Wicca vs Waterballoons

Growing up me and my friends had built4 treehouses located in a heavily overgrown section of our local park. They were awesome. All of them were about 14'-20' feet high in the trees and were completely secure thanks to trip wires and other booby traps we had set up. We spent an entire summer building them with scrap wood we'd find all around the neighborhood. On the ground we had established a firepit and built benches. It was almost like a courtyard right in the middle of the four trees. If I showed you pictures of it you would be amazed. It was the perfect place for a bunch of kids to hang out during the summer. Trade baseball cards, play war, swing from trees, every kids dream... until 1990 when we were invaded.

It was a Saturday or a Sunday and me and the guys had decided to head up to the fort (treehouses) to put a roof on one of the houses that had blown off in a recent storm. As we walked back down the path we had cut through the weeds earlier that summer we were greeted with the smell of something burning. The four of us became real quiet and moved slowly towards the treehouses as we suspected someone was back there. As we walked into the clearing under the trees we were greated by a woman in her mid 30's with long wiry black hair. "Hello there." she said and we nearly shit our pants. Here was a woman roasting something over a fire that smelled goddawful. "This is our fort, what are you doing here?" I remember asking. "Well I'm practicing wicca, the art of witchcraft. Would you like to join me?" "Hell no lady!" and with that we hauled ass out of our fort dropping all the wood we had just carried 2 miles to the site.

We regrouped after running for 5 minutes in the other end of the park. "What are we going to do?" we all asked ourselves. "We have to get her out of there, she's doing satanism, killing cats!" was one of the responses and at 13 years of age we were all making more of the situation than what was actually happening. We decided to go back to the fort and tell her she had to leave or else. So the four of us marched back to confront her. "You have to leave... now." my buddy said. "I'm not going anywhere, I plan on living here, you've buitl a very nice spot and I like it." With that we stormed off determined to get her out of there. We thought about calling the police but then they would find the Playboys we had stashed in the fort. We could tell the park ranger but he too would find the Playboys we had stashed there. So instead we decided the only way to get her out of there would be warfare.

We went to the local five and dime store and loaded up on water balloon grenades. We then proceed to fill up two red wagons full of the said water grenades and took turns pulling them the 2 miles to the fort. Stealthly we walked back to the fort where the woman was brewing something up in a pot on our firehole. "This is your last warning miss. Leave now." She told us to go to hell or something and that was all we needed to hear. We cut loose with a volley of water grenades that saturated ever single spot she called her own. We then retreated to get more grenades and were stunned when she came chasing after us. More grenades smashed against her soaking her to the bone. She cursed like a sailor as we continued a bombardment unlike anything we had ever unleashed.

Four boys hitting an older woman with water balloons in an open field is not something that goes unnoticed. Park rangers soon drove up and brought the battle to a stop. "These boys are attacking me with water balloons!" "She's killing cats and eating them and doing withcraft in our fort in the woods over there" we retorted. "Killing cats?" She fired back. "I was practicing nothing more than Wicca." After about 5 more minutes of arguing back and forth the rangers went with us to the site. They were surprised at how well the place was built but were more shocked by what the woman had set up in the clearing under our trees. She had set up a small campsite in the time since she had been there. They ordered her to leave immediately as the park frowned on people setting up residence inside of the park. She cursed us all repeatedly saying she would place a hex on us all. She loaded up her bags and left. The rangers put out the fire she had going with the few water balloons we had left and asked us how long had we had the treehouses built there. After showing them how to get up in them they climbed the ladder and inspected the treehouses finding the Playboys we had stashed. "Boys we can't let you keep these but we will let you keep the treehouses on the notion that you don't start any fires back here." We all agreed and went about our task of gathering the wood we had dropped earlier.

If your ever in the area and want to see the treehouses they still stand to this day. Just go to the southwest end of Wissinoming Park and follow the path through the weeds. Soon you will come to a clearing. Look up and you will find our forts in all of their fought for glory.