Pike memories:
From Ralph Griggs
From Bill (Chappie) Allsopp: pledge class 1952 (who still loves tinkering with thing mechanical and electronic).
There were two very strongly divided factions at AZ back in the early 50's.
One faction had been transplanted in from a new chapter that I believe had only
recently been started in Magnolia. These were all south Arkansas farm boys who
were trying to wrest a certain amount of power away
from the city boys who were deeply entrenched in Pike politics. For reasons
that I still do not fully understand, I (who even today remain pretty much
a-political) became the target of their displeasure.
One night they came and hauled me out of bed, put me in the trunk of a car and
drove out into the country side.
I was an engineering student and had always had a love for machinery, so I had
little trouble in opening the trunk lid in the dark and even before we left
Fayetteville, was peering out of the crack I had opened and was plotting my
escape. They apparently hit every traffic light just right and the car never
stopped while we were in town.
Eventually they came to a cross road and stopped long enough to argue about
which way to go. I slipped out of the trunk and onto the roadway. Having no
shoes and being dressed only in my under shorts, I stood off the side of the
road as they went tearing away in a new direction. It was a
reasonably warm night that was brightly lit with a full moon. Even though I
consider myself a resourceful person, I had no idea of what to do other than to
start walking back towards town. After a short time a truck came lumbering
down the road. It turned out to be a milk man who
was headed into Fayetteville to pick up his daily load for local delivery. He
stopped and after having a hearty laugh at my predicament, he said hop in and he
delivered me to the Pike house.
Because it was so late, few of the brothers were up to see me wandering through
the front door in my shorts, but my roommate heard the whole story when I got to
our room.
I never found out how much further they drove before discovering that I had
vanished, but they arrived at the Pike house well over an hour after I had
returned. From that time on, I was pleased to discover that their attitude
towards me had changed and I was never again the target of their animosity.
Thanks for sharing your story. I sometimes get the willies thinking about what
could have happened if they had started up when I was half out of the trunk.
But even that would have been preferable to being thrown off a car making a
sharp turn at almost any speed. King Phar is definitely very talented.