Hommel Mangas
Last week before it got miserably frozen, I took a bro trip. A bro trip, as you well know, is when men-folk get together to travel some distance, usually to hunt, fish or climb rocks. It’s the same stuff they did when they were little boys, like dig up worms with mom’s kitchen spoon, but now they’re old enough to drive out of the neighborhood.
And even though it wasn’t an outdoor adventure, just a day trip to Lexington for a funeral, I can still call it a bro trip, because I was invited to ride along with two of my actual younger brothers — Kevin and David.
In case you haven’t had the pleasure of such an experience, bro car conversation is radically divergent than sister conversation.
I chose the back middle seat as Kevin drove and David rode shot gun up front.
After Kevin pointed out the refreshment bag complete with peanuts, and a DVD players with movies and an old converted family video, our bro trip began.
David: “I heard you were talking to Uncle Timmy about buying a combine?”
Kevin: “Yep, a gleaner.”
Me: “A few years ago, he was looking to buy a tank — he thought it’d be cool to drive.”
Kevin: “Yea, they have some nice ones parked at the Columbus, Indiana, airport.”
David: “You’d have to move it with a double-drop detach.”
David remembering that his older sister does not speak their language asked, “Janet, do you know what a double-drop is?”
I was going to guess, “A dance move?” before David quickly answered: “It’s a semi-truck trailer that attaches (below the trailer axles making a well/lower deck section between the gooseneck and the first trailer axle) with a drop-down so it allows for a low haul — you don’t need equipment to load and unload it.”
My eyes glazed over.
When he pointed to a passing 18-wheeler with a double drop-down, I understood their conversation a bit more and added, “Oh.”
Ninety minutes later after a McDonald’s coffee stop, Kevin and David talked about their favorite scrap yards.
I chimed in quickly: “I like the Mooresville one” — which is actually the only scrap yard I’ve ever been to. We dropped off an old grill, broken metal versa-climber, and assorted other metal scrap and came home with a crisp $20 dollar bill.
They both nodded and “Mm hm”-ed me and began discussing four other scrap yards, who owns and works at them and gave the best prices.
The millwright brother asked the electrician brother, “What’s the life expectancy of an LED light bulb? They say they’re supposed to last at least a year,” Millwright: “Mine don’t last — the kids (12-year-old triplets) are always jumping around upstairs, mine never last that long.”
Millwright: “My hedgeapples are huge this year — the biggest they’ve ever been. It could be because of the drought and the trees had to pull water deep from the soil.
“Janet, you know what hedgeapples are used for?” someone asked.
After coming to attention because my name was summoned, I replied, “Hedgeapples? Yes , the trees were grown as fences for livestock and hedgeapples can be used for decorations with cranberries around the holidays — kinda’ a Martha Stewart thing.”
David the Millwright: “You put them around the outside of your house or in the basement to repel insects.”
Me: “Yea, I knew that.”
Kevin the Electrician: “ I like to use sticky traps so I can see that it kills the flies.”
Later that evening after a dinner stop at Cracker Barrel somewhere on I-65, the bro conversation turned to Kevin stating: “Silver is a better conductor …”
David asked: “What’s the melting point of silver versus copper?”
I quickly googled and answered: “Everyone knows the melting point of silver is 1,763 degrees Fahrenheit and copper is 1,984 degrees.”
I couldn’t see their eyes, but I knew they both rolled them and were not impressed.
I slipped out Kevin’s DVD player and watched a 1959 Hommel Reunion video — one where our mom was holding her months-old daughter — me. I suggested that those were the “good old days” when our family only had three daughters and didn’t yet have any sons.
Internally I knew I was living what I’d tomorrow consider another of “the good old days.”
Janet Hommel Mangas grew up on the east side of Greenwood. The Center Grove area resident and her husband are the parents of three daughters. Send comments to [email protected].
