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Growing up I was a good kid. I was no angel, but I wasn't a horrible kid by any means. I'm pretty sure my parents knew of the bad things I did even if they didn't always let me know. I knew I wasn't allowed in the French Quarter during particularly crowded times, and to be honest, I tended to go to local places and rarely the Quarter anyway. I did go one time that it was crowded though. I can't remember if it was New Year's Eve or if it was the night of or before the Super Bowl. I knew I wasn't supposed to be there, but I went anyway. The streets were so crowded that you could barely walk. I was there with several friends, but my best friend and I wandered away from our other friends a bit. All of a sudden we noticed a blinding bright light. With drinks in our hands (um, we may not have exactly been of legal age), we looked up and saw news cameras. Uh oh! There was a good chance we were caught. Our parents would know we were where we were not supposed to be. Instead of staying out as late as we had planned, we headed home before we needed to be home in hopes of minimizing our chances of getting busted. Once there, she came in with me. We were greeted by my mom, aunt and grandmother. Mom asked what we had done, and we fumbled around being very non-committal with our answers. Mom finally said, "Before you dig yourselves any deeper, I saw the news." We immediately fessed up to being in the quarter, we were obviously caught.
That story has been told several times by my family and hers. It's always the same, nothing changes. No new details are revealed; it remains the same each time.
Tonight I was talking with my mother as she was beside my dad's hospital bed. Somehow we began talking about that story. I could hear my father, and I assumed he was moving around a lot in his bed. Then my mom began giggling uncontrollably. I asked what was so funny, but she wouldn't answer. I finally begged for an answer. "Um, Lanny? I was totally bluffing. That didn't happen. I knew there'd be cameras there, and I took a chance on it. You caved and admitted where y'all had been." What? You never saw me on the news??? "Nope, never." You've let me believe I was caught on tv all these years? "Well, yeah, I have." Mom! How could you? "Ha! That wasn't the only time. I was really good at that, wasn't I."
I still can't believe it!
8 comments:
I'm glad you're dad is getting better. I'll say a prayer for him. My friend and I went the Quarter once when we were under age seniors in H.S. and weren't supposed to be there. We didn't get caught, but we were followed around by this strange Iranian guy that scared us to death. We ran to the car and drove back to Metairie where we felt safe.
Glad your dad's a bit better.
Love the story. Damn, I wish I had thought of doing something like that with my kids.
On the birdfeeder - google a bit. Certain birds like particular types of seed. If you have the right seed, you'll get the birds. Or I can send you this pigeon I know of...
Cute story...I bet my mom has some of those too ;) Me?? I never thought of using it with my kids. Glad to hear your dad is doing better. I'll keep him in my thoughts and prayers.
I'm glad your Dad is hanging in there! With you two by his side, he'll be fine :) You little devil as a teenager you LOL!
I would not have been able to stay away from the Quarter as a teen. Nope, no way! I've been once as an adult and loved it!
Aren't Mom's the best? I sure miss mine and she was sneaky like yours :) Good story, Lanny!
(Gym is not mandatory here in NC either)
Glad to hear your Dad is doing better...and that you are keeping him amused!!!
Glad to hear your father is going better.
Remember those tricks when Linus gets older and make sure she doesn't hear about the trickery before you get to use it.
OH my goodness! Mom's rock!!! BTW, I totally got BUSTED sneaking off to see a professional wrestling match and got caught when the camera spanned the crowd and I was there in all my glory holding up a sign that said: Wine me, Dine me, Frankenstein me!
Sucka! Too funny!
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