explain myself here. LOLOLOLOL Any of you that really know me, know that I am not a drinker nor have ever been. But there is just something about being a teenager that just makes one do things that they know they shouldn't....this just happens to be one of those things! Seems like Moody and I were kind of always finding ourselves in this situation. Don't know if I influenced her or she me, which ever it was, we were a pair, joined at the hip in those days, and once again, here we were......
So as the story goes..... Moody and I looked that bottle up and down, and I say,"HUMMMM, You go first"...she did! She was a very good bluff, because she says back to me ..."It's not too bad." O.k. my turn, and I take a big gulp........... HHHoooLLLLyyy CrAAAAp!.... I am thinking now that I probably said worse! LOL But you know how teens are, we couldn't let this golden opportunity pass by, that's when we came up with the idea of mixing it with something to take the 'sting' away! Surely that would be better than drinking it raw from the bottle. So, we open the refrigerator to see what could be a possibility, and the only thing we found was some Wagoner Orange Juice and some Real-O Lemon juice. This was gonna be good!..... We used these little orange juice glasses that mom had, (you know the ones you used to get out of washing powder? Had silvery gray leaves on them?).. They made great shot glasses! LOL 1/2 orange juice, almost 1/2 peach brandy and dab of lemon juice!... OH MY!! Talking about nasty!!! Made the eyes water and the throat burn as well. But I guess it was the excitement of doing it that kept us making them. Don't know how many of these we forced down, but everything was beginning to get really funny! We kept sampling the bottle and acting stupid and feeling very giddy at the thought of just what we were doing, until the bottle was about half gone, maybe a little more...... Then as usual.. it was reality time! What are we gonna do now? We are dead meat when dad finds this! Now that was a VERY sobering thought! See, I was an angel, you know, I would have never done anything like that! HA! The only thought then in my mind was...'Dad is gonna beat me to death.' Well, we couldn't put it back in the drawer less than half full.... so our minds start racing and all of a sudden we come up with a wonderful idea!!............
My brother was living back at home with us for a while. He hadn't been home from Viet Nam very long, and anyone that knew him back then knows that sometimes he would drown his sorrow's in his liquor... WWWEEELLLLLLLLLL Moody and I had the grandest idea, we would just add some water to the bottle and bury it back in the drawer and when dad saw it, he would just think that my brother had been having a drink from it!... Perfect! (we didn't think about the water weakening the brandy, or changing the color of it.)
Fast forward a couple of days.. It is the weekend and dad decides he needs a drink of his peach brandy. He opens his drawer and finds the amber colored bottle and takes him a big gulp! Moody and I are in the bedroom and all of a sudden we hear him going into a cussing fit! Went something like this:
"*****Dammit boy, if you want a drink out of my bottle then just get a drink, you don't have to sneak around and then fill it back up with water".....
My brother- "I didn't drink your damn brandy and I didn't put no water in it"....
Dad- "don't tell me you didn't put water in it, I know what it is suppose to taste like"....
brother- I am telling you I haven't touched your bottle..........
And so it went, back and forth, neither one of them could convince the other that they were both right. Moody and I are laying on the bed and burying our heads in the pillows because we were laughing so hard it hurt! Each time one of them would say something we would laugh a little harder. We finally straightened up enough that we made it out the front door and over to the school ground across the street from my house, and just laid out in the grass and laughed till we cried! IT WORKED!!! Hallelujah it worked!! We made a faithful promise to God Almighty that we would never do that again! Yeah Right! We did......just not to the extreme to where we had to add water to it to hide the evidence.
As I have became an adult.. it just baffles me that neither dad, mom, nor my bother ever had the thought that it could have been us girls as the culprits! We were both basically good kids, despite all of these stories I have told you in the past, LOLOL, and I guess it just didn't enter their minds that we would do such a thing.
Moody nor I have ever forgotten about the hidden treasure that we found in my dad's top dresser drawer. Anytime we are together we still, to this day, have a good laugh over it. Such precious memory's! I would do it all over again today if I could. The fun, the laughter, the innocence, the braveness, no worries about life beyond 'what are we gonna do now.'
As I bring the saga of 'Moody and Me' to a close, I know that there are several more stories that I could add. Maybe someday I will. We shared so much together as kids....Barbie dolls, umbrellas, bicycle rides back to the woods, double dates, boyfriends... and the list goes on and on... I think I could write from now till forever and not cover all of the fun times we had together. I wish that all kids could have a special cousin or friend to share their childhood with, as I did. I hope that someday she has a chance to read all of my stories, and that she knows how much she means to me. We don't get to see each other very often anymore, but she still lives very close to my heart. Reminds me of a song I once heard many years ago. The chorus goes something like this:
I owe you so much my dear friend,
for all of those treasured times.
For you've made me a better person,
Thanks, for being in my life!
From my heart to yours!................................................
