Wednesday, December 22, 2010

A Christmas Tale

As a joke, my cousin Rick used to hang a pair of panty hose over his fireplace before Christmas.  He said all he wanted was for Santa to fill them.

What they say about Santa checking the list twice must be true because every Christmas morning, although Rick's kids' stockings overflowed, his poor pantyhose hung sadly empty.

One year I decided to make his dream come true. I put on sunglasses and went in search of an inflatable love doll. They don't sell those things at Walmart.  I had to go to an adult bookstore downtown.

If you've never been in an X-rated store, don't go, you'll only confuse yourself. I was there an hour saying things like, 'What does this do?' 'You're kidding me!' 'Who would buy that?' Finally, I made it to the inflatable doll section.  I wanted to buy a standard, uncomplicated doll that could also substitute as a passenger in my truck so I could use the car pool lane during rush hour.

Finding what I wanted was difficult. 'Love Dolls' come in many different models. The top of the line, according to the side of the box, could do things I'd only seen in a book on animal husbandry. I settled for 'Lovable Louise.' She was at the bottom of the price scale.

To call Louise a 'doll' took a huge leap of imagination.

On Christmas Eve and with the help of an old bicycle pump, Louise came to life.

My cousin's wife was in on the plan and let me in during the wee morning hours. Long after Santa had come and gone, I filled the dangling pantyhose with Louise's pliant legs and bottom. I also ate some cookies and drank what remained of a glass of milk on a nearby tray. I went home, and giggled for a couple of hours.

The next morning my cousin called to say that Santa had been to his house and left a present that had made him VERY happy, but had left the dog confused. She would bark, start to walk away, then come back and bark some more.

We all agreed that Louise should remain in her pantyhose so the rest of the family could admire her when they came over for the traditional Christmas dinner.

My grandmother noticed Louise the moment she walked in the door. 'What the hell is that?' she asked.

My cousin quickly explained, 'It's a doll.'

'Who would play with something like that?' Granny snapped.

I kept my mouth shut.

'Where are her clothes?' Granny continued.

'Boy, that turkey sure smells nice, Gran,' Rick said, to steer her into the dining room.

But Granny was relentless. 'Why doesn't she have any teeth?'

Again, I could have answered, but why would I? It was Christmas and no one wanted to ride in the back of the ambulance saying, 'Hang on Granny, hang on!'

My grandfather, a delightful old man with poor eyesight, sidled up to me and said, 'Hey, who's the naked gal by the fireplace?' I told him she was Rick's friend.

A few minutes later I noticed Grandpa by the mantel, talking to Louise. Not just talking, but actually flirting. It was then that we realized this might be Grandpa's last Christmas at home.

The dinner went well. We made the usual small talk about who had died, who was dying, and who should be killed, when suddenly Louise made a noise like my father in the bathroom in the morning. Then she lurched from the mantel, flew around the room twice, and fell in a heap in front of the sofa.

The cat screamed.   I passed cranberry sauce through my nose, and Grandpa ran across the room, fell to his knees, and began administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

My cousin fell back over his chair and wet his pants.

Granny threw down her napkin, stomped out of the room, and sat in the car.

It was indeed a Christmas to treasure and remember.

Later in my cousin's garage, we conducted a thorough examination to decide the cause of Louise's collapse. We discovered that Louise had suffered from a hot ember to the back of her right thigh.

Fortunately, thanks to a wonder drug called duct tape, we restored her to perfect health. Louise went on to star in several bachelor party movies. I think Grandpa still calls her whenever he can get out of the house.

I can't wait until next Christmas.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Kum-ba-ya Ya'll.

abridged from Mr. Charleston over at Termites of Sin and written by Jeff Foxworthy (1996).

18 comments:

  1. I KNEW I'd read this before. Love it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Uh-oh, You had me there for a good while, Syd, thinking this really was a story from your distant past. Well, it is one to treasure, for sure~

    ReplyDelete
  3. outhouses and adult specialties, unite!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Man did I enjoy that one. I've never pulled a practical joke that good.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hilarious! I'm glad Louise got to live happliy ever after.

    ReplyDelete
  6. hahaha...what a tale...you had me as well...laughing hard...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love this story, Jeff is a good story teller :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Syd, I thought I'd seen a side of you I'd never seen before. Happy Christmas to you and C and your family. Take Louise to a meeting. She might enjoy the emphasis on self-discovery and responsibility.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for that. I needed a laugh.

    Love you. Happy Christmas and the best new year ever to you and K.!

    SB

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ohhhh Syd, you got me. Very funny.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Okay, you got me..all the way to the end. My turn now... :-D

    ♥namaste♥

    ReplyDelete
  12. I didn't think that sounded like you ... and I was really glad to find out that Foxworthy wrote it. (I knew your were much classier than that !)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh you should have put a warning on this.
    I just blew my morning coffee out my nose!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. This is a great story. Thanks for posting it. Merry Christmas.

    ReplyDelete
  15. THIS IS HILARIOUS!!! "Why doesn't she have any teeth?"

    "If you've never been in an X-rated store, don't go, you'll only confuse yourself."

    Love this, Syd!!

    ReplyDelete

Let me know what you think. I like reading what you have to say.