As I was placing a very full pitcher of iced tea into the fridge today I remembered the time my mom poured a half gallon of tomato juice all over Bob Mapes’ white suit. The reason I thought about it was because the lid is not securely on the pitcher and I was worried Dean might take it out quickly and spill iced tea all over the place.

So, the story… (I was in the kitchen at the time and observed everything)

This was the 1970s and my parents were having a party. It may have been a daytime party because people were drinking bloody marys. Mom must have been getting ready to make a bloody mary for someone because she was at the fridge and pulled out the large can of tomato juice (back then all juices that were not frozen were in huge cans) with her left hand and tipped it sideways, bending her elbow so the horizontal can was perpendicular to her shoulder, and closed the fridge with her right hand. She was unaware that someone had already used a can opener on the can, so it was open when she tipped it sideways. She was also unaware that Bob Mapes, wearing a stylish-at-the-time white suit was standing very close behind her. I think his intention was to surprise her since he had just arrived. Suddenly Bob jumped back as the contents of the can of tomato juice poured over his white suit.

He was upset. It really wasn’t Mom’s fault — she always tipped these large juice cans sideways — they were never open when she did it, but Bob was furious and as he grabbed his wife, Marge, and stormed out, told Mom he was sending her the dry-cleaning bill.

Bob and Marge were an interesting couple and I’ll write more about them later.