Stories, Hair rollers and A sleeping bag
One of my favourite memories of Johnny was when we cousins all slept in the boathouse turned bunk house. Once we were all tucked in, Johnny began a long winding storey that kept me wide awake. I was determined to hear it to the end. Unfortunately, others wanted to sleep so the story was interrupted and I held a faint hope that it would continue in future, but alas it was not to be.
I was just a young teenager. One day my family arrived by car for my summer visit with my cousins in the early sixties.
Johnny was there to greet me as I exited the car. My mother had done my blond hair up in blue rubber rollers and John proclaimed that "the ugly duckling had changed into a swan". I guess there was something about those rollers because after I was combed out, I went back to my old self.
On another occasion, many of us slept in a big white tent on a wooden platform . We were in sleeping bags and I woke up, alone in the tent and horrified that I could not find my way out of the bag. In a panic, I tried to find the opening until realizing I was headfirst into the bottom of the bag and had to squirm around in the twisted mess to find the exit. I had a big distrust of Johnny's practical jokes and believed he was the ringleader who put me in upside down. To this day, I have never found out the truth. That's all right, as it prepared me for other scary experiences that came later in my life.
Thanks Johnny. I look forward to seeing you again according to a reliable promise. XOXO Belle
Posted by C. Belle Perry
Thursday October 19, 2017 at 11:43 pm