Good-natured neighborly warfare

By Rebecca Lindquist

These hot summer days have me recalling the time my family lived “below the hill,” near the Ciolkosz farm. One of my first encounters with a couple of the Ciolkosz brood was during the winter. My sister, Bethie, and I were taking the trash out to the edge of our yard to the burn barrel.

As we laughed and talked, we noticed a couple of the boys were working up by their silo. The next time we glanced that way, they were gone. We didn’t think anything of it, until I happened to see a stocking cap pop up, then duck down, on the other side of the road, in the ditch.

I quietly and nonchalantly told Bethie what was going on, and to act casual. She loudly said, “What?” and turned to look right where they were hiding. (So much for acting casual.) Thankfully, the boys were still unaware we had spotted them.

In between giggles, I explained the situation and told Bethie we should throw snowballs at them for spying on us. We continued talking and laughing, portraying a guise of innocence, intimating we had no knowledge that the boys were within earshot and close proximity.

It’s extremely difficult to produce snowballs, keep them hidden from view and keep them from rapidly melting, when the only form of cover is the burn barrel containing a blazing fire. Nevertheless, we procured an adequate amount of am- munition to wage warfare. When I gave the signal to attack, I think the guys were shocked. After a few stunned seconds, they returned fire.

Amidst much laughter and repeated launches from both sides, the fellas eventually ran back up the hill and disappeared around the corner of the barn. Bethie and I thought we were pretty cool, and reveled in our victory. Our smugness was short lived.

Suddenly, the boys were back, coming down the road on three-wheelers. Jimmy Ciolkosz was in the lead, with Michael Ciolkosz following, with neighbor and friend, Mike Burzynski (nicknamed Bird) in tow, clinging precariously to the back of the machine. They had taken time to pack multiple snowballs and put them in large pails.

Bethie and I hastily made additional snowballs to counterattack the pelting we received, as the machines raced up and down the road, sending volley after volley, as they zoomed past. After the guys’ supply was depleted, they gave a cheeky grin and waved as they roared off.

I don’t know of a time when I’ve had so much fun! We regaled Mom with the tale, once we were back inside the house, and she came up with the brilliant suggestion to make up a bunch of snowballs, put them in empty ice cream pails and store them in the freezer, to waylay the boys during the summer. The days seemed interminable as we impatiently waited for our day of revenge.

Finally, the long awaited day arrived. We heard the tractor and knew that one of the Ciolkosz boys would drive past, hauling the manure spreader to empty onto one of their fields. Bethie and I sprang into action, grabbing one of the buckets from the freezer and went out to sit on the steps, waiting for our victim.

Jimmy was the lucky prey that day. He always drove by our house at a crawl to prevent the extremely full spreader from overflowing. He spotted us and smiled, and gave a friendly wave, just as we bombarded him with our carefully hoarded winter stash. Jimmy’s look of surprise was priceless! Fortunately, neither Bethie nor I have accurate aim…we’re more the “look one way, but end up throwing in the opposite direction” type of gals.

Who knew when you freeze snowballs over an extended period of time, they turn into solid balls of ice? If any of those ice balls of death had connected, they could have caused some major injuries. About a half hour later, we heard the three-wheeler, so we grabbed the other bucket and resumed our positions.

This time, it was Michael. When we commenced firing, he was so caught off guard, he almost wrecked. When we talked to the boys later, we couldn’t stop laughing. We were positive that Jimmy had told Michael what happened, but he hadn’t said a word.

All in all, a highly satisfying day. We didn’t maim anyone, it gave us something to think about to while away the long, dreary winter days, as we plotted our retaliation and those fun-loving brothers good-naturedly took it all in stride.

Best neighbors ever!