JonahFitzsimmons
New Member
Somewhere in America during the summer of 1957 there was a small farm town named Vernon. There were two nearby country farms named the Jones farm and the Davis farm. Howard Jones and Oscar Davis were two junior-high-school age boyhood friends. The town had a fairly-new annual custom called "Boys' Day". A number of boys in the community pretended they were working the occupations of grown men in running the town. It was a gag of sorts.
The town's boys could pretend to be the mayor and certain lawmen. On the day before the event, Howard and Oscar decided to play the sheriff and the deputy respectively. Howard had a German shepherd dog named "Sam" and Oscar had a Basset hound named "Homer". The two boys decided to cast Sam and Homer as "police dogs" in the gag. The dogs would both wear a white vest each with the word POLICE printed on them.
Old Farmer George Jones, Howard's grandfather, had schemed for a while to turn Boys' Day into an exciting practical joke for Vernon. Early in the morning of Boys' Day, he visited Paul Simmons, the bank president, at the local town bank to share with him what he was cooking up as a practical joke. He proposed a staged "bank robbery". Back at the Jones' farmhouse earlier that morning, George had already told Howard's widowed mother, his daughter-in-law, at breakfast what he was planning but she didn't like the idea at all. Howard's father, you see, had been killed in action as a soldier in the second World War while Howard was just a baby. George had taken over his son's family farm upon the death of his son and was the man of the house. Anyway, back to the plot. The fake hold-up was to come to the young "sheriff and deputy" as a total surprise. After doing his morning farm chores, George nonchalantly speed away in his 1950 Ford pickup truck to leave his daughter-in-law's yelling at him from behind in the dust in dismay.
Mr. Simmons didn't like the wild idea at first thinking it might disrupt bank business, but decided to eventually go along with it. Mr. Simmons thought the whole notion of Boys' Day was newfangled and reminisced that back when he was a boy there was no such custom. He stated that a boy became a man as soon as he could pick up a hoe back in his day. George, a rather grumpy old man normally, light-heartedly told a dour Mr. Simmons that he had to keep up with changing times and to have a little community spirit. George had finally convinced him that there would be no real bank business around the time the fake robbery was to take place being it was a quiet town and customers usually didn't come in around that time in the morning. George wanted to make Boys' Day eventful and memorable so the young "lawmen" didn't have to sit around all day long at the constable's office with nothing exciting to do for the event. The real town constable, Mark Gordon, was away on vacation so the boys used his office to stage the event. Farmer George, a usually cantankerous old goat, had become a bit giddy like a schoolboy lately about this whole Boys' Day affair. He must have hit some good moonshine to have become a little touched about the clever "wing-ding" he was about to stir up.
George planned the fake hold-up to occur right at 10:30 AM. At about 9:45 AM, he, having arrived at the local Brown Cafe from the bank across the street. Peter and George said "Good morning" to one another. Peter asked George what he was doing there that time of morning and then George asked Peter if he knew about Boys' Day. Peter replied, "Yes, I do." George next explained about his wild plan. He asked the cafe owner in town, Peter Brown, to be the "hold-up man". Peter agreed to play along with this. George made sure Peter's watch was synchronized with his own. He then gave Peter his handkerchief to wear as a mask. George suggested that Peter should have a gun to make this joke look realistic. He told George that he had an old broken revolver in back. George said that should work well. George then told Peter to disguise his voice so as not to give himself away to the young "lawmen". The boys knew Peter well and had actually stopped at his cafe that very morning for milk and doughnuts before going to the constable's office to wait on standby for any action.
George, at 10:00 AM, then called Judy, the local telephone operator, to tell her of the wild plan. She was to call the constable's office on the local party line, signal of two short rings, to tell the "lawmen" that the planned "bank robbery" was happening. Shortly afterward, George left the cafe and a strange man in a hat and suit came in for a meal. He had sat down at the front counter. Peter, the cafe owner and counter person, told the man to make it a simple order like pie and coffee. The man said he would only have a cup of coffee and Peter then poured him a cup. The man asked Peter if his stove were busted and Peter replied that it wasn't. He explained to the stranger about Boys' Day and what was being cooked up locally as a practical joke and that he had to go play the "bank robber" soon and that he would be gone from the cafe for about ten minutes. He also told the man that the mock hold-up was to occur at exactly 10:30. The stranger asked Peter if he was going to be wearing his cook's apron to the bank and had remarked that the cafe worker's garb wouldn't look convincing as that of a supposed bank robber. Peter then told the man that he had his street hat and coat in the back of the store and showed him the bandanna he was to don as a mask. The strange, well-dressed, tall big-city man was quick-witted and clever by nature and then suddenly got a sinister idea of his own.
The strange man then followed Peter to the back of his store and pulled out a real handgun, a 45 Automatic made by Colt's. He pointed it at Peter in the back of his cafe and Peter then asked him if this was some sort of joke. The man then firmly shoved the muzzle of the gun into Peter's belly and answered in a gruff, deep voice, "Does this look like a joke to you?"
Shortly afterward, Howard's mother back at the farmhouse rang Judy, the operator, to place a call. Judy explained about the mock bank robbery that her father-in-law had cooked up and Howard's mother, hanging up the phone, then immediately ran out of the house to get into her car. She raced toward the bank as fast as she could drive to stop "this whole nonsense" she thought to herself in her mind.
Shortly before 10:30, George stopped back at the cafe again to ask Peter if he were ready for the gag.
He yelled through the front door that it was to happen two minutes later. The bad man with his gun still trained on Peter had quietly told him to yell to George that he was getting ready. He did this and George left again. The bad man then demanded that Peter bring him the hat and coat he was talking about earlier. When Peter had turned around the bad man then clubbed him over the head with his 45 to knock him out cold. He shortly afterward donned the mask and Peter's clothing.
At 10:30, the young "lawmen" got the call from Judy about the robbery. They grabbed their "police dogs" and a rope and proceeded to run toward the bank from the constable's office. Oscar, an overweight and clumsy boy holding the rope, tripped going out the constable office front door and Homer stayed back with him. Howard and Sam both ran on ahead.
Meanwhile at the bank, George was standing next to the desk of Mr. Simmons anticipating the great event. Then, unbeknownst to them all regarding his real criminal intentions, the real bad man walked inside wearing the bandanna mask and Peter's hat and coat. He pulled the 45 gun and demanded in a deep gruff voice that the tellers empty the safe and give all the money to him in a bag. This they so did. George noticed that the gun in the man's hand was a semi-automatic pistol and not a revolver so he suspected something was fishy here. Howard, in his cop garb with fake badge, then ran into the bank with his toy gun drawn. His dog Sam then attacked the bad man and brought him to the ground. He struggled on the floor with the dog for a while. George ordered his grandson to call Sam off the man and he so did. He was still not 100% certain that the man was an impostor but had remarked that the man was going overboard by demanding the bank tellers to clean out the safe. The man got up on his feet again brandishing the gun with full money sack in hand. Apparently the dog could smell the strange man and knew it wasn't Peter whom he was familiar with.
Then suddenly Howard's mother screeched the 1954 Oldsmobile to a stop in front of the bank and ran inside. She confronted the man as she was about to try to unsuccessfully pull his mask off. She demanded that this silly joke stop at once. He then shoved her violently next to Howard and his grandfather who were standing next to the Mr. Simmons' desk where Mr. Simmons was sitting. It was now painfully obvious to everybody in the bank that this man was really a bad man.
The man then started to head for the glass bank front door with money and gun in hand. As he was about to go out the door, Oscar, the "deputy", ran up outside the bank with rope in hand to push the door wide open forcefully to knock the man to the ground again and Oscar then came inside. Sam, the German shepherd, then grabbed the man by the arm again to hold him down and the bad guy dropped his gun and the bag. Oscar then picked the money bag and the gun up and brought these items over to Mr. Simmons at his desk. Suddenly, Howard went over to the man, while his dog was still holding him down on the floor, to clobber him over the head with his toy-but-heavily-constructed metal six-shooter to knock him out. Everybody then breathed a sigh of relief. Howard and Oscar then high-fived each other to celebrate a job well done. Oscar's dog, Homer, jumped up against the glass door of the bank outside and barked loudly. Mr. Simmons then held the real 45 gun on the impostor until the real constable came back to town to arrest him shortly thereafter.
That night at the supper table back at Howard's farmhouse, Howard's mother, grandfather and Howard were all discussing the exciting events of that day. The old crank telephone on the wall then rang, Howard's mother answered and had a short conversation with somebody on the other end of the line. It turned out to have been Constable Gordon on the line. Howard's mother explained that both Howard and Oscar were to receive a $500 reward to split from the bank president, Mr. Simmons, for foiling the real robbery which saved the bank several thousands of dollars in real cash. She sighed half smiling and said, "The bank nearly lost thousands of dollars, Peter the cafe owner got a king-size lump on his head and I nearly lost five years of my life." She lectured that such practical jokes can lead to something real serious as in the fable about the boy who cried wolf. Both grandpa and Howard chuckled anyway, Howard praised his dog and Sam barked and wagged his tail. Sam had been a big hero that day too and he should have gotten a big steak out of the reward money.
THE END
The town's boys could pretend to be the mayor and certain lawmen. On the day before the event, Howard and Oscar decided to play the sheriff and the deputy respectively. Howard had a German shepherd dog named "Sam" and Oscar had a Basset hound named "Homer". The two boys decided to cast Sam and Homer as "police dogs" in the gag. The dogs would both wear a white vest each with the word POLICE printed on them.
Old Farmer George Jones, Howard's grandfather, had schemed for a while to turn Boys' Day into an exciting practical joke for Vernon. Early in the morning of Boys' Day, he visited Paul Simmons, the bank president, at the local town bank to share with him what he was cooking up as a practical joke. He proposed a staged "bank robbery". Back at the Jones' farmhouse earlier that morning, George had already told Howard's widowed mother, his daughter-in-law, at breakfast what he was planning but she didn't like the idea at all. Howard's father, you see, had been killed in action as a soldier in the second World War while Howard was just a baby. George had taken over his son's family farm upon the death of his son and was the man of the house. Anyway, back to the plot. The fake hold-up was to come to the young "sheriff and deputy" as a total surprise. After doing his morning farm chores, George nonchalantly speed away in his 1950 Ford pickup truck to leave his daughter-in-law's yelling at him from behind in the dust in dismay.
Mr. Simmons didn't like the wild idea at first thinking it might disrupt bank business, but decided to eventually go along with it. Mr. Simmons thought the whole notion of Boys' Day was newfangled and reminisced that back when he was a boy there was no such custom. He stated that a boy became a man as soon as he could pick up a hoe back in his day. George, a rather grumpy old man normally, light-heartedly told a dour Mr. Simmons that he had to keep up with changing times and to have a little community spirit. George had finally convinced him that there would be no real bank business around the time the fake robbery was to take place being it was a quiet town and customers usually didn't come in around that time in the morning. George wanted to make Boys' Day eventful and memorable so the young "lawmen" didn't have to sit around all day long at the constable's office with nothing exciting to do for the event. The real town constable, Mark Gordon, was away on vacation so the boys used his office to stage the event. Farmer George, a usually cantankerous old goat, had become a bit giddy like a schoolboy lately about this whole Boys' Day affair. He must have hit some good moonshine to have become a little touched about the clever "wing-ding" he was about to stir up.
George planned the fake hold-up to occur right at 10:30 AM. At about 9:45 AM, he, having arrived at the local Brown Cafe from the bank across the street. Peter and George said "Good morning" to one another. Peter asked George what he was doing there that time of morning and then George asked Peter if he knew about Boys' Day. Peter replied, "Yes, I do." George next explained about his wild plan. He asked the cafe owner in town, Peter Brown, to be the "hold-up man". Peter agreed to play along with this. George made sure Peter's watch was synchronized with his own. He then gave Peter his handkerchief to wear as a mask. George suggested that Peter should have a gun to make this joke look realistic. He told George that he had an old broken revolver in back. George said that should work well. George then told Peter to disguise his voice so as not to give himself away to the young "lawmen". The boys knew Peter well and had actually stopped at his cafe that very morning for milk and doughnuts before going to the constable's office to wait on standby for any action.
George, at 10:00 AM, then called Judy, the local telephone operator, to tell her of the wild plan. She was to call the constable's office on the local party line, signal of two short rings, to tell the "lawmen" that the planned "bank robbery" was happening. Shortly afterward, George left the cafe and a strange man in a hat and suit came in for a meal. He had sat down at the front counter. Peter, the cafe owner and counter person, told the man to make it a simple order like pie and coffee. The man said he would only have a cup of coffee and Peter then poured him a cup. The man asked Peter if his stove were busted and Peter replied that it wasn't. He explained to the stranger about Boys' Day and what was being cooked up locally as a practical joke and that he had to go play the "bank robber" soon and that he would be gone from the cafe for about ten minutes. He also told the man that the mock hold-up was to occur at exactly 10:30. The stranger asked Peter if he was going to be wearing his cook's apron to the bank and had remarked that the cafe worker's garb wouldn't look convincing as that of a supposed bank robber. Peter then told the man that he had his street hat and coat in the back of the store and showed him the bandanna he was to don as a mask. The strange, well-dressed, tall big-city man was quick-witted and clever by nature and then suddenly got a sinister idea of his own.
The strange man then followed Peter to the back of his store and pulled out a real handgun, a 45 Automatic made by Colt's. He pointed it at Peter in the back of his cafe and Peter then asked him if this was some sort of joke. The man then firmly shoved the muzzle of the gun into Peter's belly and answered in a gruff, deep voice, "Does this look like a joke to you?"
Shortly afterward, Howard's mother back at the farmhouse rang Judy, the operator, to place a call. Judy explained about the mock bank robbery that her father-in-law had cooked up and Howard's mother, hanging up the phone, then immediately ran out of the house to get into her car. She raced toward the bank as fast as she could drive to stop "this whole nonsense" she thought to herself in her mind.
Shortly before 10:30, George stopped back at the cafe again to ask Peter if he were ready for the gag.
He yelled through the front door that it was to happen two minutes later. The bad man with his gun still trained on Peter had quietly told him to yell to George that he was getting ready. He did this and George left again. The bad man then demanded that Peter bring him the hat and coat he was talking about earlier. When Peter had turned around the bad man then clubbed him over the head with his 45 to knock him out cold. He shortly afterward donned the mask and Peter's clothing.
At 10:30, the young "lawmen" got the call from Judy about the robbery. They grabbed their "police dogs" and a rope and proceeded to run toward the bank from the constable's office. Oscar, an overweight and clumsy boy holding the rope, tripped going out the constable office front door and Homer stayed back with him. Howard and Sam both ran on ahead.
Meanwhile at the bank, George was standing next to the desk of Mr. Simmons anticipating the great event. Then, unbeknownst to them all regarding his real criminal intentions, the real bad man walked inside wearing the bandanna mask and Peter's hat and coat. He pulled the 45 gun and demanded in a deep gruff voice that the tellers empty the safe and give all the money to him in a bag. This they so did. George noticed that the gun in the man's hand was a semi-automatic pistol and not a revolver so he suspected something was fishy here. Howard, in his cop garb with fake badge, then ran into the bank with his toy gun drawn. His dog Sam then attacked the bad man and brought him to the ground. He struggled on the floor with the dog for a while. George ordered his grandson to call Sam off the man and he so did. He was still not 100% certain that the man was an impostor but had remarked that the man was going overboard by demanding the bank tellers to clean out the safe. The man got up on his feet again brandishing the gun with full money sack in hand. Apparently the dog could smell the strange man and knew it wasn't Peter whom he was familiar with.
Then suddenly Howard's mother screeched the 1954 Oldsmobile to a stop in front of the bank and ran inside. She confronted the man as she was about to try to unsuccessfully pull his mask off. She demanded that this silly joke stop at once. He then shoved her violently next to Howard and his grandfather who were standing next to the Mr. Simmons' desk where Mr. Simmons was sitting. It was now painfully obvious to everybody in the bank that this man was really a bad man.
The man then started to head for the glass bank front door with money and gun in hand. As he was about to go out the door, Oscar, the "deputy", ran up outside the bank with rope in hand to push the door wide open forcefully to knock the man to the ground again and Oscar then came inside. Sam, the German shepherd, then grabbed the man by the arm again to hold him down and the bad guy dropped his gun and the bag. Oscar then picked the money bag and the gun up and brought these items over to Mr. Simmons at his desk. Suddenly, Howard went over to the man, while his dog was still holding him down on the floor, to clobber him over the head with his toy-but-heavily-constructed metal six-shooter to knock him out. Everybody then breathed a sigh of relief. Howard and Oscar then high-fived each other to celebrate a job well done. Oscar's dog, Homer, jumped up against the glass door of the bank outside and barked loudly. Mr. Simmons then held the real 45 gun on the impostor until the real constable came back to town to arrest him shortly thereafter.
That night at the supper table back at Howard's farmhouse, Howard's mother, grandfather and Howard were all discussing the exciting events of that day. The old crank telephone on the wall then rang, Howard's mother answered and had a short conversation with somebody on the other end of the line. It turned out to have been Constable Gordon on the line. Howard's mother explained that both Howard and Oscar were to receive a $500 reward to split from the bank president, Mr. Simmons, for foiling the real robbery which saved the bank several thousands of dollars in real cash. She sighed half smiling and said, "The bank nearly lost thousands of dollars, Peter the cafe owner got a king-size lump on his head and I nearly lost five years of my life." She lectured that such practical jokes can lead to something real serious as in the fable about the boy who cried wolf. Both grandpa and Howard chuckled anyway, Howard praised his dog and Sam barked and wagged his tail. Sam had been a big hero that day too and he should have gotten a big steak out of the reward money.
THE END
