He had a twisted sense of humour

hose who knew Reggie knew that he could be very funny. We both grew up watching British comedy on CBC, including Monty Python’s Flying Circus, The Two Ronnies and Benny Hill, and I think that style of humour appealed to Reggie’s own rather twisted sense of humour.

One example was this mock newsletter article he created about me.

As a teenager, he made his own fun

In Reggie’s opinion, Souris could be a pretty boring place for a teenager. He liked practical jokes and tormenting people—starting with his brothers—but his friends, local businesses and the high school could all become targets.

Some of his pranks were remarkably elaborate, while others were simply strange. The stories below are a few examples of the ways Reggie and his friends created their own entertainment.

Stacking the KFC picnic tables

One of the most memorable pranks, was a recurring prank that Reggie and his friends did to the local Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise.  It seemed like every week, as you approached this franchise, you’d wonder what “they” (unknown to most people) had done “this”.  Generally, the prank went something like this.  The KFC had 3-4 picnic tables next to their restaurant.  Reggie and his friends would do something to these tables to make them unusable, generally this involved stacking the tables.  The time that has most stuck in my memory is seeing four picnic tables stacked one above the other.  I was amazed that they were able to do this, and was also wondering how the KFC staff were going to unstack the tables.

Messing with Cousin Tim

When Reggie was around 14 years old, a departed cousin of ours, Tim, stayed with us one winter.Tim stayed in the basement with Reggie, and we all got along, although Reggie had great fun tormenting Tim.  

One of the favorite things that Reggie liked to do, was mess with Tim’s cigarettes.  Reggie used to take toothpicks and jam them into the end of a cigarette, break off the toothpick and put this cigarette back into the pack.  Tim would end up smoking this cigarette and the taste would be horrible and he would realize that Reggie had tampered with the cigarette.  Reggie did not do this to every cigarette though, so Tim never knew which cigarette might be tampered with.  

Reggie repeatedly did this and it started to make Tim paranoid that his cigarettes were tampered with, because they usually were.  It got to the point where Tim would pick up his pack of cigarettes, Reggie would grin at Tim, and Tim would throw away the pack because he believed that Reggie’s grin indicated that the cigarettes had been tampered with, even though they hadn’t.

Tim Saved Reggie’s Life Later That Year

A few months later, in July, Tim, Reggie, my other younger brother and a few others were down at the harbour and on my father’s boat. Reggie fell overboard and could not swim, and was struggling to stay afloat. Tim, an excellent swimmer, and lifeguard, jumped in and pulled Reggie to safey.

That was a very significant event for my father, as he was watching the kids from the house, and he saw Reggie fall in and almost drown. He said that every time that he looked at his boat, all that he could see was a vision of Reggie drowning, and he took a year off from fishing as a result.

Reggie stayed in touch with Tim over the years and visited him and his family in Alberta several times.

My prank that I could never top

But there was one prank that I don’t think that I’ll ever top. I used to hang around with my friend J. He dropped out of school in grade 9 or 10 but we stayed friends, even after this devious prank. This happened when I was 16 or 17. One day, I was reading a magazine, and I saw an ad in the back from a guy in prison in the states who was lonely and wanted girls to write to him. Now J., as you know, can also be a girl’s name.

So, I composed a two-page letter from J. I made it sound like I was a horny young girl without actually saying that I was a girl. I told the guy that what I’d like to do with him when he got out, and I signed the letter with X’s and O’s (hugs and kisses). And off to the post office I went. I thought that J. would get a letter from this guy in prison who wanted to fuck him and this would be pretty funny.

I could never have imagined what really happened. You see, a few weeks later, the letter comes back in the mail marked “return to sender”.

J.’s father picked up the mail. He saw that this letter from his son was addressed to a guy in prison, and, justifiably curious, he opened the letter. And, as it happens, my handwriting is very similar to J.’s. So J.’s dad reads the letter and he flips out. “My son’s gay! My boy’s a fucking faggot!” (J.’s father was a macho guy, spent most of his time out in the barn fixing motorcycles). He didn’t take the news well.

I hadn’t ever told J. about the letter so he didn’t know what was going on and wasn’t able to put up much of a defense right away. So, after hearing about this, I told J. what I had done. He wasn’t terribly happy, but he saw the humor in it. He explained things to his mother, and after a few days, his mom was able to make peace with his dad, and everything was ok. But only for a while …

Because not long after sending the first letter, I saw another ad for a homosexual correspondence club – “Hmmmm ….”, I thought, “What if?” So, I wrote another letter (from J.). In the ad, they asked for $5.00 for membership fees, so I put in a five dollar bill.

Several weeks pass and, lo and behold, this letter comes back marked again, “Return to Sender”. And again, Jamies dad picks up the mail. Here we go again. This time his dad totally loses it. He goes to the liquor store, buys two quarts of whisky, and proceeds to get smashed, trying to drown his sorrows. This time no-one is gonna convince him his boys not queer. There’s a big fight at J.’s house which ends with J. moving out and going to live with his older sister. (I should also mention that J. didn’t have any girlfriends, so this, I suppose, makes the situation a little more believable, and the $5 bill looked serious too). It was about 2 years before J. moved back home again. J. wasn’t very talkative about this. Most of the info I got from his younger brother.

[Editorial note: The following is Reggie’s original account and includes language about sexual orientation that is offensive today. It has been retained because this section preserves Reggie’s writing in his own words and reflects the language and attitudes present in the original account.]