David was at his orneriest at age 3-4 and this story is no exception as to what all he did at this age. He was one to be scolded and never repeat the “stunt” for which he was scolded, but who could possibly think ahead of the things he might do next.

This one incident happened near Christmas time in 1962, when I had spent hours on end making plaster of Paris wall hangings to give out for Christmas gifts. Lila was doing the same. It was easier to load up my paints and do it at her home. This one evening as I prepared to leave, I packed up all of the finished wall hangings, my brushes, and spray paints. I placed them in a box and set them on the back seat of my car. I loaded the two boys into the car and headed to the Drug Store where I had called in a prescription earlier and alerted them that I would pick it up on the way home.

Since I was just to be in the drug store a minute or two, I told the boys to stay in the locked car that I parked right in front of the door. I told David I would be back shortly. As one might guess, the pay out line was long and the couple of minutes turned into more. I rushed back to the car and noted I could not see the inside. As I got closer I saw that every thing looked dark inside. On a closer look, I saw 18 month old Jonny standing in the front seat in his little red “Hot Dog” suit that covered all but his face and hands. As I opened the door, I could see Jon’s face was completely black. He was batting his super long eye lashes as fast as he could. I immediately knew what transpired. David had sprayed his face with the black paint he found in my box. By this time, David had already cowered down in the back seat almost out of sight.

Jonny was literally drunk from the fumes and grinning from ear to ear while David was waiting for his punishment. Jonny looked like a little Negro boy and there was no way to clean him up there in the car and besides that, I did not want any one to see him.

I got into the car and rolled the windows down for fresh air and started for home. As I drove, I tried hard to chew David out, but each time I got revved up I could see Jon still batting his eyes with paint sticking to them and burst out laughing. This further confused David and one could tell he did not know if he was cute or in some serious trouble.

The paint was not easily removed, but Jon patiently let me wash it off. The car seats, that seemed to be all that caught the paint, were much easier to clean than Jon.