CPS and My Fish Story

Evidently Bob did something he shouldn't a otta done and daddy gave him a good whippin' right then and there... In the front yard... In front of the neighbors... Who thought it was excessive for what Bob as a five year old had done.

So the neighbor, with all the guts needed, called Child Protective Services and filed a report. They then followed up with an investigation (imagine that! long before lawsuits were mandated as the moral consciousness of society). Ultimately Bob was taken away to a foster home for a while. I wasn't because mom begged and pleaded and promised that dad had never once used aggressive behavior on me. Barbara wasn't because she was a breast-fed baby and had begun having health issues (febrile convulsions).

That was perhaps the bestest Christmas we had ever because the Episcopalian church used a Sub for Santa program to bless the lives of the community and we were the recipients of their love. That Christmas held the greatest Christmas-magic of my childhood.

There was another memory I wanted to record. I recall seeing a picture of dad and another man holding up a string of squirrels. They had been hunting that day and I think there were about 14 on the line. Which is interesting. Except for the travel to the hunt site and the all day traipsing around looking for them and the cost of the buckshot-it was free meat. Then there's the cleaning and getting it in the freezer. Really, there isn't much meat on those little things.

A final memory. This is my fish story. This one I recall very very clearly. Dad had been fishing and brought home quite a catch. Mom-a very good cook-had cooked some up for dinner. I took one bite and tried to spit it out. Dad was so angry. He had worked so hard to provide it, mom had worked so hard to prepare it and here I was spitting it out. He yelled at me to get it back in my mouth. He could get quite violent so of course I put it back in. He continued yelling trying to make me eat and swallow it. Then all of a sudden I threw up. I haven't been able to eat much fish since then. I've tried several times. I seem to be okay with the really mild fish (cod, haddock orange roughy, and halibut) and once in a while I can have tuna (if it has enough onion, dill pickle and mayonnaise in it). Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

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