Sunlight penetrated through the thin window drapes, slowly pushing away the morning shadows and promising a warm summer day.  The air smelled of fresh cut hay as the farmers harvested their crops around the small sleepy village just outside of Philadelphia.  Rubbing his eyes, Jake swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat on the edge, slowly beginning to wake up to the first day of summer break.  With a surge of excitement, he remembered that he and Rudy had plans to go try out their luck at fishing in a local creek first thing this morning.

Jumping from bed, he pulled off his soft linen night clothes, leaving them in a heap near the edge of his bed and pulled on a fresh white T-shirt along with his brown denim pants.  Grabbing a pair of socks from his drawer in one hand and a pair of brown leather boots in the other, he ran from his room and down the stairs, taking two steps at a time.  Simply jumping over the last several steps, he landed with a thud before rounding a corner and rushing into the brightly lit kitchen.  Hustling over to an open chair, he sat down and quickly began pulling on his socks while his mom, which was working at the sink, watched him from the corner of her eye with a small smile on her face.

“Good Morning Jake, what has you up and early this morning?  I figured I would need to drag you from bed on the first day of summer break!” jested his mother.

Socks pulled on, he was in the process of tying his shoe laces when he responded “Well, me and Rudy are gonna do some fishing!”

“Jake, that would be Rudy and I” corrected his mother.

“Yeah, yeah….Rudy and I” replied Jake with a little irritation in his voice.

“Well, honey, before you go running off with your friend, you have to mow the lawn.  There are no free rides in this world” said his mom as she walked over and placed a small plate of eggs and toast in front of him along with a glass of milk.  Continuing “now eat some breakfast, then chores, THEN fishing!”

“But Mom, I…..” objected Jake, only to be interrupted before he would continue complaining.

“No But Mom me.  Breakfast, chores, fishing.  That simple!” said his mom with a slight smile of satisfaction at seeing Jake sit there with his mouth hanging open.

Jake reluctantly conceded and quickly ate his breakfast.  Moving at a much slower pace, he walked through the front room and out onto the porch.  While the lawn wasn’t that large, the rusty old rotary push mower that his father used was so difficult to use that Jake just sat on the steps and stared at the grass.  The lawn would take him hours to mow and he just wasn’t motivated.

After several minutes, he heard Rudy whistling away as he walks down the block toward his house.  Just as Jake is about to slump to the weight of his added responsibility, an idea jumps into his head.  He jumps from his seated position and runs around the side of the house, grabbing the mower.  Running back to the front, he and Rudy get to the sidewalk leading up to Jake's house at the same time.

With a happiness in his voice, Jake says “Hey there buddy, whatcha doing?”

Rudy stops and just stares at Jake, glancing down at the lawnmower, then back up to his friends face before saying “Well, I thought we were going fishing?”

Jake did his best to let out a genuine laugh, realizing that it may have come out a little to much, before responding “Oh, yeah, fishing.  Well, I really want to mow the lawn first.  Fishing will have to wait as I love to mow.”

Rudy, with a confused frown on his face, said “You do?  Since when?”

Jake responded “Rudy, Rudy, Rudy.  I’d mow every week if my dad would let me. I’m so excited and this is going to be so much fun.  Too bad I don’t have a second mower so you could try it.  But, oh well”.  With that, Jake began to push the mower back and forth, starting at the sidewalk and adjacent to the flower bed.  As he mowed, he smiled and began whistling an upbeat tune.

Rudy continued to stand and watch his friend in confusion.  After a few minutes, he walked over and sat on the stairs, watching his friend.  Jake continued to whistle and smile as if this was one of the more enjoyable events he had ever participated in.

While Jake was trying to make it look easy, he was already starting to feel the burn in his arms for the labor of pushing the mower back and forth.  But keeping up the charade, he made sure to continue whistling.  Jake was a normal sized boy of twelve years and this exercise was testing his strength.  But Rudy had a much larger frame and was easily, even at the same age of twelve, the size of Jake’s father.  Pretending to ignore his friend, Jake continued.

After about 10 minutes, Jake had made his way around the perimeter of the right side of the yard.  As he completed the loop, Rudy said “Hey Jake, mind if I give that a try?” 

Jake, with immense satisfaction retorted “No way, this is awesome.”  Jake continued, starting the perimeter on the left side of the yard.  About half way around, Jake was surprised when there was a tap on his shoulder.

Looking back, Rudy was standing there, looking down at him.  Rudy said “come on man, that looks like a lot of fun.  Let me try.  Please?”

Jake looked back toward the portion he had already completed and then to his friend before saying “I don’t know Rudy.  See how great the lawn looks where I mowed?  I don’t think you can do it that good.”

Rudy seemed to stand up taller at the challenge and his voice was filled with determination when he said “Let me show you that I can do just as good as you!”

Jake, stepping back from the mower, holding his hands up in a sign of surrender, said “Ok, ok.  It’s all yours!”

Jake walked over and flopped down on the steps as Rudy began to mow the lawn.  Jake did his best to keep a smile off his face as he watched his friend worked.  Every few minutes, Jake would say something like “Missed a spot” or “Looks a little uneven”, with Rudy pushing with more vigor to show he could complete the task as good as his friend. 

Nearly an hour later, Rudy, covered in sweat, finished the lawn while Jake had leaned back, hands behind his head, and lounged across the stairs.  As Rudy approached, Jake said “Wow, you did a great job.  Let’s go fishing”.

Rudy squinted his eyes, glancing from his friend sitting in the relaxed position to the lawn, trying to figure out what was wrong with this whole situation.  Fortunate for Jake, what Rudy had in size was offset with what he didn’t have for brains.  Jake jumped up and said “I’ll grab my pole and box and we’ll head out.”

So continues the adventures of Jake and Rudy…………………..