| As I recall, this next ditty took place in the Summer of 1952 when we were 4. Our Aunt Lou, before retiring and living with us, taught Physical Education at Miami University (Ohio). Shortly before coming to stay with us during the Summer, she had purchased a new car and had driven it from Oxford. A few days after she arrived, Tim and I were, as usual, left to our own devices. We went out to check out Aunt Lou's shiny new car. It was parked right in front of the hand pump, where we spent many hot summer days playing with the pump. For example, we discovered if we held a hand over the water outlet to seal it and the other pumped really fast, that a huge geyser of water would shoot out the top slot of the hand pump! (To this day, as many have pointed out, I STILL find humor out of simple things). One of us (or likely both), got the great idea to "wash" Aunt Lou's new car and really surprise her and everyone else that we were, indeed, capable of doing SOMETHING constructive. We took the two metal beach buckets that were always around the hand pump and continously filled them from the pump. The problem was that we started washing her car from the INSIDE first! We opened both front doors and just started throwing in countless buckets of water! Everything on the inside of the car was TOTALLY soaked and I recall the water just pouring out of the doors in a wide steady stream! Our mother finally discovered what we were doing and ran out of the house yelling for us to stop and uttering other words which we had heard MANY times before, but were forbidden to use OURSELVES under the threat of "Getting our mouths washed out with soap!" I vividly remember her jumping up and down in a fit of angry rage on our metal beach buckets and flattening them...and then, "flattening" US! Never since before or after my Navy days have I heard such language! (Well... can you REALLY blame her)? |
