Pat reminded me of this one. The boys, Russ and Doug, must have been 10 or 11 and that would make Terri about 8 or 9. After supper we had gone to visit our friends, Roy and Lois and their kids. Roy’s horse was sick and a Veterinarian was there tending to her. When we got there, the vet had a big plastic syringe in his hand. It didn’t have a needle on the end of it so he must have used it to squirt some anti-biotics down her throat. Russ asked if he could have the syringe to use as a squirt gun. The vet was a good guy and let him have it and the kids ran off to play. We visited for a short time and then went home. It was getting close to dusk and the kids were playing in the front yard. They were squirting each other with the syringe and taking turns climbing the olive tree and were just doing what kids do. Pat was working in the kitchen and could glance out the window from time to time and see that the kids were okay.

A couple of the neighbor girls from down the block were riding their bicycles up and down the sidewalk. One girl was making snide remarks to Russ as she went past. We suspect that she might have had a crush on him but didn’t know how to deal with it. They kept riding back and forth and the one girl added name calling to her insults. Pat had the kitchen window open so she overheard some of the remarks. The girls quit coming by so Pat figured they had gotten tired of their game and went home. What she didn’t know was that Russ was sick of the girl and her comments and told her that if she called him one more name he was going to pee on her. Well, she pushed her luck and when she came by again, Russ squirted her. She screamed and rode off and didn’t come back.

A little later, an El Cajon police car pulls up to the curb and an officer gets out. He heads for the front door, and the kids, being curious, fell in behind him. Pat had seen the car pull up and she headed for the front door and yelled at me. “Good evening, Ma’am”, says the cop. “Are you Mrs. Thomas?” “Yes”, says Pat, “What can I do for you?” He says “I need to talk to your son Russell”. “What’s it about” asks Pat.” “The little neighbor girl says he urinated on her”, said the cop. “My son would never do that” exclaims Pat. Just then, I’m joining them at the door and heard Russ say “Í didn’t do that”! “I saw the water stains on her clothing” the cop says. ”Well, I just squirted her” says Russ. “Why don’t you show me what you did” says the cop. “Okay”, says Russ, “I put the thing in the garage.”

Russ headed for the garage with Pat and I, the cop, and the rest of the kids falling in behind him. The big overhead door was open and Russ got the syringe from where he had put it and took it over to the deep sink where he filled it with water. He then demonstrated how he held it down at his side, out of sight, and then squirted the girl as she rode past and called him a name. His story was quite convincing and the cop turned to Pat and I and grinned. Then he put on his “stern” face and turned back around to Russ and told him that he was keeping the syringe to show to the father of the neighbor girl and after this, if anyone bothered him, he should just go in the house and forget it.

Dave and Pat Thomas
August 10, 2016