The Picture in the Window

                                                           The Picture in the Window

It was a fall day back around 1955, on Lewis Road and we were attracted to the picture in the window of the gable end at the north end of Jesse Carll’s old barn. Now this barn was a huge imposing structure and with the steep incline of the road, you had to crook your head real hard just to see up at that angle. That day, it was me, my brother, and two friends Ronnie & Rowland. We had just finished trespassing in the old barn and exploring all the nooks and crannies. One point of fascination in the old place was a hay shaft that led to the third-floor loft from the lowest floor where there were horse stalls. It was a shear drop and notches had been cut into the interior walls of the old shaft so you could climb up from the ground, all the way to the loft, inside the shaft. In 1959-1960 It was converted to a large residential dwelling by then-Real Estate mogul, Albert Zillian.

On that fall day in 1955, we were standing there on Lewis Road looking up at a picture in the gable attic window and even with our young eyes, couldn't’ agree on what the picture was. Someone in the group suggested it was the image of Jesus Christ. Whatever, we decided that it would be a challenge to break that window by throwing rocks at the glass. We began throwing and just then we saw a familiar sight. It was Rowland’s father who was then the town building inspector, Stanley Kitchel in that green 1954 Hudson Hornet coming down the hill. We immediately stopped throwing rocks when Mr. Kitchel picked up Rowland and off they went, leaving Ronnie, me and my brother. Since it was not yet time to go home for supper, we picked up some more rocks and resumed firing back at the picture.

The rocks, bouncing off the building must have made a Hell of a racket, but we were oblivious to all that. We thought this was our own personal playground. Jesse Carll on the other hand had a different view. He must have called the cops, because sure enough, they came. Ronnie yelled “It’s the cops!” “ Beat it!” My brother took off into the barn, but the cop nailed Ronnie and I where we stood. There we were, in trouble with the law and my brother got out of there Scott-free. The cop had us cold. He said okay, where’s the other guy? We said what other guy? He responded with the usual "don’t get smart with me" stuff.

He walked into the barn and yelled for my brother to come out and actually put his hand on his gun! He didn't draw, but I thought oh-no he’s gonna shoot Steve! Well, Steve was sometimes too bright for his own good. He got out of the barn and could have blown-off the whole caper, but I guess he didn’t want to leave us flat with the law, so he came up behind the cop and said “are you looking for me?” We all could have crapped our pants, including the cop!

We got our impromptu verbal reprimand from that lawman right there. We knew better than to vandalize Mr. Carll’s old barn, but we justified it because the place was old and ram-shackled anyway. That day, we learned that there was no justification for disrespecting other people’s property and got a lesson in citizenship right there at the threshold of that old barn. The cop punctuated his sentences with words like trouble, juvenile misfits and things like that. Then, he finished by telling us that Mr. Ervin would personally be calling our parents!

Oh………my……God! What would Dad do? Never mind what Mom would do......we were worried about Dad! Steve and I had a little strategy meeting and decided that we should get to Dad before Percy Ervin did. So……We sang like birds. We told Dad that we had done this horrible thing and that we were sorry and we would be good boys for the rest of our lives and we made more promises than we had infractions. Dad gave us a tongue lashing and imposed some kind of penalty but it really wasn’t too bad. The message was that in life, you may not always do the right thing, but if you make a mistake or somehow veer off the straight and narrow, be man enough to admit it, acknowledge, and above all, maintain honesty and integrity. Not a bad message, actually. The punishment wasn’t so bad, but it was the anticipation of coming clean....likened to a 10 year old going to the dentist – next Tuesday!

It’s interesting to note how Ronnie handled the matter with his mother. She was the disciplinarian in their house. She wore the pants (literally) when in 1955 women didn’t often wear pants. Ronnie never told her anything! He knew she would come unglued and significantly hurt him!

And Chief Percy Ervin? He never called. He was probably busy trying to crack aparking ticket cold-case.