TODAY’S FUNNY HAS TO DO WITH A TRUE EVENT THAT HAPPENED ALMOST 61 YEARS AGO, MY POST FROM EARLIER GOT ME THINKING ABOUT THIS.

It was the perfect setting for a honeymoon. It was late in September and leaves were beginning their descent, spinning and twirling to the ground. Those that remained fastened to trees had turned brilliant oranges, crimson and rust. The skies were clear with only a few scant whispers of clouds dotting here and there. Two had become one the week before. This couple had vowed to love each other through thick and thin, sickness and health and you know all the rest of that stuff. They were coming to the end of their vacation and made a stop at her grandmother’s farm. They did this on the condition that he would take some time to hunt deer. It was the middle of the bow season in Wisconsin.

Instead of staying with Grandma, she decided to tag along on his adventure. I mean, they’d only been married a few days ago and this togetherness thing was becoming a habit. He reluctantly agreed. It was late afternoon when they arrived at a swampy area of the acreage. His intuition and nose for this sort of thing made her wonder how he could know just where those creatures were hiding. It must’ve been a man thing. When they got to the destination, she remained in the car, saying she’d rather not take a tramp in the woods. To which he replied, “Who are you calling a tramp.” And off he went in search of a big buck as she sat in the car, munching on Cheetos and candy bars. She opened a romance novel she’d started before the wedding. Oh, if things were only that easy, she thought.

After about an hour, she closed the book, scanned her watch and looked at the sky. Those wispy clouds had darkened and increased in size. She became a little concerned that her hunter man had not returned. She began to imagine him being eaten by a bear or drowning in a sea of quicksand. Her first inclination was to beep the horn. There was no response. This was a time when there were no cell phones – no pagers – so the horn seemed the most likely instrument to rouse him from the woods – if he was still able to do so.

After about ten minutes of compulsive beeping, he finally emerged from the forest. His face was red. She saw a look on it that she’d never seen before. It wasn’t anger. It was more like rage. He asked her if she was okay and she said she was worried about him. That sent him one step higher up on the rage scale. He put his gear in the trunk, slammed it down and entered the car. There was a moment of utter silence. Not a word was spoken for at least ten minutes.

“I had my eyes set on a huge buck. I had just pulled back to make the perfect shot and guess what? The horn beeped and he ran away!!!!!

“But, honey,” she said, “You made it back to the car before the storm hit.”

THIS COULD’VE BEEN THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF WHAT ACTUALLY TURNED INTO A BLESSED MARRIAGE, WHICH ALMOST DIDN’T MAKE IT THROUGH THE FIRST WEEK. NEEDLESS TO SAY, THAT WAS THE ONLY TIME SHE EVER WENT ON A HUNTING EXPEDITION.