A Menace to Society
Yup, that’s me. I guess having been a Girl Scout for 12 years but only earning 1 patch foresaw my current status. The patch (Social) had a teapot on it. I earned it for having the other 4 girls in our troop over, and serving them Kool Aid. We didn’t have a leader. I remember watching a sketch on the elementary school stage, aimed at recruiting a leader. It didn’t work, but it was pretty funny. Kris and Susie Radish (cousins) were to perform the sketch, but it consisted of them looking nervously at each other and cracking themselves up; two of the funniest girls I ever knew. Because we didn’t have a leader, we didn’t do a whole lot. We never did scout-y things: no hiking, no camping, none of the stuff I imagine we could have or should have been doing.
We did have two events: we were invited to support the efforts of a Boy Scout Troop by cooking lunch for them while they were restoring something out in the boonies. I’m positive I’d have been more helpful out at the project than in the kitchen, but back then I didn’t know I could just say so and do it. The other event was a sleepover in the Lions clubhouse on the river. I still have a picture of us draped over the upright piano, looking as goofy as 4 teenage girls can. Well, one of us looked goofy. And I was 100% dorky with those stupid glasses, which I probably picked out.
I thought this was Kris Radish hugging Sue O’Connell (Maura O’Connell is on her other side), but she says it isn’t her. So it may be Chris Kading, who was also an extremely funny girl. We’d leave school together and part ways at the corner, me heading south down Clark Street, her heading east on Edgewood - and I’d laugh all the way home. I lost track of her when I moved away from Big Bend, five years after this picture was taken. The blonde girl behind Maura is Suzie Lutz, who lived in the development across the highway from St. Joe’s.
Who knew that dork sitting on top of a piano would - 60 years later - become a world-class threat? (Having your driving privileges revoked without a crime having been committed is just un-American, you know? Silver lining is saving money, plus getting some - sold the car for about half of what I’ve put into it.) It just goes to show that the old saying, “You can’t tell a book by its cover” rings true. I wonder who first said that? To wit, Jeffrey Dahmer, who lived in my Milwaukee neighborhood, was a fairly good-looking guy…
I had bunch more stuff I wanted to say, but I get scathingly brilliant ideas which simply go =poof!= minutes later. If I could remember to use the Voice Recorder on my iPhone. It could be cool to have a chip planted in my brain that would tell me something is worth hanging onto.
Speaking of hanging onto things - I’m not! I’m having a carport sale (thunderstorms predicted) and in preparation I have put a cardboard box into every room in the house. I have today and tomorrow to pull out of drawers and cabinets and shelves everything I haven’t used in a year or so. Right now, the only thing I’m conflicted about are the two sets of dishes I have. One set - classic Vernon Ware - was given to me by my friend Patti McCall. It’s lightweight, and the colors are cheerful. The other set is from Mangum Pottery in Weaverville - hand-thrown, but heavy. Until covid in 2020, I regularly entertained bunches of people, including having 20 or so people for Thanksgiving. I’d like to think I’ll be doing that again, but am not sure the energy is there anymore.
Well, I’m sure there was more, but it’s time to move on. (I just wasted a good 20 minutes reading from Wikipedia about Dahmer.) Back in about 1970, living in Dahmer’s neighborhood, and walking home the few blocks from The Phone Company around 11pm at night, a tall blonde guy was walking ahead of me. He stopped to tie his shoelace, and when I passed him, he grabbed me from behind. I crumpled to the sidewalk, so shocked I didn’t know what else to do. For whatever reason - maybe inexperience? - he let go of me and ran ahead. I stood up and yelled, “YOU ASSHOLE!” I’m not sure I’d ever said that word before; I sure say it a lot now.
Years later, when the Dahmer story finally broke, I told my sister Sue I thought it was him who’d grabbed me. She said it wouldn’t have been, as he didn’t start killing people until years later. Indeed, when the “Milwaukee Monster” was still active, I’d already moved to Atlanta and then Washington, DC.
Dodged that menace, eh?
Now, just don’t mess with ME.
xox
Lucy