Rock Fights

When boredom would set in us kids always found some entertaining activity to amuse ourselves...pitching pennies, hide and seek, dodge ball and racing our bikes around the block were among the most common. One of the "not so common" activities was the dreaded
Rock Fight!
This activity could be started in a number of ways, from an aggressive shove, to an over the top insult. However, a good solid punch to the stomach accompanied by an over the top insult with the insult aimed at a close family member, was a sure fire way to start a Rock Fight.

Actually, the words "Rock Fight!" would be used to officially start this uh...game?!
It always involved a good number of people who would split up into teams.
Philip Brown's garage was a strategic base as were the bushes running along my backyard.
The bushes were unruly and although it was the home of many a spider, a spider is the least of your worries when a rock is being flung at you from 15 feet away.

Ammunition consisted of whatever rock you would happen to pick up, the most common being
your "standard rock." A "slicer" was a curved rock which did just that, curve in the air. When thrown just right it was a beautiful thing to observe but mastering it to achieve it's goal ( hitting someone ) was not an easy task and took much time and practice. The rock which we all both revered and feared was the infamous "coal rock."

It might even had been coal but being young and fairly stupid (hey, we are throwing rock at each other!) we called it a coal rock. This rock was gnarly and heavy and could cause considerable damage if thrown from a short distance.
Rock fights could go on for hours and usually ended when someone really took a solid hit and went home crying or when an adult would catch wind of it and come running.
A broken window as a result of a wild throw was also an abrupt way to end this fun activity.
Ahhh, the games of Summer. No wonder I hated Geology.