Moving the earth

      I grew up in beautiful upstate New York where back in the sixty’s construction was booming. Whole neighborhoods were developed on paper then the heavy equipment rolled in to begin clearing the acres and acres of trees. Houses by the hundreds meant removing a ton of timber. Our family was one of the first home buyers in a development called "Park Place. We would take a drive as a family on most Sundays to watch the progress on our soon to be home. My sisters and I would run through the different rooms wondering which would be ours, while my parents kept busy picking out wallpaper and colors for each room. A big fireplace was being put together brick by brick, and I couldn't wait to build the first fire in it.

     Just a few hundred feet away in the back of the house some heavy equipment was sitting idle as it was Sunday and no work was done on that day. I remember climbing up the three steps into the cab which smelled of fresh dirt and oil. I sat in the seat pretending I was the operator, moving dirt and crashing down trees making way for more houses. It was out of the corner of my eye that I saw the keys were in the ignition and a cold sweat started running down my face. Something inside of me told me it was a horrible idea, but my youth and stupidity got the best of me as I turned the key and the beast roared to life spuing black smoke as I sat petrified. I remember from watching my father drive that if I wanted to move forward all I had to do was put the lever in "D', so I did. With a lurch, the machine began to crawl forward heading straight for our house.

     If I live to be a hundred, I will never forget the looks on my parents and sisters faces as they looked out of the back door to see me on the big machine a look of terror on my young face. My dad was the first to move running towards me yelling for me to shut it off! But I was frozen and unable to do anything. I learned some of my first cuss words from my dad that day as he jumped into the cab and turned the beast off with a sudden stop and a puff of black smoke. I don't think my feet touched the ground as he held me up above it with one hand around the nape of my neck, while his other hand spanked my butt all the way back to the car. "You just stay put young man," he said as he went back into the house. I did as he said thinking about the adventure I just had and wouldn't trade for anything in the world. Could have done without the ass whooping but what eight-year-old can say he drove an earth mover? Life was good.

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