Boys Will Be Boys

When my mom and her brothers and sisters were young, making fudge was one of their biggest treats. They would make it as often as they could. One day my mom and Aunt Bonnie wanted to make fudge, but they didn’t have enough cocoa for it. So, they decided to borrow some.

Mom and Aunt Bonnie walked down to the Lattimer’s house. The girls asked to borrow some cocoa, and Mrs Lattimer invited them in for a few minutes. So, after a short visit, the girls started down the street with their cocoa in hand. On the way, they would walk past the Ford’s house, who were the next door neighbors to the Lattimers. Mr Ford was a police officer in Casper.

There was a big tree that stood near the street between the Lattimer and Ford homes. As the girls walked under the tree, my Uncle Larry and Uncle Wayne jumped out of the tree yelling, in an effort to scare the girls. Well, as you might have guessed their “attack” worked perfectly and the girls proceeded to scream at the top of their lungs. Mr Ford, being a police officer, came running outside to see what was going on…fully expecting to encounter a murder in progress, I’m sure. Well, when he found the two brothers scaring the daylights out of their sisters, he seriously thought about beating the daylights out of the boys…and in those days, you could do that, so I’m sure the boys were rethinking the wisdom of their little plan.

Mr Ford scolded them and sent them home. The fudge was made, but I have to wonder if the boys were allowed to have any of it. My mom tells me that while the boys escaped the beating from Mr Ford, they did get a severe talking to when they got home.

Mom tells me, however, that for all their mischief, the boys did have a few redeeming qualities. One time when mom had gone to the little store around the corner from their house, with her brothers, she saw a set of salt and pepper shakers that looked like deer. She commented on how beautiful they were. Then the three of them moved on. The boys, however, got together and bought those salt and pepper shakers and gave them to my mom. She said it was such a touching thing to do, that it still brings tears of joy to her eyes.

Yes, boys will be boys, and the pranks they pull can make you want to wring their necks, but sometimes the things they do can be so sweet, that it makes up for a lot of their…well, other qualities.