Another Story

STORY #4

Growing up in a small community, we didn't have our own daily newspaper. The newspaper we got came from the city 45 minutes away. In the '70's, the newspapers were completely black and white. There was only one colored picture per year -- on the front page -- and it was always a picture of the same event: Whoop-Up Days. So every July the newspaper would feature a colored picture of someone screaming on one of the rides, a child devouring some cotton candy, a cowboy getting thrown from the back of a bull, etc. For me it was always kind of exciting to see who would be featured on this one colorful newspaper each year.

One summer when I was a teenager, my parents and brother were going in to Whoop-Up Days to attend the rodeo. Two of my friends and I also drove in to the city with them. Our plan was to go to the midway. After determining the meeting place and time, my parents gave us strict intructions to NOT BE LATE, as my dad had to get up early the next morning. We set off to have some fun on all the rides. And have fun we did! In fact, we were having so much fun that we lost all track of time. When I finally realized what had happened, I determined we were over an hour late for meeting up with my parents. It would be an understatement to say that I knew my mom would not be pleased!

I told my friends that we needed to hurry, and began walking as fast as I could hoping they would keep up. They didn't seem to sense the urgency as much as I did. Soon enough I saw my mother coming towards us with a determined look in her eye. When she saw me she said, "There you are!", and picking up a twig off the ground, whacked me across the back of the legs. I started jogging. At this point my friends picked up their pace a little to try and keep up, but still keep their distance from us so as not to be associated with us. My mother turned around to them and said, "You better start moving, or I'll use this on you, too!" They broke into a run, and actually passed me.

I remember the 45-minute drive home being an extremely quiet ride -- no one spoke the entire time. The thought that kept going through my mind was, "Please don't let me be the colored picture in the newspaper tomorrow!" When the paper did arrive the next day, you can bet I ran to check it out. Apparently the stars and planets must have been aligned in my favor, because the picture was only of the ferris wheel all lit up. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that I wouldn't have to worry about a permanent reminder of this eventful night for the rest of my life. Kind of. I may not have the paper reminder, but I have two friends who still love to bring it up for a good laugh.

Dixie