Velociworld

UNCLE DON

One more Uncle Don story (creator of the Tiger Tooth Belt), since he and Aunt Jean are staying with my brother and will wend their way to Velociworld at some point anyway:

I told you he was a practical joker. When I was a wee tyke and we 5 kids would trek to Birmingham to visit all our relatives Don would ferry us around in his pickup truck (he was ahead of the curve in sport utility). Piled into the back thick as thieves, we'd get rambunctious. Don had a huge dragonfly in a Mason jar. When I say huge I mean 7 or 8 inches stem to stern. We'd never seen the like. He claimed it would eat our lunch if we misbehaved. Teeth like razors. So we'd hunker down and behave, but like all kids you forget, and start acting up. Don would roll his window down and hold that Mason jar out and shake it to get the beast buzzing. This had the same effect as the German shelling of the Ardennes at the Battle of the Bulge.

I think I was 14 before I realized I'd been had. I look to Don's wisdom for parental inspiration now like Caine channeled Keye Luke.