Life in the mountains

Photo by Robobobobo/Flickr

By LEE GAREN

Once again it’s time to remember things past.

We have had some beautiful days here in the mountains which has given me time to reflect upon memories.One that came to mind has always brought a chuckle in our family.  It involves my mother when she was a young girl living in Chicago.

When I say young, I am talking about 7 or 8-years-old.

To begin with, this is a story she told me and my brothers when we were little.  She would keep us entertained by telling us tales of her trials and tribulations from her childhood days.

First a warning: Don’t try this at home!

As mom told it, she and a couple of girl friends would enjoy small bags of candy they got from the corner candy store.  There was a little girl in the neighborhood who was very pushy and had no manners whatsoever.  She would always come along and grab the bag and start eating their candy.  She was what we would call a “spoiled brat” as her parents would never do anything to stop her bullying behavior towards my mother and her friends.

One day my mother got an idea that would put a stop to this girl’s stealing of their candy.  One of their favorites was chocolate-covered raisins. One of the girls had pet rabbits in cages in her back yard.  They took an empty candy bag…don’t get ahead of me here…just stay with the story.  They put some rabbit ‘pellets’ excreted from the rabbits into the bag.

For those of you who have never seen rabbit poop…it looks like..well…uh…chocolate-covered raisins.

The three girls sat on the steps of my mother’s front porch and when they saw this girl heading their way, they reached into the bag and pretended to be eating candy.  The scene was set…or shall we call it the trap. The little girl walked up, grabbed the bag and took a handful of what she thought was candy and popped it into her mouth and began chewing.

Now I don’t know that she swallowed anything but she began screaming and spitting as she ran for home. Mom said her dad took a belt to her bottom and grounded her for two weeks.  As she tells it, the other two girls got the same punishment..especially the one with the pet rabbits.

Mom said it hurt but that the pain was worth it because that little girl never took a bag of candy from them again.  Which proves that sometimes a little crap can get the best results in the long run…even if it leaves a bad taste in your mouth!

Copyright 2012 Lee Garen

Lee Garen traded in life in the fast lane of Atlanta for the mountains of North Carolina after retiring from CNN Radio where he was an anchor/reporter.

Short URL: http://reportergary.com/?p=25807

Posted by Gary on Jun 29 2012. Filed under Arts/Media/Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.