Ol' Sparky

We all have moments in our lives where we look back and laugh. If you don’t, then you should look a little closer. Growing up, my father had a great sense of humor. Well, maybe a little warped at times, but never once as kids did we not feel loved by him, and even tough loved at times…

One spring morning, he was out working on our garden tiller, getting it ready to turn the ground. Suddenly, with a shout and a boyish grin, Dad called out to us kids to stop playing and come over to where he was working… We all stopped what we were doing and raced over, eager to see what wonderful new experience dad had in store… Note: Key words to be leery of growing up in the Hodges Household… “Trust me… You’re going to love this…”

Having all of us line up behind the Tiller and hold hands, we waited with eyes wide, watching my father pull the wire clamp from the sparkplug. Carefully, he opened, and shaped it to the size of the first child in line’s finger. Sliding it on with a smile he said, “Trust me, you’re going to love this.” Watching with excitement we waited for what wonderful new joy he was about to bestow upon us. Grabbing the pull string and looking back, he asked, “You ready boys and girls?” To this we shouted, “YEAH…” Dad pulled the cord and this strange bite like sensation flowed from my sister's hand I was holding, making me want to let it go with the quickness. At the same time, my brother let out a good yelp at the front of the line… As my father began to laugh, we all quickly let go and could here the words electrically charged echoing in our brain, “Trust Me…”

My mother “The Penguin,” didn’t share in the same kind of hummer as my father… She was a no nonsense kind of gal… But looking back in my memories, I chuckle at her chasing us seven kids with her paddle dressed with the words across its surface, “Heat For The Seat…” Trust me… Those short little penguin legs of hers were as fast as Mickey Mantle and when she caught you, you would think he was swinging that damn thing… One day I was walking around the yard tossing a baseball around, and somehow it made its way off course to my target, and made its way on course to the barn… Crash, was the sound the ball made as it bounced off the back of the lawn mower… My knowledge as a kid that The Penguin was somehow always watching, made me walk as nonchalantly to inspect the damage as I could… Side note: “My parents could have made copper wire from starching a penny…” I mean they were tight. So, if you broke something, you better try to fix it before The Penguin found out about it… Getting to the front of the barn, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The baseball had hit the sparkplug perfectly, breaking it off in the engine… What the Hell? How am I going to fix this without The Penguin finding out? She’ll see Duct tape fo sho. I know, I’ll glue that bad boy… So, there I was walking into the house, trying my best not to draw the attention of my mother. Finding some Elmer's School Glue I slid it into my pocket… Making your way past The Penguin’s Watchful Eye with a bottle of glue in the front pocket of tight eighties jeans was no easy task… But somehow I made it back to the barn… So, there I was holding the glued sparkplug back together praying it would hurry up and set so I could let go. I had to have looked like a Crack Head watching the kitchen window hopping The Penguin would not look out and see me… Man I was bugged out… Finally, the glue set and I walked away with a sigh of relief… Thank God The Penguin didn’t catch me… Within a few days, I was thinking nothing of the event of gluing the sparkplug back together… Until one morning I heard this strange sound coming from outside… Looking out the window I could see The Penguin pushing the lawnmower and hear it’s motor going up and down in power… It turned off and The Penguin stood back placing her hands on her hips… Suddenly, to my horror, The Penguin’s head turned slowly back towards the house, as if to have psychically known who was responsible… Oh Boy… You better run or something’. She’s goin’ to go Mickey Mantle on your ass… So, out the front door I ran making my way to the woods across the street from my house… I spent the day hiding out in an old sinkhole until I thought The Penguin had cooled off and was busy making supper… I stood a lot better chance of escaping the Heat For The Seat by doing so…

Looking back now it’s all dripping with humor to me… Through good times or bad, my father and mother did the best they could to feed seven kids and provided a safe place to call home. That’s all any of us could have ask of them…