"This Is My Tall Tale"
by
Bonnie Anderson Cogswell
The year was 1964, 1965 'ish.
The time of year....summer.
The time of day....mid afternoon.
The day....probably a Saturday or Sunday. Why, you may ask?...Because the older cast members aren't working.
The place.....our back door yard. Yes, I said "dooryard". This saying has to be a "Herring Choker's". Definitely not a "Bluenoser" saying.
The Cast
Bonnie Cogswell
Jimmie Cogswell
Richard Simpson
Dougie Simpson
Joey Simpson (maybe)
Bobby Dickinson (maybe)
Garry Dickinson
The 'boys' had a habit of congregating at different places. They would talk about their cars, their breakdowns, their racing up the by-pass. You know....the regular stuff that guys in their late teens do. Yes, they probably talked about 'girls' too.
Well on this day they happened to gather in our yard. The scene opens with all these spotlessly clean cars all parked in front of our big barn in the back door yard. Their is also dad's trucks, a bulldozer and a loader vying for space in the yard. One of dad's 3 ton trucks was parked closer to the house and just underneath the clothesline. Parked behind this truck?....you guessed it; all those PURDY CARS.
Just so happens that mom and I were doing a wash this beautiful, sunny day. No dryer back then; ONLY THE CLOTHESLINE.
I dragged a huge clothes basket full of clothes out to the stoop to hang them out. Looked and saw that the truck was in the way. The obvious thing for me to do?.....holler over to the bunch of hoodlums standing around smoking their cigarettes and laughing. Only being 13 or 14; I didn't have a driving license nor had ever driven a vehicle. I hollered over and asked Jim or Blaine to move the truck. "Yeah, in a minute", was the response. I waited and waited and waited but, neither one made a move towards the truck. I hollered over again. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, in a sec" was the response.
By this time little sister was growing impatient and thinking I should get the keys to the truck, start it up and move it myself. The thought actually scared the daylights out of me but, at the same time...it would look good on them. Again, I hollered over and said, "Blaine, Jim....move the truck or I will."
It got their attention but, only long enough for the bunch of them to take in to laughing at the thought of me trying to drive this great big 3 ton truck.
THAT'S ALL I NEEDED!!! I dropped the clothespin bag, stomped down the stoop steps and over to the truck. The boys, at this time, hadn't noticed me getting in. The keys were in the ignition. My mind is trying to remember what dad or the boys did before, during and after starting this thing. Okay, put it in neutral. To do that I had to first push in the clutch with my left foot but make sure I had my right foot on the brake. Okay....I can do this. I only weighed 98 lbs at the time but, I'm sure I had 200 lbs of pressure on those peddles. I turned the key. My heart almost jumped out of my chest; the truck started. Dear God keep me safe. I grabbed the shift and grinded the motor into 1st; just like it showed on the shift knob. TOO EASY!! I looked into the rear view mirror.....the guys were still standing there but, their lower jaws were hanging open and their eyes were all as big as saucers. I gave the truck some gas, let out the clutch.....IT STALLED! Oh Dear Heavens.......I can't quit now. Turned the key again and vroom. Put it into gear and let up on the clutch. THE TRUCK WAS MOVING BACKWARDS. YEAH!!!! I looked into the rear view mirror and all I could see was people running to their cars and spinning their tires to get the heck out of my way.
Now, I only had to move the truck 5 or 6 feet and did just that but, those boys weren't taking any chances. I can still see them all scattering. Too funny.
Admittedly, I have to thank Blaine and Jim. The event of that day instilled in me a determination that I could do anything, if I put my mind to it. It was also an eye-opener for my brothers. DON'T PUSH LITTLE SISTER'S BUTTONS!!!
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