Introduction and story number 1

For sometime to come...at least until I run out of yarn....I'll be posting one anecdote after another about my father, R.L. Hodges, Jr., who, prior to his passing in January of 1984, became a legend of the practical joke in his hometown of Scottsboro, Al. I'm his youngest son, Doug. Levi, as my dad was known, was a pharmacist in Scottsboro from 1938 to 1978. I joined him as a pharmacist in the family business from 1972 to 1978. All the posts that you will read are true stories, no bull about this blog! Most of these hilarious drugstore "gotchas" occurred during my younger years helping my dad at Hodges Drug Store at whatever assignment he gave me after school. This could be delivering ...sweeping floors...soda jerking..or cashier. You might wonder about the title of this blog, Levi's Laughter. My dad had a very unique way of laughing, much the same as a donkey's bray with a tenor pitch! When you heard it, you knew that you'd been had. Well folks, grab your chair arms and brace yourselves for some funny stuff!


PINEAPPLE SHERBET

Hodges Drug was open every Sunday morning to accommodate prescription customers and those going to and from church. Mr. Paul C. was a regular each Sunday morning at 9:30 A.M. on his way to Sunday school. He always ordered the same dish...a double dip of pineapple sherbet and a glass of ice water. I happened to be standing at the end of the soda fountain near the ice cream cooler behind which my dad was waiting to serve Mr. Paul C. "Same as usual, Paul?" my dad asked. "You betcha" replied Paul. Levi then takes out the ice cream scoop and with the precision of an ancient Greek sculptor begins to curl out two huge scoops of "Crisco" cooking fat and places them in an ice cream dish. Paul did not hesitate. He spooned out a portion large enough to cook two orders of fries...chewed only about twice..then swallowed it all before realizing the snow white stuff in his dish was something extremely foreign to pineapple sherbet! He gagged..then coughed..then spit..and finally ran to the restroom in the rear of the store. When he finally returned to the soda fountain counter the rest of the fifty some odd people in the drugstore had been cued in as to what had happened. Mr. Paul C. with a trace of "Crisco" on his chin and still drooling from the mouth said, "Levi, I wonder if all these people laughing right now know that your pineapple sherbet ain't any damn better than Crisco shortening!". Paul C. never
ordered pineapple sherbet again.

To be continued.........