Trick Tables

When we lived in Myrtle Beach, Dad had a trick table. One of the legs of our dining room table at some point had come unbolted and was just propped in place. I am sure that if Dad would have wanted to he could have fixed it, but that would have taken away some of his fun. When he and Mom or one of us kids would have a friends over for dinner, Dad would give them a huge surprise. He would ask us why we were not eating our vegetables and then pull the leg out like a bat. As soon as he saw there eyes widen, he would start laughing his infectious laugh. I think this is where his affinity for trick tables began.

When we moved to Matthews, he built another trick table. He bolted the top to a regular round wooden table to the base of a spinning bar stool. He called it his "poker table". When he had someone new over for card night, he would spin the table and say , "I think I want your hand instead of mine". I used to spin it my way and told him that my beer was empty so I was going to drink his. Sometimes, when we had a large group over for a meal, we used the table for dining. He would catch unsuspecting guests off guard, by spinning the table top his way and asking, "Are you going to finish that steak?", acting as if he was going to dig right into their plate.

Dad would do anything just to make someone laugh. If I had a dollar for every laugh we shared I'd be rich. But those laughs are indeed priceless.