GIT EM, GEORGE!!!!!

Not a particularly sweet tale of the Cloer boys, but one that just about everyone will find humor in, as we've all had experience with a cranky, pesky neighbor who just can't seem to find any joy in living near young kids.

The nearby community/town housed quite a few rambling old two-story homes, with long staircases, wide veranda porches, and neatly manicured yards filled with window boxes, flower gardens, and for most- well-trimmed, stately hedges. I'm sure all small towns back in the 30's and 40's had residents who took a lot of pride in keeping up with their neighbors, mostly because there wasn't a whole lot else to do but yardwork, gossip, moseying down the street to visit, and planning for the Sunday afternoon church socials. This resulted in the elderly townsfolk being quite territorial about their properties. This particular couple I am writing about were certainly no exception to that rule. They pitched a fit over the various local dogs 'managing their business' on their neatly manicured lawn, and apparently blamed most of the deposits on the family pets that accompanied the Cloer boys on most of their regular jaunts into town.

George, and his wife (let's call her Martha) were an elderly couple that apparently swept their yard, and shooed the local kids off in the process on a fairly regular basis. After one-too-many broom escapades, where the couple evidently made quite a few disparaging remarks about the local boys (including the Cloer sons) to the authorities, the boys decided enough was enough. They found a grocery sack, painstakingly deposited a number of recent doggie droppings into the bag, and late one night placed it onto ol' George's porch steps, setting it afire as they vacated the premises. They rang the doorbell, scattered in several directions and watched the lights slowly pop on upstairs, as George trudged down the stairs into the foyer to answer the doorbell. Of course, he starts stomping immediately, the result of which was that "the shit went flying in every direction". I'm thinking if I recall this correctly, George got a tad bit upset, and went off to retrieve his rifle, or pistol, or whatever weapon of mass destruction he had handy. And there was old Martha-right behind him, hysterically yelling "GIT EM, GEORGE", as loud as she could.

To hear the Cloer boys tell this tale, old George was dumb enough that they managed some very similar pranks on a regular basis. Without fail, he fell for every one of them - hook, line and sinker. I once asked my dad if anyone ever felt guilty about picking on the old man and his wife. To quote dad, they were the meanest, most gossipy, crotchety old couple you could ever imagine, so no- I don't think any of the kids ever felt like when they got to the pearly gates that they were gonna have to ask God for forgiveness after picking on dear old George and his lovely wife Martha. I can pretty much imagine George searching diligently for them when they each got to heaven, to lecture them one more time about his yard!