Leland Lonzberry
One of my favorite Al Johnson tangent stories is of Al’s friend Leland. Leland met his early demise at the hands of a jealous husband - shot with a 45 at close range in the front room of his trailer.
Leland was a bartender at the five spot bar. One of the major attractions of the bar in addition to conversation and booze was the owner’s pet mynah bird, Otis. Otis was a beautiful black bird with an outgoing personality. He had a rather large vocabulary, but his favorite phrase was, “hello, my name is Otis” a phrase he seemed to extend on a random basis albeit with great gusto! It was loud and piercing!
On the night of Leland’s untimely death, the local sheriff’s deputy was called to investigate what a neighbor described as a loud argument accompanied by a gun discharge. According to the neighbor the sounds came from the direction of Leland’s trailer house which was parked on a lot in back of the bar. As the deputy approached the trailer, a sound was not to be heard. All was quite on the western front. The deputy knocked on the door – no response. Another knock. Still no response. He slowly opened the back door and walked even more slowly into the kitchen area. Nothing. As he proceeded into the living room area, he spotted a foot and leg on the floor in the area ahead of him. As he entered the living room, he saw that the foot and leg was attached to a bloody body on the floor. Leland. The deputy slowly knelt down to see who it was and if he could render any assistance. At just that moment a very loud and piercing voice said, “Hello my name is Otis’! It startled the deputy so bad that he fell backwards and hit his head on the corner of the door casing behind him – knocking him out cold as a mackerel. When the next door neighbor came with friends to see if the deputy had arrived yet and what the trouble was, there was the scene of Leland dead on the floor, the deputy out cold on the floor and poor Otis on his perch wondering if all the trouble was due to something he’d said!! As it turned out, Leland had been baby sitting Otis while the bar owner was out of town. Leland’s murderer was quickly apprehended – the husband of a local school teacher. The deputy was a bit embarrassed but fully recovered - the butt of many fearless fosdick jokes.
Gordon et al
One of my favorite Al Johnson tangent stories is of Al’s friend Leland. Leland met his early demise at the hands of a jealous husband - shot with a 45 at close range in the front room of his trailer.
Leland was a bartender at the five spot bar. One of the major attractions of the bar in addition to conversation and booze was the owner’s pet mynah bird, Otis. Otis was a beautiful black bird with an outgoing personality. He had a rather large vocabulary, but his favorite phrase was, “hello, my name is Otis” a phrase he seemed to extend on a random basis albeit with great gusto! It was loud and piercing!
On the night of Leland’s untimely death, the local sheriff’s deputy was called to investigate what a neighbor described as a loud argument accompanied by a gun discharge. According to the neighbor the sounds came from the direction of Leland’s trailer house which was parked on a lot in back of the bar. As the deputy approached the trailer, a sound was not to be heard. All was quite on the western front. The deputy knocked on the door – no response. Another knock. Still no response. He slowly opened the back door and walked even more slowly into the kitchen area. Nothing. As he proceeded into the living room area, he spotted a foot and leg on the floor in the area ahead of him. As he entered the living room, he saw that the foot and leg was attached to a bloody body on the floor. Leland. The deputy slowly knelt down to see who it was and if he could render any assistance. At just that moment a very loud and piercing voice said, “Hello my name is Otis’! It startled the deputy so bad that he fell backwards and hit his head on the corner of the door casing behind him – knocking him out cold as a mackerel. When the next door neighbor came with friends to see if the deputy had arrived yet and what the trouble was, there was the scene of Leland dead on the floor, the deputy out cold on the floor and poor Otis on his perch wondering if all the trouble was due to something he’d said!! As it turned out, Leland had been baby sitting Otis while the bar owner was out of town. Leland’s murderer was quickly apprehended – the husband of a local school teacher. The deputy was a bit embarrassed but fully recovered - the butt of many fearless fosdick jokes.
Gordon et al
No comments:
Post a Comment