Pez Dispenser! Wished Upon A Car! or Present From Scout!

Yesterday was a great day, because Tony and I met our good friends, Kris & Jim aka "The Mineral Man" for a fun lunch. And before I go any further—Tony and I did not order the exact same thing, but we were close. We both ordered iced teas and chicken-fried steaks, but mine was a much smaller version.

While we were eating our lunch Jim suggested that besides me writing Cowgirl Sisterhood novellas, etc., "Nancy, you should write about some of the funny things that have happened to you in your life." So I took his cue and told them this story.

"When I was in the 5th grade and Ronnie was in the 6th grade he was good friends with our neighbor Billy Upton and Steve Crane, who lived a few blocks away from us.

Anyway, Steve's parents bought him this little red & silver Mo-ped and Steve drove it over to our house, as soon as he got it, so he could show it off to Ronnie and Billy, because they only had bikes to ride. (Steve didn't care if I saw it or not, because I hadn't started wearing a training bra yet—go figure.)

Well, Billy and Ronnie (and me) were very impressed with it, so Steve let Ronnie and then Billy take it for a short spin around the block. (I didn't get to ride it, because as Aunt Hermajean had told my mom, "I think Nancy is going to be a" dwarf!" Because I was very short.

So after Ron and Billy took it for a spin Ronnie decided, it would be funny for some crazy reason, to get an old, rolled-up, scrap piece of light tan carpet, from our garage and tie me up in it and put me in the middle of the street, to see if cars would drive around me. The guys thought his prank was funny, but I didn't.

In fact, I was wishing that Mom was home to stop it, but she was working, at her new part-time job (folding bath & kitchen towels and waiting on customers, etc.), at Monnig's, a small, locally-owned, upscale department store, located in the Westcliff addition, which was right next to the South Hills neighborhood where we lived.

Well, it only took Ronnie less that two minutes to roll me up in the carpet and tie it up. And I looked like one of those Pez candy dispensers with only my head poking out one end. Then Ronnie, Steve and Billy picked me up off of the front yard and they laughed all of the way while they carried me and set me down, in the middle of Stadium Drive, which was a pretty busy street. Then they went and hid, behind the bushes and wished upon a car to show up.

Thank goodness only a couple of cars stopped and carefully drove around me and I was really starting to get hot, inside the carpet, on the hot pavement, because it was the middle of summer.

Then my wish, unexpectedly came true—Mom showed up, at the stop sign, on the corner of Medina Ave. and Stadium Drive and she looked horrified, when she slowly drove around me and pulled into our driveway. And she was hollering, "Ronnie! You get over here right now!" before she even set the emergency brake and had gotten out of her two-toned, '64 or '65 Mustang.

In seconds, Ronnie, Billy and Steve ran out, from behind the bushes and went and picked me up and laid me down, on my parents lush, green Bermuda grass lawn, that they were so proud of. And while Ronnie was nervously trying to untie me, Mom said, "Steve and Billy, y'all need to go on home. Ronnie what in blue blazes...."

The bottom line    Ronnie got in trouble big-time trouble and he was grounded for a week and I am still here to tell my near death experience."

After Kris & Jim and Tony had quit laughing, Kris asked Jim to please tell his story about being the best man, at his friend's wedding, decades ago. "Well, it was a prank and we were best friends...." Bottom line    Jim and his buddies were drinking a little, so to speak and they ended up tying the nervous groom, to a street sign, using duct tape! (Jim, forgive me for putting your hilarious story, on a bumper-sticker, but this post is starting to look more like a book instead of a blog post.)

Today has been great, but it is still early. This morning I received an e-mail from Carol, with the subject line: "Present From Scout!" and she wrote: "For YOUR bun 😀" and when I looked at the picture she sent of her holding Scout's hair—I burst out laughing. And of course, that scared Little Debbie and Big Al(ice) and it caused them to start barking and running around the big room until Tony got back home, after drinking coffee with his friends, at the Old Timer, in Medina.

Y'all have a great Thursday and keep on laughing!