There was a low budget movie version of the Pippy
Longstocking books that was at the local video store. There were not
that many movies that were children appropriate so ipso facto we
watched that one, more than once. It was funny and fun but it gave
kids bad ideas about the workings of physics. The movie featured
heroine that was super strong and impervious to pain which makes her
less than ideal as a role model because we were regular strong and
pervious to pain. She did have one trick in the movie as a mode of
escape that we thought we could try out and by we I mean my older
sister and I would produce and direct and my then youngest sister
Mary would ride the lightning so to speak. The stunt in the movie was
that Pippy was escaping from somewhere and decided not to use he
super strength but opted instead to rely on subterfuge. She secreted
herself in a suitcase and then was pushed out of a second story
window and arrived on the ground unscathed and laughing. The science
seemed to check out but just to be sure we altered the parameters
slightly we lived in a single story house, as most mobile homes are,
and we were going to use our sister instead of our selves so we could
observe but if she survived we would definitely have next. We loaded
her up in the suit case which was a rigid baby blue number built more
for its sturdiness than its interior comfort. We loaded her in and
then pushed her across the bed and out the window for a drop of about
four feet which was good because if it would have been more she may
have been really hurt but she was still hurt just not so bad. She got
out crying and mad and threatening to tell and we applied the
standard kid method of dissuading a sibling from ratting us out. The
standard method is to bribe and cajole followed quickly by a treat
and then right back to pleading. Like this:
“Oh, I'm sorry you got hurt we didn't mean to hurt you are you
okay?”
Through hitching sobs, “You hurt me really bad I am telling.”
“Please don't, We will go buy you a treat, what treat do you want?”
Still crying,” I don't want a treat I am telling.”
“If you tell I will hurt you even worse.”
“Mom! Mom!”, she would run off to tell and I would head her off.
“No wait I was just kidding I wasn't going to hurt you please don't
tell do you want to hurt me and we will be even?”
You continue this way until you are told on or find a substitute you
both can agree on.
I never took my turn in the suitcase but Mary had not completed her
tour as guinea pig.
