Truth Time for the Tricky Ten
Okay... It's time to let you know the truths.
1. I once saved the Ocean City NJ boardwalk from burning down. This is true. It was way back in the 1960s when my dad was in Viet Nam. Mom, Patti, and I went to live with my grandparents while he was over there. We went to Ocean City, and I saw a growing ring of fire burning in a boardwalk plank. Mom sent me in to the Planter's Peanut Store, where I told Mr. Peanut, and he got someone to go out and extinguish the fire.
2. I lived in an English castle as a small child. This is true. We lived in England for four years when I was really young. My parents rented a one bedroom cold-water flat in the basement of a small castle. The castle had been converted into a hotel. It was dark, damp, and musty. We had to go down a dark hall to use the community bathroom. Mom hated it and we moved when I started having nightmares after something that happened to me one night.
3. I am allergic to bananas. Nope. I love them. I love them with peanut butter so much that we don't keep bananas in the house anymore. I am allergic to mangoes. Unfortunate, that one. I love them. They make my lips swell up pretty bad, so I'm never tempted to indulge.
4. I unknowingly spent a night in a tent with a rattlesnake during a Boy Scout camp out. Not a chance! You all know how much I love camping. If that had really happened, you would probably never be able to get me out of the house. I did see a Mexican movie on TV once that had a deadly snake in a sleeping bag as its plot. Great movie. I always hoped they would make an American version in English.
5. I was once elected to public office. This is true. I was elected as the Democratic Party's Election judge for Precinct 9 during the 1984 presidential election. Don't worry... I voted for Ronald Reagan. I only accepted the nomination because my school wanted me to and it was a paid position. I told them I was a Republican, but they didn't care.
6. I have had five experiences with ghosts. Oh yeah, this is true. 1- Remember that castle? One night, something picked me up and through me on my bed. 2- I was the only one in the dorm after Christmas break. Dad and I had a fight and I used my RA key to get in. I heard someone coughing up a lung in the shower. When I opened the bathroom door, the coughing stopped. There was no other way out of the bathroom, but it was empty. 3- My boys and I were walking home from MacDonald's along the creek. We were pestered by a little boy who kept magically appearing on the trail ahead of us. 4- Then there was that little boy on the trail in Kerrville. 5- Finally (I hope!), there was that girl looking out of the window of the Colby T at Lockhart State Park.
7. I was once threatened at gun point. Unfortunately, this one is true. A disgruntled husband showed up at our house during a school staff party and demanded at gunpoint that I get his wife and the coach she was cheating on him with out so he could shoot them. (We haven't had a big party at our house since!)
8. An airline ticket agent once refused to give me a ticket because she believed my birth certificate had expired. Yep. True. She had me believing her for a few minutes. It happened in Miami back when my dad had that drowning accident in the Cayman Islands.
9. My wife and I have the same middle name. This is also true. Both of us have the middle name "Lee". So did my dad. So does N1S.
10. I bowled a perfect game when I was 16. Nope. I have never bowled a perfect game. My average game is about a 140. But, my handicap was usually pretty high!