John Dillinger’s Dick.
October 9, 2017 § 4 Comments
*
Some seventy years ago
Ray was a Catholic kid at Holy Redeemer,
a DC school with nuns in black and white,
girls who flashed bare chapped knees
below navy blue pleats,
and boys who, in defiance
of their mandatory neckties,
were as wondering and
irreverent as any.
*
In addition to the rote round of
genuflection, catechism,
burnt offerings,
the squeal of chalk on board,
was the annual field trip.
Even then DC was rich
with museums.
*
But the Holy Redeemers went to just one.
Not the Smithsonian,
not The National Gallery,
not the Renwick.
No, the band of Catholics single-filed
onto the street car
(the tracks ran right by the school)
and rode to
The Medical Museum,
to ogle its two-headed baby,
its anatomical anomalies in murky jars.
But every year the same rumor
was passed around,
boy to boy,
elbow to ribs.
*
Somewhere in back, floating in an
EXTRA large jar
Adrift in a silent sea of formaldehyde was
John Dillinger’s dick.
*
It was eighteen inches long
And one kid claimed to have seen it
Or maybe he knew someone who had seen it,
John Dillinger’s dick.
*
*
Seventy years later Ray wonders,
Is there an alumni group
for former Holy Redeemers
and
after seventy years could
some old kid’s honesty be trusted?
*
Had anyone actually seen
John Dillinger’s dick?
*
And was it really
eighteen
inches
long?
Note: Each morning when I wake up I write what are known in the writing biz as Morning Pages. Lots of my blog posts begin there.
I had already written the day’s pages when Ray and I went for our morning dog walk around the reservoir.
That’s when I heard about John Dillinger’s greatest asset.
As soon as I got home I made a note in my Morning Pages notebook: John Dillinger’s Dick, so I wouldn’t forget and write about something trivial the next morning–you’ve just read what I wrote.
All I want to add is, if true, did America’s Most Wanted Man really need a gun?
Tagged: Adrian Fogelin, Adrian Fogelin's Blog, Catholic School Kids, Growing Up Catholic, John Dillinger, Medical Anomalies, Medical Museum, Ray Faass, Rumors, School Field Trips
I am speechless!🤣😂🤣🤔😄😂😂💖💓💖
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[…] Note: I was scrolling through earlier posts and I found one guaranteed to take your mind off the pandemic: John Dillinger’s Dick […]
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This post is in a league of its own (as is the dick, I suppose). So glad you “passed the jar” around again these three years later. The pandemic does not compare.
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No, how could a mere pandemic compare with…a member of such magnificence and magnitude.
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