Home-brew makes unforgettable Christmas gift to boss

It was the year 1951, we were living in Fort Scott, and I was looking for a job. I heard Dr. Cooper, a dentist, was looking for a dental assistant, and that he would give "on the job training." I put in my application, and was called for an interview. A couple of weeks later, I was hired. I could hardly wait for my first day of work.

My first day began with Dr. Cooper showing me all of the various tools that I would be assisting him with. But there was a problem. All of the equipment seemed to be set up for a right handed person, and I am left-handed. I brought this to Dr. Cooper's attention and he looked at me and said "If I had known that you were left-handed, I wouldn't have hired you." "But," he said, " I guess that you will just have to learn to assist right-handed." Thankfully I am ambidextrous, or I would have been up the creek without a paddle.

Each day I learned something new, and began to apply what I had learned. Dr. Cooper was very easy to work for and I really enjoyed my job.

Now to digress a little, one day when I arrived home from work, Bob and his friend Fred had a huge pot that they were filling up with all sorts of stuff. They had decided that they would like to make some home-brew. This was their first, and thankfully last attempt at making it. They had everything in it but the kitchen sink and it was full of strange ingredients. They finally put the crock pot in the corner and covered it, to wait for it to "start" working. They checked it almost every day and the smell became quite pungent.

After about three or four weeks, they decided that it was time to bottle it. They began gathering up all kinds of paraphernalia which included bottles and caps. They borrowed a capper from a friend. The bottles were washed, and they were in business. It took a while but finally the home brew was all bottled and capped.

Now back to my story. It was the Christmas season. The morning after it was bottled, I mentioned to Dr. Cooper that Bob and his friend Fred had just finished bottling some home-brew. He said, "Boy would I like a bottle of good ole home-brew." I thought to myself,that I would just give him a bottle for Christmas. The next morning, Friday, I brought him not one, but two bottles all wrapped in Christmas paper and tied with a big ribbon. He said "Thanks Marilyn, this is really great." He forgot and left his home brew at the office over the weekend.

Monday morning when I arrived at work, Dr. Cooper was un-locking the door to the office and when we walked in, we both just about fainted. The office was filled with a horrible smell. Evidently the home-brew had been bottled up too soon and had exploded. Christmas paper was all over the ceiling and the walls and the home-brew was all over the floor and carpet. His first patient was due to arrive momentarily.

We rushed around to get everything cleaned up and when his first patient arrived, he thought it was so funny that he laughed until he cried. I thought for sure that I would lose my job over the incident, but Dr. Cooper was very nice about it. All he said to me was "Marilyn, please don't ever bring me another bottle of home-brew."

Some may be wondering about the rest of the bottles and if they blew up, well sorry to say they did. After Bob and Fred finally got all of the home brew bottled, there were a lot of bottles, they didn't know just exactly where they would store them or what they were going to do with them. It was finally decided to put them in boxes and store them in Fred's car. Big mistake, it wasn't any time at all and they all began to blow up.

Every time a friend got into Fred's car they said "What is that awful smell?" and when told it was home brew they immediately wanted to try a bottle. After the first swig, they got a terrible look on their face, but didn't want any one to think they were a 'sissy' and continued to drink until it was gone. It wasn't long before they threw up and vowed never to ride in Fred's car again.

It didn't take long before all of the bottles had exploded and Fred was seen driving around town alone. No one could stand to get into his car. Both Bob and Fred decided they definitely were not home-brew makers.