Rebel without a cause or how my father got kicked out of school.

My father was the son of a preacher, in a small town in Pennsylvania, and went out of his way growing up to show he wasn’t a good boy. He and his two best friends would often get up to very serious pranks, after he and his friends “borrowed” a Studebaker from a neighbor and accidently drove it through the living room of another neighbor his father knew something had to be done.

Grandfather at his wits end sent dad to a boys boarding school that was known for its discipline. Dad rather than knuckle under continued to be a rebel and befriended two other boys who were also trouble makers. The weekend of Home Coming was approaching and most of the students were allowed to go home for a long weekend, except for my dad and his friends who were being punished for stealing the school’s football mascot, a goat and placing it in the dean’s office. The dean, not amused at having a goat ransack his office, had told my father and his friends that not only couldn’t they go home for the long weekend but they would have to help prepare the campus for home coming. Dad and his friends were none to happy about this and decided they wanted to get back at the dean. The dean was to give a speech in front of a larger than life size statue of a cavalry officer on a horse for the end of home coming.

Dad and his friends decided that they would prank the dean big time. In the middle of the night they went to the statue and drilled a hole on the bottom of the horse statue in between its legs, and then they pushed in a plug with a long string attached. They then drilled a second hole in the head of the statue and slipped in a garden hose and turned on the hose. According to dad it took the entire night to fill the statue with water, and he and his friends were in constant fear of the hose being detected. The last day of Home Coming arrived and dad and his friends had to help set up the stage and chairs for the dean’s speech. My father said he and his friends were worried that the plug would give way or that someone would notice the string they’d attached, but no one did. Once the dean had started his speech dad snuck up near the statue and yanked hard on the string and the cork gave way. The horse statue began to pee as planned, and since the statue was made of bronze the water coming out was a light green color. Dad said that the statue peed very loudly and very visibly through all of the dean’s speech and for some time afterwards.

The dean wasn’t amused by dad and his friends antics, not only had he been embarrassed but they’d damaged a valuable statue. The school in disgust threw dad out and he was forced to go home, where his furious father told him he’d had enough, that dad could straighten out or join the army. Dad being a rebel to the end joined the army.