Danny was about twelve and Patrick was ten, or thereabouts, when we went on this particular family camping trip. We didn’t do a lot of camping back then, so this was an event that has been particularly easy to remember.
After arriving at our destination, finding the right place to set up camp and getting the tent set up properly, the boys and I left their mother in camp and went out into the woods to locate some good dry firewood. This was a well camped area, so good firewood was pretty scarce and I quickly realized that this might not be a simple task.
We gathered a few small branches, but there was not much dead wood laying around on the ground and what actually was there was too wet to be much good.
Soon, however, I found a tree with a large branch that had been broken off about fifteen or twenty feet above the ground, with the end of the branch sloping down all the way to the ground. Perfect. It was dead and dry and big enough for what we needed. All we had to do at that point was to pull it loose from where it was broken and carry it back to camp. That appeared to be a simple task, since it was barely attached.
I grabbed the end of it and pulled, but to very little effect. It was wedged tightly against the tree at the point where it had broken off. After moving back and forth with that branch in an attempt to work it loose, it became obvious that it was not going to surrender to any effort that we could apply from the ground. I did have an ace in the hole, though. I knew that Danny could easily climb that tree and push it loose from up there.
Once Danny got up to about ten or fifteen feet off the ground, he would be able to reach above his head to the base of the branch. He could push it up from there while I moved it around from below until it would come loose.
He easily climbed up to where he could reach the heavy branch above him. What would happen after that though, would be gravity. Isaac Newton could have warned us about this. Or just about any wife or mother could have done so, as well. But we only had a Kinney man and two boys, so we had no idea of what was about to happen.
When Danny pushed hard enough and I moved the branch to the right position, it cleared the piece that was holding it and it dropped. It was very heavy and fell very fast, not even slowing down when it hit Danny square in the head and knocked him out of the tree.
Like that branch, Danny also fell very fast, unconscious from the blow to the head and landing flat on his back on the soft forest floor which fortunately was padded by a thick mattress of leaves and vegetation. He was awake when I got to him, but I made him stay still while we both checked for broken bones and a possible concussion. He had none of that and never did feel any after effects as far as I know.
When we talked about this later, Patrick said it was the funniest thing ever, seeing me run to his brother after he hit the ground. He said there was rooster tail of leaves and debris flying up behind me like a speedboat on the water.
Gravity does keep us stuck to the surface of the earth, but it is not always friendly.
