I'd like to start this post with an apology for not responding to my readers who answered Tuesday's Question.  I know everyone has a small window of time in a day, so for you to take the time out to leave a comment or answer a question on my blog means a great deal to me.

Yesterday, I posted late in the day, so I promised my readers I would write my answer as soon as possible-

The title is different, but the sentiment is the same. Plus, I will respond to your answers on Tuesday's Question today.

Some of you may remember this post, if so, I hope you will enjoy it again, or at least you will know my answer. ;)   To those of you who are new readers, thanks for visiting A Nice Place In The Sun, and I hope you will like this post, as well as my other posts.


The Craziest Experience Of My Life-






An old friend of mine reminded me today of an embarrassing incident that happened to me in high school. It was one of the craziest experiences of my life.

When I was a teenager, my friends and I rode around in the car listening to the radio until the sun glistened upon the mighty Mississippi. The Mississippi river ran through our hometown, and was in keeping with its teenagers strong undercurrents and muddy water attitudes. The river road crept along the rivers route, but, the view of the river was obstructed by the levee, so we drove along the narrow road on top of the levee so we could get a better look at the river.

In those days when you drove on the top of the levee, you could see farms with pastures following the rivers long winding curves, then, if we were lucky, we saw splashes from the tiny fish in the river, or the occasional opportunistic bird.

(This is supposed to be a page break, but make I cannot get it to work.)


My friends and I also spent time on the ferry that crossed the river night and day. I used to stand on the front of the boat and pretend I was Barbra Streisand singing, On A Clear Day, on the boat in the movie Funny Girl.

Before the days of videocassettes, cd, players,etc, the car radio was the popular form of entertainment, with the exception of going to the movies. Therefore, in addition to the river road, we had other driving locations, one of which was the road that encircled the grounds in front of our State Capital building.



Our city is the State of Louisiana's Capital, therefore the State Capital building is lined with state government offices. The building has twenty-six stories and the grounds are lined with oak trees dripping with moss, and blooming azalea bushes. (Although there is snow on the State Capital grounds in this photo, it's a rarity in the deep south.)  Anyway, during the day, the foliage is thick, so you can see where you're going, however at night, it's pitch black in every direction.-Or it was at that time-


Anyway, on one of our State Capital ground drives, we were listening to my high school sweetheart's eight-track tapes. He was the kid (they have one in every crowd) with the luxuries in our group, you know the one with the car, etc...and he took advantage of it by bossing the rest of us around who weren't in line to the throne.

We were arguing about a song he wouldn't let me hear on one of his eight tracks, when of course I had to go to the bathroom. His eight-tracks were a big thing and listening to them was something I hated to interrupt, but I didn't think I could wait much longer, so I asked him to stop in front of the State Capital lawn. The State Capital grounds would afford me the privacy I needed, since I could hide under the safety of an Oak tree.

My friends, plus David, asked, "How are we going to find a bathroom downtown in the middle of the night?"

I answered, "I can go under the oak trees in the courtyard, no one will see me, I’ll be right back." I was so aggravated about the tape that I didn't give much thought to the safest place to hide.

I squat under the closest tree I could find by the car, and instantly realized that I could hear birds chirping in the tree. I thought that's bizarre; what kind of bird chirps at night?" Then the chirping sounded louder as if it were getting closer and I thought, 'These birds sure are friendly.' Then I heard a shrill chirping over my head that sounded like one aggressive bird, then, so my heart in my shoes, so I started to step up the beat.

Then, I felt a bird on my head! Horrified, I tried to knock it off, but it started flapping its wings and latched onto me like it found a nesting place. I wanted to start running from under the tree, but my pants were down, so I kept falling.
From the car, I could see my boyfriend and friends laughing, and I couldn't understand why... It didn't occur to me that I was running with my pants to my knees and bats attached to my head! I couldn't coordinate my legs so I ran as if I were a penguin a few ways then fell, two or three times until I finally reached the safety of the car, with bats still attached to the back of my head.


This being the case, my friends in the car didn't want anything to do with the horrible creatures, so every time I approached the car, they would drive forward a few feet hoping the bats would jump off the top of my head, or at least that's what I thought In the meantime, I could see my friends laughing in hysterics, because I was trying to grab the car door with my pants down.

After things calmed down, I told David (my boyfriend) not to feel bad about driving forward the way he did, because I understood he was thinking about their safety. After all, I knew they didn't want the bats to get inside the car, surely I could understand that.

David smiled and said, "Ann, the bats were long gone by the time you reached the car. We just thought it was funny watching you try to catch the car with your pants down. We were laughing so hard we couldn't tell you that by the time you reached my car the bats were gone. The bats flew off a few yards after you ran out from under the tree. We could see you waving your hands trying to knock the branches off but we just couldn't stop laughing. I'm sorry Ann, I thought you knew, but I have to say that is the funniest thing I've ever seen. "

It was the craziest thing I've ever experienced, but I'm glad my friends got a kick out of it. We still laugh about it to this day, and I'm happy to know I have something to do with that. However, I know that hard-headed bat held onto my head all the way to the car, and no one will convince me it didn't, hateful creature.



                                                 
                                             
                                                   


                               Thanks for reading A Nice Place In The Sun

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