JUST A LITTLE SUNDAY MORNING PRANK

The family was pretty infamous for their humor that was often daringly perverse for this age, and at times involved pranks that would at most other times been considered 'malicious criminal mischief', at best. This particular prank will go down in history as one of the family's best told stories.

During their teen years, Buck, Mac and several of their friends apparently opted to play hookey from church one Sunday morning. How they managed this, with a family that counted skipping church as being 'one with the devil', I don't have a clue. But they did. I'm guessing they weren't exactly fans of the interminable hour-long sermons, and especially, the long afternoons that entailed both family and neighborhood gatherings on front lawns in their Sunday best. The 'church socials' on Sunday afternoons were undoubtedly big events each week for these small southern towns. But for young men who much preferred bare feet and overalls to the Sunday duds, I'm guessing they decided this was a way to get back at the Good Lord for requiring them to stay clean, polite and respectful to their elders for such extended periods of time.

On this particular Sunday, they found a small car, which I recall as being similar to a volkswagon doodlebug, and lifted it to the front of the small quaint little wooden church that the local community attended faithfully every Sunday. They propped it on the steps, up against the doors, which swung open to the outside and therefore couldn't be budged with the car against them. Evidently they decided it would be even greater fun to ring the local fire bell, just for larks. This they did, and it was awfully good entertainment to watch everyone- from the minister right down to one or two of the fat, dowdy old biddies in the community, trying aimlessly to scramble out of the windows and any other various and sundry openings on either side of the church. 

I have no idea if they were ever punished for this prank, or if they were even caught. I just know my dad and his younger brother Dave were far too young to be a part of the prank. So for once, I can say my daddy was an innocent party to this "fun little family lark". Nowadays, these hoodlums would be arrested, booked, and fined quite heftly for their handiwork. But back then, it was just a prank pulled by a bunch of mischievous teens, to get some fun out of their required 'day with the Good Lord'.