The second time occured right after the 1st Class Breakfast, a week before graduation. After we came back from the breakfast, it was back to studying, since it was academic retreat. A another friend of mine and I decided to study for the chemistry and calculus final exams. During the break, I got pissed at him since he kept calling me a "boy", I mean, I'm only a few months younger. So I fought back cause I was tired of his shit calling me that. I was dumb enough to take on my friend who was stronger and taller than I was. I didn't learn my lesson from the previous year and once again the back window was open. I also made the mistake of telling him the incident with my former roommate. Once again my arms and legs were bound and I couldn't move. This time however, luck was on my side, just my head was outside the window instead of half my body because the window was not as wide as my former room. I started laughing and he was upset since he couldn't force me out the window. So instead he puts me with my head down toward the floor and the bastard drops me accidentally on the floor hard that I hit my head and scraped the back of my left hand on a nearby chair. The skin was peeled off and blood slowly dripped out. Then he changed and was all concerned since I was bleeding. I told him to back off and I cleaned the wound. I guess what ever he tried to do backfired. At least I avoided another incident with half of my body outside the window.
When we got to Ruidoso, I was surprised to see how similar it looked to my aunt's home in Pinetop, AZ. I thought it was a beautiful place especially with Sierra Blanca in the background. Anyway, we arrived at Robert's home, his dad and his friends were barbequing steaks in the backyard and messing around with some blow guns. They were cool, after seeing them, I wanted to get one. The food was very good. It came time to go to sleep. I was grateful to his mom for preparing a bed for me. Damn that was the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in. I slept soundly that night and didn't wake up until morning.
The next day Robert and his family took off for breakfast somewhere and I stayed behind to sleep some more. I woke up around 1000. I watched some TV and did some reading for school. They came back about 1200. When it came lunch time. His parents brought up the idea that we should go eat at this place called Kokopelli and after that see the effects of the recent forest fire.
The Kokopelli place was out in the forest somewhere and perched high on a mesa top where I saw the Capitan Mountains clearly, Sierra Blanca, and the plains of eastern New Mexico on the eastern horizon. The resturant was cool with nice chairs and tables. The atmosphere seemed different in a way that I've never experienced before. It was quiet and peaceful. You were able to talk normally unlike in the resturants where I had to talk loudly to be heard. Flat screen televisions were on some of the walls and tuned to news channels.I had a burger and fries with an ice tea. It was good too. The people there showed us some pictures of the recent fire from their viewpoint. After lunch, we spent some time in the golf shop. There was also a room sort of hidden to the side that contained a large quantity of liquor.
After we lunch. We toured a section of the town of Alto that was burned due to the recent forest fire a few weeks before. There were many houses that burned to the ground. Some were large like mansions and others were common homes. Some homes survived by a lightly singed. Others had their property values lowered due to the burned landscape around them. Anyway, it was sad to see these homes and knowing that their owners put a lot of work into them and to see their work go up in smoke.
We got back to their home and we took a short break. Robert wanted to show me a house down the street that was supposedly owned by a Mexican drug lord. We took his truck and headed down the road. Sure enough, there was a large estate with the Mexican flag and large gates and fences. There were many nice cars parked by the house. So I guess it might be true; there are drug lords that live here in the U.S.
Robert then kept going cause he wanted to show me a cave or a rock that contained Anasazi pictographs on it. He unsucessfully found the rock or cave. Turning around at the end of the pavement we headed back. But Robert turned off to a dirt road and went up a nearby hill. We drove up the hill which was forested and got to a clearing where a fire had previously burned. It was cool on the top. Below on the southside of the ridge, the town of Ruidoso was at the bottom, on the north side the local neighborhood where Robert lived. The Capitain mountain range and the Sierra Blanca peak were clearly seen in the afternoon sun. He told me that he sometimes goes hunting here.
When we got back to his house, his dad had the idea of going golfing. I thought it was going to be a dull game. Luck was on ourside when the golf course had closed down for the day, and fortunately, Robert's dad had someone he knew that worked there and he let us play on the course. We played 9 holes instead of 18. This was my first time ever swinging a golf club. The first swings I missed the ball completely. I got the hang of it and after a while I hit it and it flew a well, not as far as I had intended. It was trickey to get the ball in the hole once it was near the hole. However, Robert and his dad had played many times before and were pros compared to me. I hit about 3 holes and decided to enjoy the scenery. We got done with the game when the sun went behind the mountains.
That night we ate with Robert's dad's friend at a Pizza Hut. I guess I was hungry again and I ate some pizza. It was an interesting group with some interesting conversations. We stayed there about an hour and a half and headed back to Robert's home. We watched the movie "Bubble Boy" and some of Fox's "MadTV" show. I got sleepy and I returned to bed.
The next day I awoke with the question whether I should go to church or bible study. Robert's parents, Robert, and I went to the Bible study that morning (oh yeah I forgot to mention that his brother came along too). After Bible study we ate breakfast at a local cafe. I looked at my watch and it was getting to the time where we had to return to Roswell. After breakfast his parents stopped at True-Value to get some supplies for a project. The rest of the morning and first part of the afternoon we spent getting our homework done and it came time to leave back to Roswell.
Robert and I left for Roswell after stopping at a McDonald's in Ruidoso and drove the 70 miles back down to the plains. The road got lower and lower until it was flat and treeless. At one point we could see the Pecos Valley with Roswell dead ahead. A few more miles past until we saw Roswell immediately ahead and we both dreaded seeing the school once again. Oh well, it was a few more weeks until graduation. I couldn't wait to tell my family about the trip I took.