every afternoon at four o'clock the council hooter
went off & the brightly painted wrought iron gates
opened/ the dead end street filling itself with big
yellow tractors & council workers/ we had a truth
or dare bet with hamilton's & my brothers were
dared to run out into the middle of the street, drop
their pants, dance a jig & run back inside/ they
didn't want to do it/ in case they got caught/ so
the compromise was doing it from inside the
house/ mum was at the sunbeam mix master
making a carrot cake when the hooter went off/
the big double venetian blind in my brother's
room was rolled up to the ceiling/ brendon &
dale climbed up onto the wide wooden window
sill & pulled their yellow corduroy trousers
(including underpants) down around their
ankles & lifted their purple cardigans & parkas
up to their chests & jumped up & down on the
window sill as all the council men walked pass/
some stopped to watch, nudging fellow workers
& pointing/ some hurried on annoyed & took
down the house number sixty six/ a couple
laughed like i laughed under the tassels of the
purple bedspread/ dale & brendon did not stop
jumping until every council worker had left the
area/ this soon caught on for the rest of the street
& kershaws up the road began flashing regularly in
their front windows, at anyone who would walk past/
from sams two storey house to zappavingna's milk bar/
although he never saw them/ cause he never left his shop
in 20 years/ then diane holihan told her mother & so
many parents were spoken to regarding the incidents
