Montana Woods N Water July 2016 Print Edition | Page 20

TONY REBO UNLEASHED

What Goes Around Comes Around
By Tony Rebo
Each summer I enjoy seeing old friends who travel back to our tiny hidden town in the northwest corner of
Montana. Many of these visitors were friends of my kids, and it is always a pleasure to catch up on what is
going on in their lives. I was very close with many of the kids who grew up with my kids, and I so enjoy seeing
them and their new families. Just recently I was lucky enough to have run into three of my son’s buddies at
the local brewery.
We caught up on what everyone has been doing with their lives since they graduated. All three are married
and some even have kids. We told stories and laughed about the crazy stuff they used to pull. Finally the
conversation turned to fishing and before long a hiking trip was planned to a lake 3.5 miles back into the wilderness. We were going to
make just a day trip, fish for a few hours and return back to town that same evening.
I met the boys at the trail head at 7:00 AM. They were very excited to catch some fish and enjoy the view of the beautiful cabinet
mountains. The hike in was enjoyable, and we stopped several times so they could capture the beauty of it all on their phone cameras. We
reached the lake by early morning and got right to fishing. I put together my fly rod while the boys all drug out spinning rods from their
backpacks. I caught and released several nice fish throughout the morning. My three companions were not having that much luck at all; in
fact they hadn’t caught a fish between the three. I may have started to rub it in a tiny bit. I asked if they needed my help which slight grunts
and groans were the familiar response.
After a great day of me catching fish and the bantering of today’s youth, it was time to head down the trail back to our vehicles. The boys
had broken down the trail ahead of me and were soon out of sight. I was puzzled by their haste in leaving. Soon I caught up to the three as
they were huddled together in the trail. It seemed like one of the boys, we will just call him traitor #1had slipped on some rocks and took a
spill and put his back out. Traitors 2 and 3 were standing over traitor 1 offering comfort.
It seemed we were in a bad spot as traitor 1 was going to need
assistance back to the truck. His two comrades volunteered to help
him down the trail and back to the truck. I was asked if I could carry
his pack out. That wasn’t going to be an issue, I gladly wanted to be
part of this rescue mission and so I grabbed up his pack and tied mine
to his and threw it on my back.
The boys hurriedly left me again to get their friend back down to the
pickup. My pace was somewhat slowed as the pack I was carrying was
somewhat heavy. Not like uncomfortable heavy, but like agonizing
heavy. I had wondered what traitor 1 could have in this pack that
could weigh so much. If only I had stopped and looked in the pack.
The last mile was horrible as I staggered back and forth on the trail. I
was afraid to stop as I didn’t think I would be able to get back up.
Finally the truck was in site, and sitting on the tailgate were the three
boys. They were sipping on a cold one and laughing out loud. It
seemed traitor 1 was now feeling much better and didn’t have any
symptoms of a bad back. In fact he did a cart wheel just to mess with
me. I threw off the backpack and stepped back only to collapse to the
ground. The three idiots who once were my friends were laughing
hysterically. I demanded to know what was in the pack. Traitor 1
opened up the pack and as I glanced into it, my mind raced back to 15
years ago. Continued on page 19.

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