I Want to See Some ID

or Johnny's Adventures with the Secret Service

It is the beginning of the second round of big snow 2010 and dad and I are at Silver Diner enjoying breakfast. I am happy to sip the hot coffee as I watch the snow blowing around outside, then Dad grins and begins a story I haven't heard before...

After spending part of the day hunting in the mountains, my dad Johnny, and his friend who we'll call BH, decide to go to DC. They take all their guns from BH's car and put them in Johnny's trunk, then hop in BH's car and head for the big city.

Once they are in DC, they end up behind a cab that isn't going fast enough for them, so BH goes around the cab then locks up the brakes as the car fills with the sound of their mischievous laughter. They mean no harm, just having fun with the cabbie. They go back and forth playing with the cabbie a while, passing each other and honking their horns, but eventually Johnny and BH lose interest and go on farther into the city, find a place to park, and hop out of the car.

The next thing they know, two big guys are throwing them against a wall. The men say they are Secret Service and Johnny and BH are suspected of planning to kill the president.
"I want to see some ID," Johnny demands, and the men pull out their badges as more men arrive with angry German Shepards straining at their collars, snarling at Johnny and BH.
One of the cops says, "We'd like permission to search your car."
BH says, "I'm not giving you permission to search the car!"
The cop gives BH a smug smile and says, "We can search it now, or you can wait for a warrant..."
"Okay, search it!" BH says, handing over the keys.
One of the suited fellas searching the car looks up at Johnny and growls, "I'd love to find a rifle in this car." But he does not find a rifle, only the boxes from the guns Johnny and BH wisely left in Johnny's car in the mountains.

***

Dad takes a sip of his coffee and says to me, "I think that cabbie got mad and called us in, said we were threatening the president."

Photos from my Gramaw's Wallet

My Gramaw, Elvira "Curly" Glascock, died about 2 years ago.  These are the photos she carried with her in her wallet...

From top:  Lisa, GMU Nursing School; Angela, Senior; Scotty and George the Cat; Gramaw, Scotty, Tommy (my uncle--dad's twin); Gramaw & PawPaw at a wedding; Johnny (my dad) and Gramaw; Johnny; Tommy in Japan, Frankie (uncle); Johnny, Angela, Lisa, Faye, PawPaw; PawPaw; Petey, Sandy, puppy; Petey or Prissy; Swimmin' dogs (Sandy and Petey, perhaps); Misty; Old photo; poem about the Moon.  Gramaw loved the moon!

"Not Too Sure If I Had A License. It May Have Been Revoked."

Dad only had this particular motorcycle for a few days.  "It was too much trouble," he said.  But for the purposes of this story, and until I get my hands on his photo albums, this will have to do.

"Not Too Sure If I Had A License.  It May Have Been Revoked."

I had not heard the following story before.  The motorcycle in this story is a 1950 Harley Full Dresser--"Just like the one in Lords of Flatbush."

I was asking my dad to tell me again how he and Ronnie Hall tried to outrun the cops on a country road at night by turning off their headlights and navigating by the space between the trees.  The response I got from dad was, "That was Ronnie driving."  Pause.  "I was speeding through a subdivision on my motorcycle and a cop tried to pull me over."  

What's this?  I thought.  A new story; one I hadn't heard.  I disappeared into the kitchen and came back with pen and paper.

"'Tried' to pull you over?  So, you outran a cop on your motorcycle?  Was he on a motorcycle?  Did he have his flashers on?"  I inquired.

"Yeah, he was in a cruiser, a '57 Chevy.  Yeah he had his lights on.  I was coming from Braddock on an old wagon path through the woods.  You know you have to drag your feet because you're only going 3 miles per hour.  Had to go over a creek.  I got to Westmore and came roarin' up.  He came out behind me.  He was going the other way.  I knew he saw me." 

"So, did you slow down or...?"

"I never slowed down.  I went roaring down 29 and outran him, hid in Junior's backyard.  He must have seen me go through the gate.  When he found me and called in, he said, 'I've got one of Bill Glascock's sons here.  He outran me on his motorcycle.'  And they said, 'Give him a ticket anyway.'"

Dad pauses again for a moment, then says, "Not too sure if I had a license.  It may have been revoked.  I had a duplicate.  No computers then, though."

At this point my mom asks, "What happened?  Did you get in trouble?"

My dad replied comfortably, "Daddy cussed me.  Then he cussed my motorcycle.  He hated that motorcycle."  A pause.  "I probably got the ticket downstairs.  I saved all my tickets."

btw--my dad calls his dad "daddy."  And pulls it off! 

Johnny, July '66, CA

I don't have much to say--I just wanted to change the picture.

Never Thought They'd Outlaw Slots

Dad has told me many stories of old Fairfax, how back in the 40s all up and down Lee Highway in Fairfax City was for sale for nearly nothing, but his Dad (I called him PawPaw) didn't buy it because he, according to PawPaw, didn't need real estate when he had all those slot machines. "He'd bring home bags and bags of money every night. Man. Never thought they'd outlaw slots."

Could you imagine? My PawPaw, when he would buy property, he would buy in bulk. Not just a parcel, but several. During an auction of a property of several acres in the Shenandoah Mountains, he won the bidding, then when the next patch of land came up for sale, he decided he’d better get that, too, to keep people from poaching on his land. So he did. He bought the side of a mountain for a nominal amount.

My dad is full of interesting stories, especially about his father and the history of Fairfax. When they (who's they? Dunno.) were building the Rite Aide on the corner of Lee Hwy and 123, they were wondering if there were any buried gas tanks, as it had been a gas station at one point. Someone pointed across the road to John’s Auto Repair and said, “Go ask him. He’s been here for years.” So, they asked my dad and he said yep, when the gas station closed, they left the tanks there. Other business had been there since, such as a Roy Rogers, so the tanks were lost in history. So, they dug up the tanks before breaking ground for the new Rite Aide, instead of finding out the hard way that there were buried fuel tanks.
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