When I was about three years old my father bought a 1930 Ford Roadster that had a thing called a Rumble Seat. For you young kids that don't know what a Rumble Seat is, it was a real sporty car that was part convertible. The convertible part was where I always got to ride, come sunshine, sleet, rain or snow. We also had lots of real bumpy dirt and sometimes muddy roads then too and my father took great pleasure in hitting those holes or bumps in the road to make the car jump up in the air.

        Every time Pop hit one of those holes or bumps I would go flying up in the air and he would holler, "Are you still there?" Well, I was a purty smart little brat and I soon figgered out he might be trying to get shed of me. Didn't take me long to learn to stick my hands under the seat and hold on so I wouldn't get chunked plum out on the road.

        One time my mother decided to go see my grandma and we left Pop at home so I got to ride in the front seat. Bonnie and Clyde Barrow (remember them?) were also running loose and robbing banks and stuff at the time. On the way there right after we had passed up a hitchhiker that fancy roadster had one of them blowed out tires. While I was telling my mother how to change the tire the hitchhiker came walking up and showed us that you had to jack up the car before you could change the tire.

        Since the hitchhiker had done rescued us my mother reluctantly invited him to ride along with us. But she took my big ole toy pistol what looked like a real gun and put it in her lap to discourage him in case he had any thoughts about robbing us. So on down the road we went, but it didn't help my mother's nerves any when I asked her, "Mom, can I have my water pistol back now?"

        My grandfather had an Essex automobile (betcha ya never heard of that one!) that also had one of them rumble seats, but they never made me ride back there. But one day when we were going to the post office my grandmother was sitting in the middle and I was next to the door. When my grandfather made a left turn the door flew open and I flew plum out of the car! Being young and agile, I just rolled along the street like a bowling ball and got hardly a scratch.

        I was real happy when my father and grandfather both got new cars without rumble seats but had back seats where you had a chance to not get thrown out of the car.