Merit Badge
Timmy sits in his room alone dressed in his nicely pressed Boy Scout uniform. A long rope lies on the floor dormant. Along one wall sits a twin size bed with a night stand next to it holding a lamp and last month’s Ranger Rick, along with a Lone Ranger comic book.
Out the window the town carnival plays on with a large Ferris wheel towering above the trees on the horizon. The repetitious beats of carnival music vibrate off the window sill.
Above Timmy’s bed clinging to the wall is a poster of Smokey Bear declaring that “Only you can prevent forest fires.” On the other side of the room stands a short wooden dresser with a record player on top. Leaning against the player is the album by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins entitled “Smokey the Bear.”
Kids stream through the field behind the house screaming their way to the carnival. The Ferris wheel turns round and round ignoring all around outside of the play land.
The light in the room hangs down attached to a hook from the ceiling, a decorative chandelier style lamp. The wood floor glimmers under its glow. Timmy looks down at the rope. He cautiously reaches down grabs one end and begins to tie the desired knot.
The sun begins to set behind the Ferris wheel’s carnival and burst of electricity blasts through its cast iron support beams lighting up the sky with a rainbow of bulbs against the purple red sky.
Timmy grabs a stool and removes the light from the hook gently setting it upon the dresser. The “Blackwall Hitch” requires a hook to complete. The exercise for his merit badge commences tomorrow. Timmy loops the rope around the hook weaving it in and out and in and out he pulls it securely around.
As the sounds of the town begin to cease from the regular days activities the sounds from the carnival become the dominant sound of the night. Ferris wheel lights blinking with each passing circus beat.
On the floor lies a stool, on the hook hangs a rope, out the window spins a Ferris wheel, on Timmy’s sash sits drooled blood, but no merit badge.
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