practical joke

Hills, Hollers, and Potatoes

While my, then new hubby and I traveled

the country on our honeymoon,

we stopped in

to visit his grandparents.

They took us for a drive to see

the Missouri countryside.

While Grandpa told us about pranks

he and his friends played on each other,

Grandma described the farmland,

“Hills and hollers, hollers and hills.”

Grandpa told us about prank calls,

pretend arrests, and fake food.

Of course they always knew who

the culprit was behind the jokes,

except for one time, apparently

Grandpa’s crowning achievement.

Sick with pneumonia, in the hospital,

he hoarsely whispered to his grandson

if he did this one thing, Grandpa

would reward him  handsomely.

I don’t know if Grandpa’s friend

ever figured out who hauled  

his potatoes out of his cellar

and upstairs into his bathtub.

It couldn’t have been

“old Hanky boy”

who was suffering

in the hospital with pneumonia.

And I, newly married,

learned a lesson

in putting up with

a husband’s goofiness.

All through his stories,

Grandma chanted

“Hills and hollers,

hollers and hills.”