“It was just before thanksgiving, 1935, about 7:00 am on a Sunday morning, when my dad started to shake me awake. It had been unseasonably mild this year, and I was still sleeping on the screened back porch, it was better than sleeping down in that scary basement. Dad came back up out of the basement (he had been shaking down the furnace) and said, “get up Pat, it snowed last night”. Snowed! Ohboy! When you would like to live forever. Snow was my favorite thing and I jumped out of the bed and ran to the window, and sure enough there was snow on the ground. as I was pulling on my clothes, dad came back and said “last Thursday, as we were ward teaching at your friend, Dee Vests house, I saw your box scooter out on the vests’ lawn. I bet it will be all rusty, better get right over there, bring it back, and put it in the garage. I’m going to Seventys meeting and I will expect you to take care of this before I get back”. And off he went.
I soon was dressed, and eagerly went out the front door. I was a little bit disappointed, there was snow, all right, but it was only a skiff. However not wishing to get into trouble with my dad I started out to Dee’s house to retrieve the scooter. As I followed dads footsteps, his tracks were very well defined in the shallow snow and I noticed that the heels of his shoes had a sort of four-leaf clover design on them. I was so interested in the tracks that I was through the dreaded short cut before I knew it! Now, there had been trouble between the lady that owned the house on the corner where the short cut was and myself and friends. The shortcut only saved about two steps but we boys used it all the time going to and from church, the little corner store 2 blocks away, to our friends house etc. The owner thought that all of that traffic was ruining her lawn; it was certainly breaking down her hedges.
We were told, quite, emphatically by our parents, to never use the short cut. But now I had just followed my dad through it. As I thought about it on the way to Dee’s, I decided that if my dad could use the short cut, then so could I! I used it with impunity thereafter until we moved in 1937; no one ever said a word!”