In A NutshellXXXII

In a Nutshell

A place set aside to answer 201 autobiographical questions
from a mother for her daughter. This may take awhile...join us if you like.

32. This was a particularly dangerous thing I did with a friend.

When I was 12 and living in El Paso, my best friend Linda and I wanted to play baseball with the boys in the neighborhood. But, since we were girls, they didn't want us to play. Eventually one of them noticed that we played very well in PE at school, and so they decided that if we could prove that we weren't sissy girls they would allow it.

We had to do two things to prove our mettle. The first was to eat as large a spoon of hot sauce as they did. We did that. Actually, I kind of cheated on that, since I had a retainer that covered the roof of my mouth, so it wasn't as hot for me as it was for anyone else.

The second task there was no cheating on. We had to take a bucket that was about a fifth full of gasoline with a rope tied to the handle, and when the gas was on fire, swing it around our heads. We did that. And, because none of the boys could get up the nerve to do it, we got to choose our positions. Which is how I became pitcher and Linda became a catcher on a boys ball team in 1954.

And if anyone tells my mother about this, she will have a heart attack and I will have to hunt you down.