Dennis the Menace

Chapter 5

Whenever I watch the movie Dennis the Menace, I can’t help but compare myself with Dennis. There are three older men from my childhood neighborhood that I can think of who probably played the role of Mr. Wilson in my life. Their names are Mr. Kunz, Mr. Cooper, and Mr. George. They may have had more patience than the true Mr. Wilson, but I imagine I was definitely their menace.

Mr. Kunz lived directly across the street from our house on Eastman Dr. He had the perfect steep driveway for riding any sort of toy with wheels and a great tree for climbing. I would have to say that he was probably the most like the Mr. Wilson in the movie. I was always in trouble for climbing in his trees and riding in his driveway, but what boy can resist such amazing opportunities. He had a fence that still stands to this day that was impossible to see through. I was actually always a little bit scared of this guy growing up, but that didn’t stop me from taking advantage of his yard.

Mr. George lived up the street from us and he was the nicest old man on the block. There weren’t many days that went by that I didn’t visit Mr. George’s house. He always had a snack to share and different odds and ends for us to play with. He was nice old man who cared to share his time with a little boy from the neighborhood. I don’t know if he enjoyed my visits as much as I did his, but I’ll always remember the kindness he showed through his patience with a young boy.

Mr. Cooper he lived next door to our old house. I didn’t really see much of him, but I did spend enough time at his house to wear out my welcome. One day I noticed he was building a deck off of his house. Having helped my Dad previously with our own deck, I thought I was an expert. I spent as much time as I could at their house trying to help him build his own deck. Every once in a while his wife would bring him a can of Pepsi that he would split with me. I was helping in my own little way with the deck, but he never shared the blue prints with me. For that reason I don’t know if my helpfulness encouraged him to build a big privacy screen on the side of the deck that faced our house. I decided that through the years that we lived there he probably did in fact build it to save himself from my own curious eyes.

I love my memories from my own personal Mr. Wilsons, who helped shape my childhood. I learned some good lessons from their examples. The most important lesson I learned was to be a good neighbor even if your neighbor is four times younger. You really never know who is paying attention and studying the example you set.

Broken Arms

Chapter 4

Recently while, playing softball I injured my elbow diving for a ball. Since then I discovered somewhere back in high school I broke my elbow, which healed without ever getting taken care of. I’m not quite sure how that happened, but it makes for a good introduction to my next story. Accidents are bound to happen when two brothers are playing, especially if one is 5 years older than the other. Actually there is a very thin line standing between playing and an accident waiting to happen with that kind of age difference.

So far as I can remember this experience is one of the most vivid from my childhood. That in itself is a feat, because I have this ability to remember lots of details about random things. Most of the details turn out to be of no importance, but they stick in my mind.

It all started out as a normal Sunday evening when I was ten and Jess was five. My Dad was sitting at the computer working on something and my sisters were watching the television. Jess and I were playing a game that most young kids enjoy playing. I would lie on my back and Jess would sit on my feet, and then I would send him flying through the air. After a while playing this game I decided it was time to take the game to the next level. My goal was to make Jess hit the ceiling. Our family room at the time did have low ceilings, but not low enough for a 50-pound kid, being propelled by his brother’s leg, to reach. Rather than hitting the ceiling Jess flew awkwardly through the air and landing on the SEGA Genesis game system. The SEGA emerged unscathed, but Jess had broken his elbow.

I remember Jess screaming and then my Dad trying to straighten his elbow. As soon as my Dad realized the elbow wouldn’t straighten out he rushed Jess out of the house and left one of my sisters in charge. The entire time my Dad was gone all I could think of was how much trouble I would be in when he got home. Of course it was an accident, but I had been punished for many of my so-called accidents before. My Mom met my Dad at the hospital, from stake choir practice, and from there they had to take Jess to Pocatello for surgery to repair his arm. The doctors ended up putting two pins in his elbow and giving him a bright green cast as a souvenir. When I came home from a day at school worrying my parents and Jess were home from the hospital. To my utter surprise I never got punished for the accident. Six weeks of looking at Jess’ cast was punishment enough. I guess my parents really believed it was an accident. Good thing they didn’t know I was trying to make him hit the ceiling.