What Can I Say?
When I walk into the chiropractor's office on my first visit and he says something to the effect of, 'You're a rebel...' and I'm wondering if someone has put a sign on me that I can't see. A sign like, watch out I'm Irish...or I don't take sides—I punch everyone in sight.
What I think I look like is an innocent old woman just trying to get along. But there are stories...
The adults had all gone to town leaving the teenagers in charge of the innocent children. Nothing could possibly go wrong with this scenario, right? Well, my Adorable Cousin's sister Adorable Barbara and I are just two years apart in age, and yes, we could be (and often were) partners in crime.
Grandparents' house was situated in such a fashion that you could enter through the dining room door or the living room door, but the living room door was often closed and hardly ever used. There was one bedroom downstairs on the west side of the living room. There was a kitchen directly north of the dining room and east of the kitchen was a pantry, wash room that exited to the outside and down to the outhouse.
The teenagers and older kids were laughing, telling jokes and whatnot while Adorable Barbara and foolish me were being foolish in the pantry. Adorable Barb for some reason pushed foolish me out the back door. Now the Irish aren't known for their great height, but they were credited for digging the canals in the east, and their work on the railroads. Not always great thinkers, but strong as an ox.
I could have been the poster child for this. Not very tall nor was I a heavyweight, but strong as an ox. And that Adorable Barb was holding the door shut so I couldn't get back in—or so I thought. By the time I or I should say we realized she wasn't holding the door shut I had displaced the door jamb about two inches.
She could have abandoned me right there, but that's another thing we are known for, blood is thicker than water, so we found a hammer. Now comes the tricky part. When kids are quiet you know they're up to something, but how do you cover up a hammering sound?
There was a popular song at that time by Peter, Paul, and Mary called, If I Had A Hammer. The words were pretty simple and we'd sing for a bit as we hammered for a bit, then we'd be quiet then sing the next verse and hammer some more.
You would have thought our singing alone would have raised some questions, Adorable Barbara and I weren't known for our singing that I remember. However, I don't recall the older kids catching on. I know my Grandpa noticed the door jamb but I don't believe Adorable Barbara and I got in trouble. Grandpa just finished the repair and went on with life. And that's the way we rolled.
