Did my share of beating up fellers, too, although I don't recall ever throwing one over my shoulder and bringing him home to Pa and asking "Can I keep him?" I did, however, break a few bones, I'm afraid. Last count for sure included one ankle, one sacrum, and a leg in multiple places. Not mine! Oh no, unfortunate playmates or classmates who incurred my wrath.
To my credit, minimal as it is, I was only incidentally responsible for the fractured leg. There was a boy in our neighborhood who had brittle bones (but we didn't know), and while playing football one day, my entire team piled on top of him as was our custom. He screamed in terrible pain and all the boys ran away. I went for help and heard later that his leg was broken in three places.
We didn't pile on after that. In fact, I wasn't even allowed to play football anymore because the neighborhood women got together and determined it was unseemly for a girl as "big" as I was to play contact sports with the boys. I had developed "bosoms."
So while my breasts ended my football playing days, they didn't end my interactions with football playing guys. But that's a story for another day. ~GH
