Happy Halloween, Mr. Principal
Did I tell you about the time your Daddy and your uncles pranked the principal on Halloween? Well, them boys was sump'n, let me tell you. Now I don' 'spose your Daddy's ever tole you of the onry-ness a them kids? Anyways, there was a whole passel 'n'm kids, mostly boys and your pa right in the middle the bunch. Now one a them boys was just a year older'n your pa, and another'n a year younger. Whut a trio they made. No, they warn't no singin', but mischief! Lawd, ha' mercy.
So anyhow there was this October when they was prolly 13, 14, and 15 year ol'. Halloween a comin.' Now the principal a the school over there was Ward Livengoodll, he was "livin' good," what with his nice income from the second-best job in the county. Har! har! Livin' good. I sometime crack myself up. Anyway, ol' Ward, he come out here from Indiana, had him a dee-ploma from Oakland Normal School, doncha know. What was the best job in the county? Why sheriffin', I reckon. You got no idee the ways them fellas can line they own pocket. But that's a tale for another time. So ol' Livengood marry a sweet thang from over to Terre Haute, and headed West. Lureen Tuttle, she was, and the only way I would know that is she never cease from tellin' ever' one she meet about "the Tuttles from Terre Haute."
So Principal Livengood got the school over there, an' that school were the centerpiece a McClave. They had just built hit a couple years afore, and it were a two-story brick, three ya count the basement. Now Livengood drive him a little ol' Model T Ford car, runabout, they call hit. So anyway, morning of November 1 he walk on over to school-- didn't even notice his car wasn't aside his house, on account he only drove hit to work but rarely. But he get to school, unlock the building and clumb on up the stairs. Imagine his surprise when he get to the second floor, and there a settin' in the hallway smack again' his office door is his very own personal Model T!
And do you think that trio and they cohorts had anythin' to do with that? Not much, they didn't; no more'n hit was them left Fred Sparks's outhouse in the middle George Watt's broom corn field.
©
2013 David W. Lacy
Reminder: Uncle Jep's tales are collected
under the "Stories" and "More Stories"
tabs at the top of the page.
Reminder: Uncle Jep's tales are collected
under the "Stories" and "More Stories"
tabs at the top of the page.
8 comments:
And this is why, boys and girls, grown-ups opted for heavier and heavier cars, culminating in the land yacht phase. At that period of history, young men began to lose their muscle tone gained from splitting wood and such, so the problem became moot.
Where I grew up, the story was about a farmer that Nov 1 found his wagon full of grain perched on the ridge line of his big barn.
Perhaps not a Halloween prank but just a boys will be boys prank but a bunch of 8th grade boys moved a teacher's MG from the street into the middle of the (fenced in) school playground - during school hours! So lots of naughty there - don't recall how she got it out of there.
Sharkey, good socio-industrial analysis of the current state of affairs.
Chuck, that is a tough one to pull off.
Grace, here in Perfect, c. 1971, our jr hi band director found his VW on his front porch on All Saints' Day. Good pranks never get old-- or maybe they do.
I love these stories! They remind me of my youth, but it was never ME doin' that stuff. It was some other kids. Really!
Jono, thanks. Indeed, it was always "the other guy" for me as well.
Funny. I'm sure this type of prank was repeated over a period of many years, but I haven't heard of any good pranks lately. Threats of jail time probably took care of this problem.
We don't even have little kids asking for candy in our neighborhood. Guess who eats the candy we purchase.
I understand about the candy. It has been quite some time since we saw kids at our door on Halloween. We still purchase candy, though, just in case.
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