As seen above, at age two she was angelic...in appearance. She was in personality somewhat different. She was stubborn, she argued with the parents in a way that I would never have dreamed of, and she was aggresively violent...really! She developed a pinch that was not like normal pinching. She would catch a flap of skin between her index and middle finger and somehow work her thumb into it. The result was the most painful pinch you ever experienced. She would hold her little fist up threateningly and warn you. The Chief often told stories about trying to put her to bed, she would climb out of the crib and beat him back to the living room. After a couple of these foot races, she would raise that fist up at him with a mean-eyed threat. He would tell her that if she pinched he would spank her. She would respond, "Gon ta do it!". She would, he would, and they would cry together until she fell asleep.

Betty Lou's favorite pinch story had to do with a neighborhood bully we called "Bootsie". Ok, not much of a bully name, but he was 10 while the rest of us were seven and eight. He was pushy and usually took the prime position in whatever neighborhood games were in progress. On this one occasion we had found some large cardboard boxes and formed a "fort" out of them. Bootsie came along and demanded entry, he wanted to go all the way inside to the "keep". The problem was that Roddie had taken up residence in the inner-sanctum and was not impressed with Bootsie or anyone else, for that matter. He crawled in and started trying to force Roddie out. She pinched him. He howled like a little girl. He wasn't dumb enough to hit a little girl, but he grabbed her with the intention of pulling her out. She let him have it with a flurry of her best pinches, he left the site screaming and crying for his house. A few minutes later his mom showed up with Bootsie in tow. She demanded to know which one of us ruffians was this "Roddie". Roddie had come out of the boxes and was standing next to Bootsie's mom, looking so sweet. Bootsie's mom was absent-mindedly petting Roddie on the head as she ranted about this bully that reduced her darling Bootsie to tears. She wound down and finally demanded to know which one was Roddie. We all pointed at the same time, at the same little angel. Roddie was looking up into Mrs Bootsie's face with her best sweetie smile. Bootsie said, "That's her, mom, she pinched me."

Mrs Bootsie's face did a slow transition from an embarassed pink to an infuriated red. She grabbed Bootsie by the ear and frog-hopped him all the way home. Roddie watched her go with a disappointed half smile on her face, I think she liked Mrs Bootsie.

Well there is a gimpse of the little sister...honestly, I don't think she ever pinched me...we was buddies...I was "her Jim".