Evening star., 1943-11-19


come to visit us but those Hedges
boys from Havana. 1t seems that
Burke Hedges spent the best years
of his life learning how to initiate
gorilla with such frightening verb
similitude that gorillas who have
seen him are convinced that Dar-
win was right, except in reverse.
Fundamentalist gorillas insist it Is
libel on their race to suggest that
they might have descended from
humans.
Anyway, Burke Hedges spent the
week end doing his gorilla routine
for our little 4-year-old Peggy and
5-year -old Pat, who. up to this time,
had been carefully shielded from
anything that might be considered
frightening. He let them take him
by the hand while he climbed up
and down the chairs, all over the
furniture, half way up the curtains.
making horrible faces, flashing his
tusks, pounding his chest and
screaming gorilla challenges.
Staged jungle Duel.
The children practically expired
with delicious fear and shouted and
had Mysteries and cried. DO It
again!" And their mother and
trembled with trepidation What
could we do? Tell him to stop7
He was having too good a time. AZ
for the children, they were in rap
lures. Ecstatic. Never had they
been frightened so. Never had they
enjoyed anything so much.
And Jimmy Hedges-his speciality
is making faces. Horrible faces. And
then suddenly screaming unintel-
ligble gibberish. The little girls
practically swooned with the most
delirious fright. Finally the two
boys put on some kind of q jungle
duel. They took over the children
on their backs and ran up and down
the stairs and all over the yard with
them. Then at last they fell ex.
hausted. But not the children
they wanted everything to start all
over again from the beginning. But
our guests were exhausted-pooped.
That night we vsorried about how
the children would sleep. We were
sure we'd be up all night with them.
They'd have terrible nightmares.
Their little minds would be haunted
their dreams troubled. We lis
tened for moans and groans.
Not a moan-not groan-from
the nursery. But from the guest
: rooms-ah! That was something
else. Nothing but means and groans
tossing and tunblings - lights
going on and off-and finally, the
next morning at breakfast, hag-
gered guests with dark circles under
their eyes. All night they had
tossed and turned, worn out and
exhausted.
/ Then Guests Fled.
/ On the other hand, the children
came tumbling downstairs for
breakfast bouncing and bubbling,
shrieking with laughter. Suddenly
they spied the guests. Come onI
Let's do it again! Let's start all
over from the beginning! Frighten
us some more! Come on! Scare
us! Let's hunt tigers"
1t seems that's what the riding
game was. Jimmy Hedges was an
elephant who took you on his back
hunting tigers. Burke Hedges was
the tiger Then he was an elephant,
too. The children mixed up all US.
Mixed up the Hedges. too.
Explaining that they had i'm.
portant appointments in town they
slipped out the back door, climbed
into their car and fed. But mel
cannot fee I'm stuck. I'm an
elephant Then a tiger. Then a
gorilla. I have to carry both kids
around all day on my back-over
the chairs, up and down the cur
tains
Mr.. Anthony, can guests like the
Hedges do that to a feller like me?
Huh, Mr.. Anthony?