Over the years, some of the details have become fuzzy, while some remain sharp-I remember the sound of bees wrapping up their day's toil, preparing to head home, and the fact that I wanted to see "The Addams Family" and "The Munsters" later that evening-this tells me that this was in September rather than over summer vacation, as both programs had just begun airing.
There were about ten of us, all told, out there playing in the yards, Mike and I in ours, Tony Calhoun, his younger brother, and a couple cousins in the Craighead's yard next door, and the four youngest Jackson kids in their yard, just rippin', runnin', being kids.
I dunno who threw the first rock, although I always suspected Netty Jackson, tomboy that she was. It landed in our yard, and Mike picked it up, and threw it back, hitting a Jackson in the leg, as I recall. Well, one rock led to another, until we were all throwing rocks.
Calhoun's younger sibling hit Mike in the back with a rock, so I threw one at him, catching him just above his left eye, drawing blood. Calhoun stepped over the low fence between the yards, brandishing a stick, which he broke over the top of my head. I stepped back, and let fly with a chunk the size of a potato, which caught Tony upside the head.
This went on for another few minutes, until three mothers ran into three respective yards, shutting down the action. Mike and I were hustled into the family car, off to St. Joe's. All of us wound up at the ER, for minor dings-I took four stitches in the top of my head, Mike had two near the back of his head, and Tony got three or four in his head.
Us kids were all sitting there, laughing and carrying on as we were treated, but our mothers weren't speaking to each other, and didn't for a week or so.
Heck....we had fun.
If it's the same T. Calhoun (very big & strong) I went to high school with, you're lucky you lived to tell this tale!
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure it was, Dan.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, someone would start shooting over something like this.
ReplyDelete