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THE HORN OF PLENTY by
George Lester |  |
It
was one of those rare occasions when Sam and I had to be put in the charge of
a caretaker for the day. I'm pretty sure the term "babysitter" was not invented
until decades later. There was another family living on our farm so their teen-age
daughter was asked to stay at the house and look after us while our parents were
away. Her main job was to keep us out of trouble. That was more of a task than
she bargained for. We were pretty independent for eight and nine years old and
we didn't appreciate someone riding herd on us. After we had lunch, our caretaker
told us she was going to take a nap and she warned us not to make any noise. She
had no idea what was in store for her. As soon as she dozed off we went outside
to seek adventure. With our great imagination it didn't take us long to find it.
There was an old abandoned car out behind the barn so we decided to see if there
was anything we could salvage off it. Sam spotted a horn under the hood. It was
one of those that made an "Ahoooooogah " sound. We loosened the bolts and wiring
and removed it. Now all we needed was a battery. Sam stood there looking at the
two bare wires and I could tell he had thought of a way to make it go. Our house
had the only electricity in Spunky Flat, a 32-volt DC system powered by a gasoline
engine. The horn was designed for six volts. We knew that five times that much
power would give us a mighty blast. It was more than we could resist. While the
teenager slept peacefully on the couch we stuck the wires into the wall socket.
"AHOOOOOOOGAH"!!
It far surpassed our fondest expectations. We learned later that it could be heard
for a mile in every direction. Sleeping Beauty suddenly became airborne. To say
that she was angry with us is putting it mildly. She informed us that our parents
would be told about this incident. We reminded her that she was supposed to be
looking after us and not taking a nap. As we stood there glaring at each other
she realized it was a stand off.
Sam and I kept our fingers crossed as
my dad thanked her and paid her for her day's work. She gave us a smirk and left
without saying anything. Later, when she was offered the opportunity to take care
of us again she politely refused. It was a puzzle to Mother and Dad, because she
really could have used the money. | | |
