TRUE HEART - A CAMPFIRE STORY

 Arvid Garwood was a hermit on the hill reputed by children to be very mean and a cannibal. People had disappeared in the area, and boys and girls, as well as some parents, blamed it on Garwood.

Tommy was infatuated with a young girl in school named Susan, but she would seldom return eye contact, let alone friendship. Tommy's best friend was Brian, and one day he and Brian hiked up the hill to get a look at Arvid Garwood's cabin. They hunched behind some bushes and scared each other with "what ifs."

As they started to go back down, Brian spotted a man's footprints in the mud, crossing their path, and they followed them and found a cave. Deep inside they found a pile of human bones! "Garwood IS a cannibal!" they assured themselves, but, being boys, they decided to keep this their special secret for at least a few days.

During a break at school, Tommy approached Susan and told her that he had found a very scary secret place and offered to share it with her. He talked Susan into coming with Brian and him on the hike, but, not finding Brian at home, just the two of them went.

Tommy and Susan came upon the cave and cautiously went in. Tommy was thrilled that he finally had something impressive enough to get Susan to come with him, and hoped that they would now have a special bond and she would be his girlfriend.

When they came to the pile of human bones, Susan stood back, while Tommy tried to act brave walking up to the gory mass. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his back and on his neck, and he landed hard on the ground. Just before Tommy drifted out of consciousness, he heard Susan call out, "Uncle Arvid!" A man grunted from further in the cave. "I've got us another one, Uncle Arvid," shouted Susan. "This time can I have the heart?"

______

For the complete contents of the Butter Rum Cartoon, click HERE.

SOUTH CAROLINA DITCH

I was 18 and hitchhiking in South Carolina, and wound up having to walk in the dark at the edge of a city. Vision was terrible, but I managed to make out the road and avoid the deep ditch beside it.

 Suddenly a big black man ran up out of the ditch and stopped a few feet in front of me!  All I could see was a big silhouette and two wide-open eyes!

"You scared me haff t'death!" he said.  

"You scared me!" I laughed.

We then had a good friendly laugh together, and went our separate ways.

______

For the complete contents of the Butter Rum Cartoon, click HERE.

BUTTER RUM CARTOON DEFINED

According to the Oxford Dictionary, there are other than the common definitions to each word.  

An informal meaning of "butter" is appearing gentle or innocent while typically being the opposite.  

The British, informal and dated meaning of "rum" is odd; peculiar.  

A figurative definition of "cartoon" is a simplified or exaggerated version or interpretation of something.  

And so the meaning of "butter rum cartoon" could be: An odd or peculiar, simplified or exaggerated version or interpretation of something, appearing gentle or innocent while typically being the opposite. 

Narrowed down, the more apropos meaning of the Butter Rum Cartoon is: A peculiar, simplified version of something, appearing gentle or innocent but really the opposite.

______

For the complete contents of the Butter Rum Cartoon, click HERE.

MYSTERY MANNEQUIN

I'm not familiar with varieties of mannequins or their makers.  I'm just a retired mailman who happens to have a mannequin, and I'd like to know who made her and about when and how much she sold for and how much she's worth now.  Nothing to it.  But I've had her for about 18 years and don't have a clue.  There's not one marking on her to indicate anything, and no one has yet to "identify" her.  She has real hair eyelashes, eyes that seem to look right at you, and stands on tip-toes to six feet tall, on a heavy metal circular base.

I was a city mail carrier in downtown Branson, Missouri, for years, and would pass by this mannequin in the front window of a consignment shop each day.  She usually modeled wedding gowns, and I would admire her features and quality.  Eventually the consignment shop moved to the other side of the block, then later was going out of business and selling off items in the shop as quickly as possible.  I brought their mail in to them and saw the retired wedding dress model, standing by the wall behind the counter, naked.  "Sorry to see you folks go," I said. "I've always admired that mannequin in the window."

"You want to buy her?" asked the lady shopkeeper.

"How much?" I asked.

" A hundred and fifty dollars?" she said.

The next thing I knew, I was carrying the mannequin out the door.  

"Do you want to know her name?" the lady called out.

"Sure."

"Sophia."

I wonder what people in downtown Branson thought when they watched the mailman load a naked, full-size, artificial woman into the back of the mail truck. 

At home the pretty mannequin that used to model wedding dresses stood beside our bed in the bedroom, modeling my mail shirt.  My wife was jealous of her.  Our young daughter was afraid of her.  I thought it was pretty neat.  But for years now Sophia has been our librarian, watching over our 3,690 books in the room at the end of the hall.  And I still don't know anything about this mystery mannequin's ancestry.  Hopefully a Butter Rum Cartoon reader can help me.

When my wife Micki and I took a road trip visiting the eight states bordering our home state of Missouri, we enjoyed a day at the wonderful Har-Ber Village Museum in Grove, Oklahoma.  And in one of its countless exhibits we came across a vintage-dressed mannequin that is apparently Sophia's twin sister!  Finally a clue!  But we came away from the Museum without knowing the answers to either mystery mannequin. 

So, please, if anyone can tell me anything about Sophia or her sister, please do, in a comment below.

Here is Sophia and her twin sister.

______

For the complete contents of the Butter Rum Cartoon, click HERE.

PROMOTE THIS BLOG

 If you like the Butter Rum Cartoon, please share this picture.  People will wonder what in the world you're doing, sending them this, but if they type this URL address into their desktop or laptop or phone or whatever, they'll come here.  The mystery will be solved and they'll thank you for turning them on to this bewildering hodgepodge.  So will I.

______

For the complete contents of the Butter Rum Cartoon, click HERE.