The Possum Incident

1958 Darrell Wolff, Harry Shaull, & Tom Disel

It was early evening on a Thursday night in April 1958 in Cushing Oklahoma. Darrel Wolff, his cousin Harry Shaull, and me were dragging Main Street. As usual we were in my 1951 Dodge. We normally used Mrs. Wolff’s 1957 Pontiac two door hardtop but unfortunately we had wrecked it several weeks earlier and it was in the shop being repaired.

We planned on spending the night at Darrel’s house. Harry and I both enjoyed staying with Darrel. He had a new house. There were always lots of snacks, drinks, and two nice bedrooms where we stayed.

His mom, Mildred, and dad, Clemen, were super nice and always made sure we were welcome and kept everything well stocked. Everyone but me called them Mildred and Clemen. I called them Mr. and Mrs. Wolff.

We had decided we should head for the house and started down Little Street. As we neared the city swimming pool a possum ran across the road. I do not remember who’s idea it was but I stopped the car, Harry and Darrel got out and chased the possum down and brought it back to the car.

As you know, “playing possum” is a normal reaction when a possum is afraid of potential predator. Harry put him in the back floorboard where he was sitting. We headed back toward town and were trying to decide what to do with him.

We decided to drag Broadway, downtown, and completed the loop but still couldn’t decide what to do with him. Darrel decided we needed to go by the Dairy Hut and get a coke so we headed out Main Street.

We had been there earlier and had flirted with the girl that came to the drive thru window. As we turned into the drive thru one of us, I do not remember who suggested we scare whoever came to the window by putting the possum up on the shelf at the window. We all agreed.

I was driving so instead of pulling up where I would order we positioned the car so Harry’s window was aligned.

When the girl came to the window and asked “Can I help you” Harry grabbed the possum by the tail and threw him up on the shelf. Of course she screamed and jumped back and everyone rushed up to see what happened.

Harry pulled the possum back in the car and we drove off. We took the back streets back toward Darrel’s house. We were still undecided as to what to do with the possum. He was still playing possum so Harry had no problem keeping him quiet.

We ended up on the West end of 9th Street West of Little St. headed towards Darrel’s house. We were still trying to figure out where to put the possum out of the car. Then I saw it. About a half block before Little I spotted an oversized mailbox on the South side of the road.

I suggested we put the possum in the box, close the door, and let him scare the heck out of the mailman when he delivered the mail the next morning. Darrel and Harry both agreed this would be a great idea.

I stopped; Harry and Darrel got out an stuck the possum in the mail box. It was late and it looked like whoever lived there were asleep.

We drove off and headed down 9th Street and arrived at Darrel’s house about a quarter mile on east. We parked the car went in the house, consumed lots of chips and drinks, and went to bed. We were tired and didn’t think any more about the possum. I have always heard that the criminal returns to the scene of the crime. We did just that. The next morning as we headed to school we slowly drove by the mailbox and checked it out. Everything seemed normal so we went on to school.

That day we talked about what we did and even saw the girl that we scared. She avoided us completely. After that day we never talked about it again. We all assumed that was the end of the “Possum in the Mailbox Incident”. Little did we know.

I was dating Lereta Rainwater at that time. I thought she was about the most beautiful girl in the world. In fact on Valentines Day I had given her a black cashmere sweater that I bought at Peter’s Clothing Store for $18.95. She was special enough that a simple card would not work. Lereta’s dad was the city Postmaster; her mom was a teacher at Cushing High School.

A month or so after the possum incident I arrived at Lereta’s house to pick her up for a date. I had to park down the street, as their driveway and street were crowded with cars. I figured her mom was having a party or something.

I knocked on the door, Lereta came to the door and we left to go to the Dunkin Theater for a movie. I asked her what all the people were doing at their house. She explained that it was a special meeting her dad was having with a postal inspector from Kansas City, several postman that worked for him, and the Chief of Police Joe Rowden.

I asked what it was all about. She said from what she could here they were talking about all of the problems they were having with someone destroying mailboxes on the rural routes around Cushing. She said her dad was upset about it and that he had asked a special investigator from the Kansas City office come to help them resolve the problem.

She went on to say that her dad told her the “straw that broke the camel’s back” was about a month earlier someone put a possum in a mailbox on 9th Street. She said it scared the mailman and the people that lived there were extremely upset because they had just replaced the mailbox the week before.

She went on to say that her dad told her that the police had a lead on who it was because the resident had gotten a partial license number of a car that had driven by slowly the next morning.

I did not confess but I assure you that I was terribly distracted during the entire movie. Lereta and I would normally drive and park on a side street off of 9th street and talk and occasionally sometimes kiss. But that night I took her directly home.

My dad had always taught me that when you did something wrong the best approach was to always live up to it, take responsibility, and do what was needed to resolve the problem.

I went to school the next day and alerted Darrel and Harry of the situation. Neither had any suggestion as to what we should do. I already knew. I was confident that the Chief of Police already knew I was involved so I took dad’s advise and called him from the phone in the office at school. He said that he was glad I called because he was just getting ready to come to school to talk to me. He told me he wanted me to come to the police station at lunchtime to meet with him. He suggested that if anyone else was involved they should come as well.

Harry and Darrel were shocked that I had talked to him but decided they would go with me.

I drove of course, and Darrel and Harry went with me. When we arrived I noticed Mr. Rainwater’s car was there as well. We went in to meet with the Chief.

The postal inspector from Kansas City was with Mr. Rainwater. The chief of police was there. We went into a room and Chief Rowden introduced us to the inspector. He knew all of us because he was a great supporter of our football team.

He asked why we had put the possum in the mailbox. Harry and Darrel were speechless. I gave them a detailed description of our evening out. Dragging main, capturing the possum, deciding to scare the girls at the Dairy Hut, and then our decision to put the possum in the mailbox.

He seemed to kind of understand. I don’t think Mr. Rainwater, or the inspector did. The chief told us that there had been a rash of mailbox destructions over the last few months and that this one had just been replaced. He asked if we had been responsible for any of those. We all assured him that we had not been involved.

The inspector told us that they were concerned since they had had incidents like this happening where young men that were eligible for the draft were trying to get misdemeanor federal charges filed against them so that they could avoid being drafted.

They excused us from the room and said they needed to meet without us and discuss what would be done in this case.

We nervously waited outside the office. In about 10 minutes they invited us back in.

The postal inspector said that after Chief Rowden vouched for each of us and told him that we were all from good families, were good students, athletes, and had no criminal records that we would just get a warning. That since there was no damage to the mailbox they would consider this case closed.

We drove back to school. I don’t recall even talking to each other.

I do not recall ever dating Lereta Rainwater after that.

I have always thought I had a federal record for putting a
possum in a mailbox.