Getting Shot At
Our parents often went to Kennedy's Auction Barn to buy things and to sell things. I never really liked going unless I could get them to buy a box of books. Dad liked to buy the quarter boxes hoping he would get a treasure. He often bid on them. You didn't really know what was in one of those till you got it. Mom would sort them and take out anything she wanted or we wanted then they rest would go in another box to be taken back and resold. I don't think it was so much at the time to make money as it was a game they enjoyed.
It was sometimes cold and drafty in there and you had to sit on hard wooden benches.
A side note here. I remember years later reading that the Kennedy who owned this was killed in a freak accident on the Northway. He was hauling goats in a cart behind him and somehow the cart ended up swinging around and smacking the car or truck he was inside of. I don't know if another vehicle was involved or not. After that, as far as I know there were never any auctions again.
Our parents often went to Kennedy's Auction Barn to buy things and to sell things. I never really liked going unless I could get them to buy a box of books. Dad liked to buy the quarter boxes hoping he would get a treasure. He often bid on them. You didn't really know what was in one of those till you got it. Mom would sort them and take out anything she wanted or we wanted then they rest would go in another box to be taken back and resold. I don't think it was so much at the time to make money as it was a game they enjoyed.
It was sometimes cold and drafty in there and you had to sit on hard wooden benches.
A side note here. I remember years later reading that the Kennedy who owned this was killed in a freak accident on the Northway. He was hauling goats in a cart behind him and somehow the cart ended up swinging around and smacking the car or truck he was inside of. I don't know if another vehicle was involved or not. After that, as far as I know there were never any auctions again.
While we lived in the school house they were a regular event with various sisters going with them when they went.
One night I was at home watching the kids. Nancy was not too old, maybe 12 or 13. Somebody can correct me on this if she knows. I think Sue was there too but I think Enid was at the auction.
We were doing something in the living room. It was dark outside. Nancy was in the bedroom us girls shared. This was one quarter of the house. There were unfinished stairs that led to the attic. Windows were all around the house with one being right at the foot of the stairs and showing out into the back yard and drive way.
Beside the door to the house there was a huge light. It resembled an old search light but it didn't move. It just shown into the back to make it easier to see if we had to go out at night or even to spot what animal was making a ruckus. The light was on because it would let them find their way inside when they came home. We often left it on at night when they were out or until we all went to bed.
This night Nancy told me something was hitting the glass window. She didn't know what it was but it sounded funny. She was a little scared. She said it sounded like stones. I went to look out the window and what I saw shocked me and really scared me. There was a twenty two bullet lying on the window sill and the light in the yard was out. I made Nancy get down on the floor quick and I yelled for Sue to do the same. I got them into Mom and Dad's bedroom and told them they'd be safest on the floor under the bed. They were scared and so was I but the phone was in the living room and I really needed to call for help.
I don't think there was any 911 you called then. That came a lot later. I crawled out, knocked the pink princess phone on the floor and dialed the O. The operator put me through to the Police. I'm not sure if it was county sheriff or state trooper. I just know they wouldn't let me hang up. They said they were sending someone and wanted to know where our parents were. They were notified at the auction house and came home in a hurry getting there about the same time the cop was coming to the door.
They said they had found tracks of kids in the woods on the other side of the road but farther away and evidence that they were neighbor hood kids about 12 or 13. The boys were caught but absolutely nothing was done to them. The cops told mom, "What could they do with them? They were only minors." They could have killed us but it made no difference.
The light outside had a thick glass covering over it. It was at least a half inch thick. The next morning we looked at it and counted at least 24 holes in the glass. some of the glass had went flying and maybe we didn't count all of them. The window next to where Nancy was lying on the bed reading had cracks in it that weren't there before.
I think and so did our parents that these kids got off because their parents were rich and we weren't. I say this because at one time we saw that same boy when he was about 7 sitting in his mothers lap "driving" the car around the roads. Someone, not us called the cops and the cops said then as well that there was nothing they could do. They "cautioned" the parents. Mom said the woman probably bribed somebody. Rich people could do that easily back then.