Cpt. Tinseth, 1965, Ft Bragg, NCWith apologies to those who know the story...
Early one morning, I watched him stick the first of many white flags in our front yard. Made from wire hangers and a bed sheet, the miniature flags, over a week's time, filled our postage stamp yard and soon it looked like a putting green. No one ever asked him what they were for.
On Saturday, he invited the neighbor over for late afternoon beers and BBQ . Earlier in the day, I was treated to a top down drive in his Berkley, a chain driven British sports car that rarely ran, and slot car racing at the Hayes Hobby Store. We raced a blue Ford GT 40 with a Cox hand control. It also rarely ran. I wanted to ask about the flags...but didn't.
Later that afternoon he and the neighbor are drinking beers on the patio when the neighbor laughingly asks, "What's up with all those little flags in your front yard?" He takes a drag off a Marlboro, looks the man in the eyes and replies through a blue stream of exhaled smoke, "That's where your dog shits in my yard."
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13 comments:
Solid gold!
No apologies necessary because I still find it hysterical. ME
Your old man certainly was conceptual, I'll give him that. A confident neighbor might have found his game to be something worth toasting. I'm guessing he did not.
My career military dad, on the other hand, would have been far less subtle, storming over to his neighbor with machete in hand and verbally assaulting him in a cursing stream of Spanish, punctuated with an "Or else."
Flags or machetes: No one likes to mess with a crazy man and his weapons.
-DB
Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
--Matthew
My FAVORITE!! I was hoping for this one.....
Classic. Absolutely classic. Love this!
So good!
Know the story and it gets better every time. Love that passive aggresive shot to the chops.
Appropriately, your dad's comments following the original post years ago, were just as wonderful.
I find myself wondering where your mother is in all of this. Did you spring fully formed from Dad's head, like Athena from the head of Zeus?
No need to apologize, it was just as good on the second go. Thanks for sharing, and I'm sorry for your loss.
I think I speak for the group when I say that the more you write about your dad the more we all miss him.
Found your blog about a week ago. Fantastic. Now my 18 year old daughter is into it too. I love your style of writing. Keep it coming.
Thanks.
Greg K.
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