I don't remember what happened before or after any of these things.
- Running over the hill at Dexter Primary School, near the swings, on the first day of kindergarten.
- Telling my mom I'd found a fox under the porch.
- My cousin Justin telling me that he knew much, much more about fire than I did, because his dad was the fire chief.
- Dancing with my dad to "The Waiting" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
Me: Who's this, Dad? Tom Petty?
Dad: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers! - Holding a contest with my brothers to see who could touch the electric fence for the longest amount of time. (Come to think of it, this might explain a few things.)
- My uncle telling us that someone had shot the side window out of his car as he drove to our house.
- The police officer who showed up to investigate.
Me: All I can see is shattered glass.
Officer (from inside my uncle's car): What's that? Shattered glass?
Dad: You better stay back, Maggie. - My dad's friend Dr. Rudmin (his son Will was in my class) at our house, saying, "And if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, don't exaggerate!"
- My uncle Butch saying, "Yes, you can watch Puff the Magic Dragon, but you can't cry and ask me to turn it off. If you didn't cry and stop watching every time, you would see that it has a happy ending."
- My dad's laughter on the day my brothers and I hid from him. I set up decoys: for example, I stuffed my brother's socks, placed them into his shoes and put them under the counter so it looked like Matt was hiding there. In reality, we had stashed him in the washing machine.
- Dressing up like Jupiter (yes, the planet) and doing a lip-sync instead of the science presentation that had been assigned.
4 comments:
These memories were wonderful to recall.
The "fox" was actually a coyote, which at that were only beginning to re-populate Maine, after a century of absence. It was frozen, dead beneath the porch. I carried it out into the woods (I should say, the deeper woods) and left it.
Wait...that's coming back to me. Did you wrap it in a garbage bag?
YES.
Many of these are in my brain, too, but I cannot connect the story about shattered car window.
Is that a Dexter memory?
Yes, but I can't remember which uncle! I'm guessing it was Butch, but I really don't remember. He said that his window shattered as he drove past Matt's friend's house, across from the lake.
We assumed that the window had been shot, but I don't remember if a bullet was found inside the car.
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