You asked me to tell you about about that photo with all those feet in that wading pool. Well, here it is:

It was supposed to be a boy girl swim party. The first these boys had been to since girls were no longer the enemy. Well, it wasn’t that they weren’t still the enemy, but the girls had some kind of blasted power over most of them for the first time. (I know you still remember those days, that power you had over young boys when you were that age.) You know Jacob was older by twenty minutes than your dad and lorded it over him. He said this party was the big time. Of course, he didn’t use that word, but then I can’t repeat the word he said, he shouldn’t even have known it at that age, but it was the early 60’s. And since I am heading for my own 60’s, I need to show some respect out there in case someone else is reading this besides you.

So, the boys headed on over to Sharon’s. Well, turns out Marvin thought the boys needed to prove to those girls just who the “men” were. So, he suggested they see who could hold a hot coal from the grill in their hand the longest. Yeah, I know that was plumb stupid, and so did he, but he was betting no one would take him up on the challenge, so he would be the man of the hour. Man of the hour, right, more like stupid kid on the gurney.

Anyway, Sharon’s dad never would leave the grill long enough for any of them to get their foolish hands on a coal. It turned out Sharon’s slightly younger sister, Karen, heard Marvin’s original challenge, so she said out loud that the boys were such sissies they couldn’t even stand on the hot concrete. Well, your Uncle Jacob jumped right out of the pool and onto the pavement. It was August 3, mind you, and mid afternoon. That pavement would about take your skin off your feet if you just walked too slow. Now your dad was not going to be outdone by his brother, so he followed suit. Next thing you know every boy at the party was lined up on that sidewalk, trying to make it look like it was nothing. Now, Sharon’s dad was just enough of a good hearted man to take pity on those boys trying to impress his daughter and the other girls. So instead of yelling at them to knock it off, he walked over to the wading pool he had set up for Sharon’s little brother to use after his nap, tossed in a bag of ice and called out to the boys, “First one to get two feet in the pool gets an extra hamburger and shake!”

Those boys took off running, even your Uncle Jacob. But your dad, he jumped on the wet grass while they were all running the other way, then stepped back onto the concrete. As soon as they all were hanging their feet in the ice, he called out from the sidewalk, “What a bunch of sissies!” He waited another minute, then nonchalantly walked over to the pool, dove in, and the boys swear to this day they heard a whimper out of him when his feet hit the water. Your dad, to this day, he says it was the cry of victory.