When I Was A Child DEA Agent

One of my favorite moments as a junior high kid was when my family was spending the weekend at our trailer on a hill overlooking Lake Bridgeport. (Go ahead, read that again. Yep, I said "trailer".) Anyway, we spent a lot of time in the back yard area underneath shade trees just looking at the lake.

At one point my mom began noticing a car about a quarter of a mile away make its way down to the shore. A couple of guys got out and walked into the woods. They would stay for a while and then leave.

This happened maybe three times over a week at which point my mom made a bold statement: "I bet they're growing dope down there!"

Being a wise guy even back then, I immediately ridiculed her. She was quick to defend her position and suggested that me, her, and my brother walk down into that wooded area and check it out. I jumped at the chance.

We made our way down the hill and along the shore of Lake Bridgeport until we came to the wooded area. We walked in, and, I'll be [expletive deleted], there were four rows of marijuana plants and a bottle of "Miracle Grow". Of course, we didn't know what marijuana plants looked like, but you just don't see a nice little garden of green plants in the middle of no where.

So what did we do? Heck, we couldn't let those boys come back and harvest their marijuana and ruin their lives. So we pulled it up.

I still laugh at the following sight. I've got both arms extended as I held about 20 big uprooted marijuana plants. And I'm just walking along the shore with my my mom. My brother, once we got out in the open, took off running like lightening.

"Where are you going?" we yelled.

I still remember his reply as his voice trailed off in the distance. "You can go to jail for two ounces and you guys are walking along with two pounds!" Genius.

I eventually threw all the plants in the lake, but we kept one. Dad took it into town the next day to show to the chief of police to confirm it was marijuana. (It was.) He brought it back the next day and for some reason we just kept it on the back porch in a small bucket full of water.

Good times.