Now that you have heard the story about my brothers and cousins breathing all the air out of the world here is another little true story from my childhood.  When they were not standing around me in a circle trying to breathe all the air out of the world, they found another way to torment me!  They would all tell me that Donald Duck was a horse.  No matter how much I protested, they continued.  They would work me into a frenzy and off to Grandma I would run.  Grandma! Grandma!  Make them stop!  And magically, the tennis shoe would appear.  Wham! Wham!  Don't you tell this child that Donald Duck is a horse anymore.  Do ya'll  hear me?  I mean it.  Now stop it!  Wham! Wham!  It never did stop.
   I think they all became addicted to tormenting me.  I've  heard that Donald Duck was a horse most of my life.  I waited patiently. I knew that my day would come.  Finally it did come, or so I thought.  That day came the day that my nephew Heith was born.    My brother Mike now had a son.  Mike was the one who had started this whole thing.  Now it was my  turn to have a little fun, but not just yet.  The wheels started to turn in my head.  I had a plan.  The seed had been planted.  Just wait.  My day was coming.  I waited five more long years for just the right moment.  Then it came.  I went to visit Mike and his family.  I knew what I had to do.    There I sat on the couch with my five year old nephew.  It was almost like looking in a mirror.  I saw myself.  The perfect time was at hand.
    I looked at this cute little boy and said, " Did you know that Donald Duck was a horse?"  I waited.  His reply, " Yep"  Surely he misunderstood the question!  I repeated the question and received the same answer.  I was in shock.  I asked him why he thought Donald duck was a horse.  He told me," Because my Daddy told me he was."  This was probably the first time in my life that I was speechless.  History does repeat itself and some traditions never die.

     Carl