if I came to the way I am honestly, or if I’m a bad seed.

Truth is, this is genetic, and if you meet my family, it explains a lot.

When I was about 14, one of my father’s best friends Chuck had decided to build a new garage- he did a lot of side work in addition to his usual job, so his planned garage was an impressive affair, two stories and lots of room for heavy equipment.

Painfully, the old, garden variety two car garage was in the way. So he planned the demolition with the help of his son Theo, and when Theo arrived, he said “This thing is too nice to destroy, why don’t you sell it to me?”

Chuck made it plain he could have it. Theo made plans to dismantle it, but Chuck had a better idea.

Chuck always had heavy equipment, so he backed his aging International flatbed truck into the old garage, and closed the door. He let the air out of the tires, and sat beams on the bed, attaching the beams to the walls of the garage. He refilled the tires, lifing the garage neatly about 6″ off the floor.

Dad’s job was to occupy the one and only policeman who would be on duty in town that day. Lyn, the cop in question, would commonly have breakfast in the local all night restaurant. Dad as often would get up early and have a bite at the same place before work.

This morning Dad offered to buy, and Lyn, built like a horse and with a similar appetite ordered the Texas Stack, four plate sized pancakes with bacon between layer one and two, sausage links between two and three, and corned beef hash between three and four, with two poached eggs on top. Dad excused himself to go to the bathroom. The payphone was between the mens and womens, and he called Chuck to let him know the one and only cop on duty would be busy for twenty minutes.

And that is how I ended up hanging out the window of a two car garage being driven 6 miles up US 41 at four in the morning.

Well, someone had to hold the light. Chuck couldn’t have the truck’s lights on, they;d just reflect off the inside of the garage. He had to have darkness inside the garage to see through the garage doors windows, and i had a magnetic base mounted tractor light I used to illuminate the road ahead while Theo drove behind, lights flashing.

By the time the call came in on Lyn’s police radio that there was a a garage headed northbound on US 41, the deed was done, and the garage was already bolted down to its new foundation. Lyn ignored the call anyway, knowing the caller was a drunk.

No, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I still have the magbase light in my shed.