Story by Donna Swagerty Shreve
I heard this story from Clem, Elmer, and Floyd. Ideally I would have taped each, and one could view different viewpoints. Clem was teasing Floyd or tormenting him in some way. Floyd could take a lot but he did explode once in a while and this was one of those times. He threw Clem out the door off the back porch and Clem hit the ground running. Elmer witnessed this part where first Clem came flying out the back door and then Floyd came out after him. Clem was convinced Floyd was going to kill him and according to Floyd during that first time around the house he could have. Fortunately for Clem he was definately the faster runner. They went around the house a second time. By now Floyd was over his initial rage but he kept chasing Clem just for good measure. Clem was going to keep running until Floyd ran out of steam.
In the next generation Floyd’s son Brian had this similar slow fuse. Brian got teased by his sisters and brother and on two rare occasions, Brian exploded. One of the houses in Stockton had two doors that had been kicked through or an object thrown through. After one of these episodes, Floyd sat down with Brian and had quite a talk with him on how to control this rage so he wouldn’t grow up and kill someone.
Swagerty-Aldrich Family Web Site 