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go over there. Don’t do it. Every single one of our fathers—”
    “And our mothers too,” I chimed in.
    “Anyway, don’t swim over there in the La Luna Swamp,” he said, and pointed to a part of the river near us where some logs had fallen and stopped up the flow a little bit. “That’s what we call it. They got snakes down there and ever since we were little, everyone has warned us not to swim down there. And not a one of us has. Right?”
    And everybody went, “Right.” And Eddie nodded his head. You could tell that Eddie wished he was the one talking to this new boy. And already Sukey was trying out her flirting skills.
    So this new boy got in the water and swam. I could tell he had a strong flutter kick, but he didn’t know how to dig his arms into the water or turn his head to breathe either. He was not a strong swimmer. He wasn’t even what I’d call a real swimmer. Just like my brothers, he lifted his neck straight up out of the water like a turtle and gasped for air. He stopped and was just floating for a minute. Then he said, “Is that y’all’s rope swing way down there?”
    And Sonny Boy said, “Yeah.”
    “Y’all jump off that?” that boy Tucker said.
    “That’s for adults only—the old Danger Swing. And Papa says it needs a new rope this year. It can land you right in a snake pit if you’re not careful; you can fall where the snakes are,” Sonny Boy said.
    “You’re just scared to do it,” Tucker LeBlanc said.
    “I am not scared to do it,” Sonny told him.
    “Well, I’m gonna go do it. And I dare you to—unless you’re chicken.”
    Suddenly everything was silent as we all turned and stared at Sonny Boy.
    After a long minute, Sonny Boy said, “All right, new boy , I’ll do it. I’ll go first, to show you how, so you don’t get yourself killed.”
    Just as he was getting up, Sonny Boy leaned over and whispered to Will and me, “Keep your eyes peeled out for M’Dear, will you?”
    “Sonny Boy,” I said, “are you crazy? You’re the one who’s gonna get killed if M’Dear sees you out there.”
    “Just give me the whistle if you see any sign of her, okay?”
    “No, I’m not giving y’all any whistle,” I said. “I’m coming with y’all.”
    So we all started our adventure.
    Eddie started talking. “Many times grown men have been bit by snakes there. Oh yeah. Many times it has happened.”
    You could see that Eddie was trying to scare this new boy Tucker.
    Next thing I knew, Sonny Boy was leading us through the bushes over to the rope swing, and Eddie kept on talking.
    “Once, during World War II, a soldier from Fort Polk was messing around down there and died from multiple snake bites. They couldn’t even recover the body. All they ever found was one boot and his helmet. My father was part of the search party. I heard the story myself.”
    “You’re making that up,” Tucker said, trying to laugh it off. But you could tell Eddie’s story was getting to him a little.
    Then that Tucker said, “Somebody told me something like that, I wouldn’t believe him for jack-shit.”
    Well, all of us were kind of taken aback when he said “jack-shit.” Not that we are goody-goody, but we just don’t go around saying “jack-shit.” We know the expression, but it has to be saved for special occasions.
    Sonny Boy tried to strut down the trail, but all the vines and thorns that had grown in over the trail kept slowing him down. I looked back once or twice to see if anybody was watching us, while the rest of the gang trailed behind us. The last part of the trail you had to hang back a little, because it’s a little steep to climb up on an old root, and then you have to reach up and grab the rope.
    There it was. That big old thick brown rope with four knots tied in it so you could climb up. The riverbank was about six feet high there. Tucker leaned over and looked at the tangle of roots and grasses at the bottom. Still acting tough, he asked Sonny Boy, “I don’t