Tree Climbing

My cousin Len was my first best buddy. Our houses were next door to each other when we were growing up. It was Len who brought out every ounce of bravery I could collect when we were five and six. He could climb trees better than anyone I knew and did so with ape-like skill. He could climb anything, oaks, pines, telephone poles...It was Len who first guided my wobbly legs up the fence and onto the roof of my daddy's truck shed to fetch the choice plums from way up high in the tree. I remember stepping on overly ripe ones with my bare feet and thinking I might just prefer catching them as he threw them off the tin building. Yes, Len was my adventure, my courage and I was lost without him. On one particular summer evening we had all been called in to supper and after a plate of garden vegetables and mama's cornbread and my turn at the kitchen sink I went back out to wait for Him to join me for the last couple of hours of daylight. I got this notion that he would be so surprised if he found me in the Dogwood tree between our yards. If you are from the south you probably know that Dogwood trees don't get really big and this one was probably pretty typical in size for a full grown tree. I strained to grab the first limb and dug my dirty foot into the trunk. I pulled and tugged but I didn't get very far. I finally made it to a limb and tried to steady myself but slipped and caught the scrawny limb with my underarms. I couldn't get back up on the limb and forgetting how far I'd climbed I couldn't just let go, I wouldn't be able to hold on for long so I just did what any pitiful southern girl would do in this situation, I started to cry. Now, I'm sure I was quite a sight to my uncle who just happened to be finished with his supper and was smoking his after supper cigarette on their front porch. I'm sure he heard me first but all I knew was he came to my rescue, sort of. He stood there and asked me what I was "caring on" about...then he grabbed my arms, cigarette still hanging from the corner of his mouth and lifted me off the limb to the ground which I'm sure was only inches from my feet. I felt like such a baby. My uncle just laughed as he walked away. I looked up at that limb...right over my head. I decided then and there to only climb trees that Len picked out or maybe I'd watch from the ground.
That night when Len was sitting in the window of his bedroom and I was pressing my nose against the screen in mine he said across the yards.."My daddy's still laughing at you...you big sissy"...ah, I didn't care.