Why didn't Brownie clip the son of a bitch?

 Why didn't Brownie clip the son of a bitch









     This goes back to the father to son wisdom that was passed from John F. Sheehy to his youngest boy Greg. Greg was telling him about an out of control drunk who caused chaos at an ill-advised halloween party given by the residents of Midvale (me, Zeke, Ed and Bruce) in 1972. Midvale was an experiment in shared living once called a hippie crash pad. There were no rules and the place was a nightmare for neighbors since we drank, smoked and took drugs until the wee hours of the morning with music blaring and sometimes "bing-bang basketball" being played in the front room where a trash can was duct taped to the fireplace mantel and balled up socks served as a ball. The purpose was to rough up the other players and yell constantly. Boy rules! No one cooked, no one cleaned and the one terrible TV was a portable with a big hunk of aluminum foil attached to some rabbit ears. The party started out to just be an acid test for a few friends but Bruce seemed to broadcast the thing far and wide and more strangers than friends were flooding into the big house. One "friend" who showed up was the dreaded Ton-tin Barney who was under the influence of two quarts of Boone's Farm wine and a hit of orange sunshine. The guy was always trouble and on this night he heaved a large puritas water bottle at Greg, narrowly missing him and grabbed a chunk of a sheet cake and splattered it all over Tom Black's back. He threatened me and menaced others in the kitchen to the point that we feared for our safety. It was discussed with Craig Felch to knock Thomas out with a big right hand but we were afraid he might kill him. Eventually, Greg, me, Zeke and Tom hid out in my bedroom with the door bolted. At this time around the Gate fellas Steve Breen was known for his prodigious strength. We nicknamed him Big Brownie from the character in the Felix the Cat cartoons who was big and powerful. That was eventually reduced to just "Brownie." When Greg told the story of the out of control Ton-Tin, his father suggested "why didn't brownie clip the son of a bitch?" Wisdom.



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