Denny Stories, (Cont)

This is Denny and Rex about Christmas at 544 Byrd in Wichita, Kansas. As the margin says, it was 1963 so I would have been 16. Rex lived another 4 years and I am still hanging around.

Here is the rest of the story I started a couple of blogs ago:
Curiosity was a fault that just drug Denny into many adventures. He just couldn’t seem to not get into things or play with things especially if he thought it was forbidden by the rules. By an airport near his house there was an “honest to god” Marine Corsair sitting outside. As soon as the kids learned how to open the cockpit, it was fair game to be played with. For hours and hours Denny stood in the seat and pretended to shoot down all the Japs that ever flew through the plains of Kansas. If you sat down without a parachute on your butt and a seat cushion, you could not see out of the cockpit. Denny could either play with the joystick or work the rudder pedals. Most of the kids saw the plane once or twice and then went home. Denny played with that plane until he learned to open the storage flaps in the wing and take an ammo boxes out. Somewhere in his parents move from Kansas and return, that ammo box got lost. I doubt that he would ever have a need for a .50 cal machine gun ammo box in real life but hey, in the pretend life of a kid it was one neat thing. He filled it with tent pegs for when he went camping. It was cool that he knew what it was and everyone else did not know.

Dennis was a Boy Scout in a troop that met at the local fire station. The troop leader was an ex-marine that had a lot of contacts with the local Marine Reserve unit and a lot of the equipment was excess marine stuff. It was cool to have a WWII surplus sleeping bag and old GP Small tents. The troop really looked different when they went camping with other Boy Scout troops. There was a real emphasis on camping and field survival but not as much on rank in the troop. Denny was a pretty good cook and for a lot of the camps worked with the adult leaders and learned his way around a Dutch oven. The one big advantage about cooking was the cook didn’t have to clean up. He cooked until one month they made his a patrol leader and assigned four or five of the Byrd street gang to his patrol. Man was that ever a wild group. They could create more wild adventures by accident than a whole troop could on purpose. I think several of them made 2nd Class Scout and perhaps one or two made 1st Class. Only one scout tried to make a lot of rank and he was a Star or life scout, which I think is a grade below Eagle. He always was an eager beaver and his dad was one of the troop Board Members. The rest of us just enjoyed scouting for what it was and rank didn’t matter. Knowing how to tie a bunch of knots wasn’t as important as knowing how to tie a bowline and keep a person tied to a tree. (Around the tree, down the hole and pull tight was the memory aide for that knot. Once a scout, always a knot tie-er)

M-I-N-N-E-H-A, Minneha, Minneha Yea, Yea, Yea! From Kindergarten to the Ninth grade, Denny went to the same school. It was a curious mixture of the kids of the really rich and the kids of the poor. The advantage was really good food and for the most part the teachers were pretty good. There were a few exceptions but in the years of mass production with the Baby Boomers the teachers were pretty good. I can’t remember any that were below par in my mind. There was always a lot to learn if you were motivated. Too bad I wasn’t.

I tell a story about Minneha. One day something bad happened and one of the teachers said who did that? a little green frog came out from undera desk and said "Petty-did-it, Petty-did-it". Most of the time he was right. Except one time...
I can't remember when it was for sure, but the elementary school kids were in the new building and the Library was in the old building. Once a week we were marched over to the building and allowed to check out books. We did the normal line up like ducks and followed our line leader to the library. We had no more moved outside and the teacher stopped us and said no talking! If I see you talking I will send you back to the classroom. Forward March! Stop! Stop! Denny Petty ou go back to the rom! But, but I didnt say anything. Go back and wait for us. Not me, If I go back, I won't be there when you get back. I'll quit this chicken outfit and go home! Dennis you go back right now and you had better go to the room. I did an about face, walked back in to the school, put one foot in the room and promply left to go home. I went home and told mom that I quit and wouldn't go back. Mom called the school and made an appointment to meet with the teacher and the Principal. I had to go back and I think I came to school early for about a week to make up the time I missed.
Next time I'll tell the story about smelling the elephant legs in the lunch room. Stand By for more adventures of "Denny the Dumb".