by I.C. Uproots
Chief Chaos Correspondent
I think it was that. Or, perhaps, the misindentification of the skunk. 🦨
We were visiting our grandparents in a rural area for the day.
In the city, when we had a phone, it was a rotary phone, to talk with our family.
When we stumbled upon their crank phone, we thought it was a toy. The greatest toy ever!
It sounded like real people talking with us when we cranked the handle.
We were having the time of our lives until one lady asked to speak with our Grandpa.
After he spoke with her, we were lined up and lectured for calling everybody in the region.
Oh well! It was fun while it lasted. I wonder if the phone broke that it called everybody (kid rationalization).
As usual, I was credited with leading two of my younger brothers astray. At my ripe age of 5 years old, and them being 4 years old and 3 years old.
Once, again, I was scolded, "You need to stop leading your younger brothers astray."
I thought they were mistaken because they had told me about stray cats and dogs. We weren't stray. We came home.
Here kitty! Here kitty!
The Wildlife Lesson That Got Away
On the same trip to our grandparents, after the lecture, we went outside.
There we saw our first live skunk. One of my younger brothers thought it was a cat.
He was chasing it calling "Here kitty!" "Here kitty!" (Luckily, toddlers cannot move very fast.)
Our mother stepped onto the back porch and saw him. She almost fainted, yelling at him, "Get back here! Let that skunk alone!"
She said it must have been a baby who had not yet developed its scent sack.
I still laugh at it and how luckily we all were.
Murphy Bed
I had one big disappointment from that visit.
We never got to check out the Murphy bed to see if we could hide inside it.
It folded up into the closet doors.
Maybe it was a good thing our grandparents and parents were sitting at a table right where it folded out.
After all, we all made it to adults to laugh at our antics.
