22 February 2012

Seven Days of Memories: White Flags

Cpt. Tinseth, 1965, Ft Bragg, NC

With 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:

  1. BCM22 February, 2012 08:08

    Solid gold!

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  2. Anonymous22 February, 2012 08:36

    No apologies necessary because I still find it hysterical. ME

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  3. Anonymous22 February, 2012 09:11

    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

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  4. Anonymous22 February, 2012 09:11

    Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

    --Matthew

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  5. Ga Coal22 February, 2012 10:20

    My FAVORITE!! I was hoping for this one.....

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  6. Alice Olive22 February, 2012 10:31

    Classic. Absolutely classic. Love this!

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  7. Makaga22 February, 2012 11:39

    So good!

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  8. Anonymous22 February, 2012 15:22

    Know the story and it gets better every time. Love that passive aggresive shot to the chops.

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  9. Ben22 February, 2012 16:22

    Appropriately, your dad's comments following the original post years ago, were just as wonderful.

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  10. andrea22 February, 2012 16:32

    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?

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  11. Neil22 February, 2012 20:24

    No need to apologize, it was just as good on the second go. Thanks for sharing, and I'm sorry for your loss.

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  12. Anonymous22 February, 2012 22:09

    I think I speak for the group when I say that the more you write about your dad the more we all miss him.

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  13. Anonymous23 February, 2012 14:39

    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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