The Katzenjammer Kids

I have written lots of stories about my mother, but few about my father. Dad was very soft spoken, and liked quiet when he was in the house.
One day when he was gone I asked mother about dad when he was growing up. She smiled and told me that dad and his brother Roy were called the Katzenjammer Kids when they were little. Ray, my dad, and Roy were just a few months apart in age. The Katzenjammer Kids were cartoon characters in the newspaper at the time the boys were little. That cartoon originally started in 1897 in the Sunday paper. The way mom talked was that they got into everything and were very naughty and full of mischief.

One day my dad’s uncle was washing his car and waxing it getting ready to go into town on a date with his girlfriend. He worked on his car all afternoon. When he was done it just sparkled. He took his pail and his rags and put them in the shed and went to the house to get dressed for his date.
When he came out a short time later, his car was a disaster. Dad and his brother had taken hands full of muddy water and smeared their uncle’s car with their little hands until the whole car looked like it had gone through the Mississippi River. Not only did they put the muddy water on it, but they picked up gravel and put it in the mud and smeared the car until the car was all scratched.
They both got spankings.
The story of the Katzenjammer Kids and the muddy car survived many years of telling. I heard that story every time dad’s relatives got together for reunions and family gatherings. My dad was not always quiet it seems.