Mark Got Attacked by a Lion

Although today my older brother Marc is one of the greatest guys you'd ever meet, when I was growing up he was annoyingly good, in the way I saw things - we used to call him "Eddy Hasko" (a character in "Leave It to Beaver") because he was so perfect at smoozing with adults.

Marc was the oldest in a family of 7 kids. I was the second - a year and a half younger, so I should have been closest to Marc, but it never happened. He liked getting me in trouble, so he reported to the parents whatever I did wrong. As a result, I avoided his ever watching eye and as a kid, I never grew that close to him.

Marc rarely got in trouble and when he did, he got off easy because he did such a good job of winning over the adults. One day in his Catholic High School Marc got caught throwing cherry bombs in the toilets and got off with little punishment because the priests liked him so much.

Marc seemed to be so good, but I on the other hand, during my High School, was dragged into the police station twice for drugs, breaking and entry and theft. On one of those occasions I was guilty, and on one I was not. I got dragged into the principals office on more than one occasion, grabbed dozens of detentions (hours of end of the day classes for trouble makers), and several times was caught with stolen items from stores or cars. I should qualify that last claim...my friends and I were breaking into cars and stealing items, and on one occasion we were pulled over by police and searched, but the police did not search us well enough, and we got away without being caught in that adventure.

MARC AND THE LION

When I was about 6 years old and Marc was about 8, my whole family went to a small circus/carnival in Cedarburg, WI. We were all gathered in the lion's tent when I saw my dad was going somewhere. I thought he was going to get some candy, so I opted to leave the animal tent to go with him. I was hoping to talk him into getting something sweet to eat.

When my dad and I left, while the adults were talking to each other in the tent, Marc was with my mom and other syblings standing next to the rope that keeps visitors away from the lion cage. Nobody seemed to notice the lion as he stretched his paw out of his food door (a small door on the side of the cage). No one saw the lion grab Marc's leg. Marc felt it though, and as his leg gushed with blood, he ripped it away from the lion's claws.

Immediately a small group gathered around the area to see the boy who got clawed by the lion, and within seconds a good neighbor and friend of the family's took Marc away from the tent and drove him to the doctor's office where he got his leg stitched up. My mom stayed behind with the other kids.

When all of this was taking place, I was with my dad, realizing that our trip was not to the candy stand, but to the bathroom. I was the disappointed, but was to be even more bummed when my dad and I returned to the lions' tent to find a small group had gathered around and Marc had been whisked off to the Doctor's office. I missed it! Marc was clawed by a lion and I was going to the bathroom, hoping for candy - I missed out on the greatest thing ever.

MARC AND THE HORSESHOE

Marc was usually the smart one, and I was the one who seemed to do everything wrong. Nevertheless, on one occasion the role was reversed. There were about 3 or 4 of us kids outside in the back yard (we had a large back yard), when Marc got the great idea of throwing a metal horseshoe as high as he could into the air and tell everybody to run. I ditched under a crabapple tree for protection and Marc ran straight downhill precisely into the path of the falling horseshoe. It hit him right smack dab on the top of his head. He walked calmly into the house with blood pouring from his skull and said, "Mommy, I'm sorry we won't be able to go on a picnic today...."

As we grew up, Marc always wanted to be a priest; I never wanted to be anything like that. Marc loved church and Catholic High School; I quit church in the 7th grade and went to a public High School. Marc ended up a good Family Doctor and I was called to the ministry. Go figure.