The Great Intruder

Very few brothers at the age Colin and I were probably ever spent time in the middle of nowhere together, like we did at the farm. I forget how old Colin and I were, but I am guessing it was around the time I may have been twelve or so. Night time in the boonies was intimidating for two kids. The possibility of some crazed hill billy attacking was always foremost in our minds when we went to bed. At the farm was a peculiar manual. It was an actual army manual of booby traps from Vietnam. The manual had illustrated pictures of how to set traps. To get to the house one would normally cross the creek on a foot bridge. That was the first line of defense for Colin and I. The foot bridge was guarded with punji sticks. These were sharpened wooden spike meant for an intruder to fall on. Of course there was a trip wire around the punji sticks that would help you trip in just the right place to fall on the sticks. If you had such an unfortunate encounter you would likely be dead impaled on a couple of sticks. If for some reason you made it past those sticks you had to go up the steps. The steps to the house were also protected by the same system.

Assuming you were a skillful intruder and made it past the punji sticks, there was one last defense for the two helpless boys inside. At the top of the steps was a trip wire that led to a tin can inside a large steel cauldron. When the inbread guy from Deliverance tripped the wire and rattled the can it was time to take on of the many guns in the house and shoot him.

With some sense of protection Colin and I settled down for the night. It must have been just shortly after sun down. Our worst nightmare occurred, the can rattled. With gun in hand we peeked out the window ready to do what shooting we had to. The culprit was short and white and had feathers all over. Only a simple minded chicken could have made it harmlessly past the punji sticks, but this one did. Relieved we went to bed knowing the alarm worked.