Wednesday, August 14, 2024
By Margaret Dore, Esq.
The bomb, dynamite, had been thrown on the roof above my parents' bedroom closet adjacent to our carport. She was home with my four siblings. My father, a state legislator, and I were in the state capitol, staying at different places. I was 12 years old. It was 1970.
A Thump on the Roof
My mother told me that she had heard a thump on the roof above her bedroom closet, which had caused her to put her head in the closet, under the bomb, to try and figure out what had caused the noise.
She then went outside the house and into our carport, once again, physically placing herself under the bomb.
She then went back to the front door, which my brother Rick had locked, apparently trying to be funny. He finally let her in, which slowed her down on her way back to the bedroom to look in the closet again.
My memory per her telling is that she was back in the bedroom and close to the closet when the bomb went off. Most of the force went up. My memory is that she was not hurt. It took me years to figure out that a slight difference in timing could have led to her having been seriously injured or killed. Would my father have remarried? Would I have had half-siblings with a step mother?