WHAT NEXT

Uncle Bill was a very respected man, he had initiated several very unique projects within the community, one of which had awarded him an Order of Australia. He held a very high position in his career within the IT industry and always spoke in a positive, professional and well articulated manner.

He was the father of six daughters, all of whom had developed from childhood in various styles, being extroverts - most of them - well educated and well respected. They had unique relationships with their father, demonstrating open communication and eventhough his rules for their living standards were very strict, in terms of when they were young women, going out and about socially, had to be home by 11.00pm no matter where they were going.

Eventhough he was strict in these areas, when some of the cousins, including me, visited, we were always aghast as to what he would be up to. He would call us over to talk to him, and as we approached, keeping in mind we were young children, he would open his mouth and insert his fingers, pulling out his false teeth and snarl at us displaying his gums and wraggle his tongue. This was something we were not accustom to at all - seeing an adult pull out their teeth and show us inside his mouth - giving us weird animal sounds and all in all shocking us - but making us laugh at the same time. We were never sure what Uncle Bill was going to do next. All his so called fun was completely alien to the other part of him - in terms of being, totally in control, demanding high standards.

He had his elderly mother live with him, and his wife Muriel, was always in obeyance with his rules and demands, and welcomed her mother in law to live in her home.

My parents had friends in America, whom they had never met, due to my mother being pen pals with several of them since the war days when she had met an American Serviceman, exchanging addresses and commenced corresponding with him after the war ended. This led to one of her letters to him being presented to the local Editor of a newspaper in Arkansas, which was printed and hence some readers of the paper wrote to her with extreme interest of communicating with someone in Australia. Several of those connections continued for many years, and finally my parents decided it was time to meet these people, hence the holiday to America.

When they went off, my sister and I were invited to stay at Uncle Bill's home, in the self contained unit he had built for his daughters to accommodate for the first 12 months of their marriages, giving them independence, privacy and no rental fees.

During this period, staying at Uncle Bill's, my sister and I had a great time, and got to know our cousins well, and enjoyed the company and the independence we gained. Uncle Bill was always protective, kind and at all times the one in charge.

We had a few interesting interactions with Uncle Bill during that time, he always gave advice, encouraged family gatherings and cracked jokes, some of which we were not sure whether to laugh or to look sideways.

On one occasion, all the family were there to celebrate one of the girl's birthdays. By this time, 3 out of the 6 daughters had married and had a couple of children each. This particular gathering was one to be remembered, and is still in everyone's minds. Everyone was gathered in the large kitchen, enjoying the luscious savouries and snacks Muriel had provided. Uncle Bill, moved to the centre of the group, clapped his hands and called out "Attention, everyone." As usual we all obeyed and stopped chatting and paid close attention to Uncle Bill.

"I want young Steven to come over here to me", he said, indicating to young 7 year old Steven - his grand son. Steven moved forward hesitatingly - he was quite a shy little fellow, but trusted Uncle Bill and felt safe being amongst the strong family ties.

"Hop up on the table Steven," ordered Uncle Bill. "Put your hands on your hips," Steven followed orders and put both hands on both hips.."Put your hands behind your back," once again Steven did as instructed ,"Put your hands on your head," Steven's hands immediately went up to his head....Uncle Bill reached over and whisked Steven's pants down to his ankles - laughing his head off!1

Steven jumped, and quickly tried to pull up his shorts, which were caught down around his ankles. He was clearly very embarrassed, standing there in front of all his family, his private area clearly displayed for all to see. He tried to jump off the table, but Uncle Bill, laughing loudly held him still and made him turn around to show everyone in the room what was being exposed.

Needless to say, most of the crew were shocked at what Uncle Bill had done and his mother rushed over to extricate Steven from Uncle Bill - not saying anything to him - as he was the boss!!

He finally released Steven, and turned to face all the family, and moved quickly from side to side - swaying his hips, undoing his trousers and pushed them down to his ankles, displaying the same part of his anatomy as he had Steven's.

Right that was enough - my father - rapidly moved to me and my sister, grabbing our hands and guided us with gentle force out of the house, into the car and called my mother to follow.

That was the last time we saw Uncle Bill, my father put his foot down, and we were very pleased with the rules set that Uncle Bill's sense of humour was not appropriate and we did not need that behaviour in our lives.

Uncle Bill lived to ripe old age of 93, we attended his funeral out of respect for his daughters, however, the occasion has never been forgotten due to the picture Uncle Bill had drawn and had requested to have placed at the front of the Funeral Service area - a caricature of himself bending over with a carrot positioned in his anus - written below the sketch were the words - "Up yours, I'll be seeing you soon!"