My Dad and the Shotgun

The Girls

Recently I unearthed some photo’s that were taken at the only slumber party I ever had. It had to have been about 1970. There were 8 of us girls there. I would say our ages had to be about 12-14. We were a bunch of teen girls all in one house.  I was surprised that my mom allowed it but since she did I was running with the idea before she changed her mind.

We got to use our patio as our own little private cabin. The sweet scented pine boards lining the walls put there by my father’s own hand, made it more believable.  My dad had a brick fireplace built and the walls of “our cabin” showcased pictures of places we had traveled. The ones I remember most were ones taken of the hot pools and “Old Faithful,” in Yosemite.  A pair of steer horn’s hung over the mantel in honor of our ancestors who lived a hard life as homesteaders in Kansas and Nebraska back in the late 1800’s. This pair was given to my dad by his brother, my Uncle Mike.  There was an old radio and cupboard built into the pine walls. The radio no longer works but to this day it still resides in that wall right where my dad put it when they built the room some 50 years ago now. The shinny cement floor was always cool in the summertime. It was the perfect place to have a slumber party.  As each of my friends arrived Mom and Dad opened the door to our private cabin and let each girl in. The back door leads to our own outside private play area. The house we grew up in had a nice size yard and it was really a fun place to be.

The “Cabin”

I don’t remember much of the actual party but I do remember what happened that night.  The boys we hung out with were going to come and crash our party. Our house was only one house from the corner so they would only have to go through the crazy ladies (doesn’t everyone have a crazy lady in their neighborhood?) back yard to get into ours.  Instead of coming across the back yards they chose to hop the fence that separated the front yard to the back. Unfortunately for them it passed right under my parent’s window. We knew the boys were coming and we watched anxiously out of the dog door in the back door for their arrival. What we saw confused us. When we finally glimpsed the boys they were running across the yard as fast as if a dog was chasing them. They hopped over the fence in one jump and were gone. They looked as if they had seen a ghost, and we were perplexed at why they did not stop and come to the dog door as planned. As Cookie and I hung out the dog door as far as we could try to figure out where they went, the door from the house to the patio slowly opened…I jumped, could it be a ghost that scared the boys away? Our house was quiet except for labored breathing of the girls that were behind me now, mouths open and eyes wide. It seemed like it took forever for that door to open. When our eyes adjusted to the dark there stood my Dad with shotgun in hand.  Cookie and I knew we were in trouble but still we tried to act like we did not know those boys plans.

Cookie in her Jamies

I will never forget how my dad looked with the light at his back as he slowly opened that door to our dark cool cabin. He looked like a very tall shadow with the outline of that shotgun pointing in what we were sure was right at us! We screamed! It was really like a one of those slasher movies where all the kids got killed. Thank God it was only my dad and Thank God he was on our side.

It was a story we still talk about this day some 40 years later and one I laughed about with my dad until he passed. What a great memory that was and I am so happy that because of facebook I am actually able to be in touch with some of the girls from that memorable slumber party. And if any of them read this. Thank you so much for being a part of such fun memories.

© August 20, 2011, notsofancynancy