Most of the areas along the Merrimack River are private property, owned privately or by the state. Many people growing up in New Hampshire near the Merrimack River have trespassed on these properties... I am one of those people.
It was the summer of 2007, and I was a youth in revolt! I was naked in public on several occasions, and trespassed on several occasions as well. My parents would go away for weeks at a time and I would throw parties at my house to get friends together for community bonding. Most of these parties were dry, since my parents trusted me and I valued that, I didn't allow drinking at the parties. Even though we played drinking games, had bon fires, went in the hot tub, and did all kinds of things that could have been more fun with alcohol, I had much more fun doing it without. My parents also locked up the alcohol, and after the summer ended when they found out about these parties, I wasn't punished because there were no real liabilities. Sometimes kids just need to keep their activities secret simply for the excitement of having a secret, and not letting parents know what they're doing.
One of the far less substantial part of the rise in my own version of revolting against the man, was trespassing at the Merrimack River to swim and play on the rope swing that many locals would flock to. While swimming with a friend one day, a police officer broke up the party (big surprise), and took down our names and ages so that we could be "warned" of trespassing. At that point I honestly did not know that we were doing anything illegal... afterwards I had no excuse.
MERRIMACK RIVER (this is the same bridge that I swam next to)
http://photos.winnick.net/The-Bridge-Project/002Lilac-Bridge-Hooksett/08030006/347620523_xh4CS-S-1.jpg
So! The next day I went to the same spot to go swimming and cross the river. People familiar with the Merrimack know that the current can be extremely strong and is responsible for local drowning incidents over the years... most likely resulting in the trespassing problem. I suppose that makes sense. Many didn't care about the laws, but you still have to be smart about safety. I was a person who didn't care and so that is the reason I returned the next day to my swimming spot at the gigantic rope swing. The tree was probably 10 feet up and broke into two enormous branches... all the way up were steps that someone nailed into the tree and it could be nerve racking for someone afraid of heights, like me. But I still loved it!
Upon returning to the roundabout where people left their cars by the Baptist church to go swimming, I parked, got out of my car and opened my trunk to get my towel. Low and behold the same police officer approached me at my car and asked me if I was going swimming. I said no, grabbed a notebook out of my trunk, and told him I was just getting something. The police officer then drove away... and I went swimming. Duh. My goal from the start was to be able to cross the Merrimack, which I was able to do. There's a point in the river where if you went out far enough you could begin to feel how strong the current is, and if I felt it was too strong in relation to my swimming capabilities I would turn around and try another day.
By the end of the summer swimming back and forth took an hour and was a daily routine. It wasn't until my last day at the river, since the season was ending the current was getting stronger regularly, so it had to be my last day for my safety.
I jumped into the water and swim over to one end, where an obvious bunker for homeless people existed. It was actually a really cool area, there were couches and places to sleep. It was like a secret camping site, something most children dream about having as a place of their own. I stopped when my feet could touch the sand, turned around and swam back to the rope, and continued this one more time. By the time I finished it had been 2 hours, and I was exhausted. I enjoy swimming, but that does not make me a swimmer and so this entire experience was quite exhausting.
The last time that I crossed the river on my second lap, the hobo camp area was welcoming a police officer. I panicked and turned around beginning to swim back. No one else was swimming that day so there was nothing that was attracting his attention other than the camp-out. I had probably 10 minutes to swim a 30 minute lap, get out of the water, grab my stuff, and get my car out of there. This time I would be arrested if caught, since I am knowingly trespassing, and I am alone. (I don't know that for sure, but it makes the experience much more exciting if I'm right.)
I saw that he noticed me while I was getting out of the water. Luckily the policeman took his time walking back to his car to drive over the bridge where I am parked under. I made the lap in 15 minutes grabbed my clothes, and sped home. The cop wasn't behind me until after I turned on the main road and by that time he didn't know that it was me who he had just seen in the river.
Victory once again! Yasmin, you are such a sly devil.
Something to speed away from a cop while listening to: Black Betty by Ram Jam, or Until the End by Breaking Benjamin... possibly anything exciting by Blink 182
No comments:
Post a Comment