Wallace occupied the front bedroom at 105 S Cook Street from 1974 until he left for Clemson in fall of 1980. The room was given a complete makeover in 1977 to better reflect the groovy new times of the "Patriotic Disco" motif my mother had conjured up for her eldest. It was a sight to behold!
Paneling had been installed with a patriotic border of red white and blue that complimented the colors in the brand new rug that had been carefully positioned in the floor. The rug comes into play in a moment, but more about the paneling. More specifically, what was behind the paneling.
Mama had gotten on a mural kick in the late 60s/early 70s and had painted several on our walls. Matt and I shared a bedroom and it had Snoopy on his doghouse along with Linus and Peppermint Patty. They were well done and we were quite proud of them.
Wallace, on the other hand, had the most awesome one of all on the wall above his bed. It was Charlie Brown with beads, sandals, a big old peace sign medallion around his neck sporting a hippie vest and jeans with a wisp of long hair around his temples while standing amongst some daisies and daffodils and flashing the peace sign with his right hand. It was pure hippie folk art at it's funky freshest!
What never got told until 1991 was how the slice got cut in the rug under the bed! It seems that Allen Rowe and I thought it would be a good idea to practice our golf swings one afternoon up in Wallace's bedroom with a nine iron and Allen led with a beautiful example of an imaginary shot from 135 yards out with a slight left crosswind. Admonishing me to top the previous display of club mastery, Allen handed over the nine iron.
I lined up over an intersection of patterns in the rug, reared back and whipped the head of that nine iron right perfectly into that intersection of patterns and lopped the biggest, cleanest half-moon hole out of the rug. The shock of the club coming to an immediate halt belied the horror that lay before my eyes. That brand new rug, ruined! Boy, I was in it, big time.....Mama and JB are going to let me have it with unbridled fury over this boneheaded decision.
After a shock and awe moment of silence, cooler heads prevailed. We did what all quick-thinking thirteen year old boys would do....we broke the bed down, turned the carpet around so the cut part was hidden, and put it all back together, and never breathed a word about it.
I revealed the secret in 1991 when they moved out and the half-moon shone in full glory, and we all had a good laugh....and wondered about the comments when the paneling gets pulled down. Isn't it funny how our mannerisms are carried through the years?