Francisco--The Shocker by Mia Lowry

I remember Dad was pretty daring and fearless at times. There were things he would do that would shock me. There was this time when we still lived in Yuma. I was the only child left living there as everyone had moved to Phoenix to spread their wings. I had gone into the backyard to read and I saw it. We had a lime tree to the left of the back door of our home. It was big and gave the best limes. I was sitting near it when I saw a swarm of wasps going in and out of this tree. There it was hanging from the tree-a paper wasp nest. It was small, but would soon be larger from the looks of how busy these wasps were.

I ran inside to tell Mom. She told me I would need to let Dad know too. So, when he came home from work I told him. He shrugged and seemed like it did not worry him. I have to admit I was worried because my imagination starting to run away from me. I began to imagine them coming inside the house on the attack and unlike honeybees these insects can sting you repeatedly without dying. Dad said after he saw I was worried, "Just wait and see what I will do."

Later after the sun had set, he came into my room and said, "Come here I want to show you something." I had forgotten about the wasps at this point and thought "Uh-oh, what did I do now?"

So, with much trepidation I followed him as he took me to the back yard. He walked over to the tree and then I remembered the wasps. Without any gloves, or bee type gear to protect him for a stinging wasp he picked up the nest. I ran towards the door yelling for Mom. I was sure he was going to be attacked and we would have to rush him to the hospital. He calmly walked over to the garbage bin and threw it in. He turned to look at me and said, "See. I told you to wait and see what I would do. There was nothing to worry about."

I shook my head in disbelief and turned to see Mom at the back door. I began to tell her how my dad, her husband was the craziest, most daring man alive.

Another crazy thing I witnessed Dad do was when I was car shopping. We pulled over and saw this blue Ford Tempo. It was the same model and year of his red one. He and I were peaking inside of it. He checked the tires, the paint and said he wished he could look under the hood. Then he looked around and got out his keys. I figured out what he was going to try. I said, "Don't even try it, Dad. It's not going to work." He said, "Let's see."

He took out his Ford Tempo key and tried the lock on the one for sale. To my astonishment it worked! He turned and smiled at me then he said, "See. You never know until you try." He opened the door and if I remember correctly he looked under the hood. I freaked out! I told him we couldn't do this and it was wrong, but he ignored me. I was panicking because I was sure the cops were going to pull up and haul him or both of us away. We finally left after what seemed like a century to me. He said, "I'm glad I got to thoroughly inspect this car because it is no good. We saved ourselves another trip to see it." His face was frowning as he shook his head. We would have to continue our search for my first car elsewhere. However, I did not care I was not getting a car because I was just relieved we were leaving berfore anyone else showed up.