Cover Photo: Four Generations, Virgil (Marvin aka Bumpa’s brother) and Father Robert in back with Grandpa Joseph Gregoire and Virgil’s oldest son Dennis.
the runaway cart
Story by Virgil Gregoire and Rita (Gregoire) Mockel (Siblings of Marvin Gregoire)
We had a Shetland pony named Spot. She didn’t like to be hooked up to a cart and got skittish and tickly if we did. We also had a dog named Chummie. Marvin, Rita, and Virgil were always the three getting into trouble together. We don’t really remember June ever being involved. She would have been 5 years older then Virgil, then Marvin was 2 years younger and Rita was three years younger then Marv.
One day Mom and Dad were gone and we decided to hook Spot up to the cart. It was a homemade thing with four wheels and a plain flatbed. We decided to take Chummie along too so we tied him to the cart. We took the pony and cart down the pasture road. Pretty soon Spot had had enough and got crazy. She managed to turn the cart around and took off for home. We were able to jump off the cart but poor Chummie had to run like crazy behind it until finally, he was flying. As Spot got to the gate, she turned too sharp and got the cart all wrapped around the post. Chummie was all right and so was Spot but the cart was in bad shape and we knew we would be in for it when dad found out. Neither of us remembers how dad reacted but he must have been mad.
Spot was short enough that when she was tired of us riding her she would head for the barn door. The barn doors were cut in half with an upper half and a lower half and the lower half was kept open and the upper shut. She could walk right under the upper door but whoever was riding her wouldn’t be able to stay on and would get rubbed off.
