Cousins Story 8

One time when, Jake Paulses and our family were at the Fred Duecks, Uncle Fred had recently installed an electric fence.  Rudolph, of course, had learned much about the capabilities of electric fences, no doubt from his young uncles.  He wanted to us to experience these things, too.  Most of us were scared of the fence; we had heard that it gave you a shock if you touched it.  He bravely volunteered to be the one who would take the shock.  First he lined us all up and told us to hold hands.  Because Gerald was the youngest and the most frightened, Rudy very generously put him at the far end of the line where he would feel the shock the least.  He then persuaded Gerald to pee on the ground and put his finger in the wet spot.  Then he ran back to the fence, took the hand of the kid closest to the fence and grabbed the wire.  Gerald jumped, screamed and shook his poor hand, while none of the rest of us, including Rudy felt anything.  I remember the reproachful look my brother gave Rudy!  The big cousin whom he had trusted so implicitly had played a dirty trick on him.