A lady wrote a local history 1/2 a decade ago. My father was in the book

[applegrove]

because he grew up in the village. He told her a story that I had heard many times before about playing in houses under construction as a kid and hiding on a roof, behind a chimney when a policeman came along. Noticing the newly constructed chimney moving down the roof (the cement wasnt hard) my dad called out "watch out". The whole chimney hit a trough filled with wet cement on the ground which then completely sprayed the policeman with cement. The lady related the story but left out the part about my dad warning the policeman about the danger. Makes my dad look like a very nasty kid.

My question.... should I write her and tell her she got it very wrong? Or should I just leave it be?

[Bunny]

1. I'd write her and ask about it.

Maybe it was an honest misunderstanding and she'll be happy to set the record straight. What do you have to lose?

[struggle4progress]

2. I hate it when that happens. There you are, innocently minding your own business on the roof,

when the chimney inexplicably starts sliding down the roof, and it ends up splattering someone with wet cement, and nobody remembers your efforts to warn folk -- worse, the stories afterwards all portray it as your fault

If I were you, I would write just to let her know that important details were missing the story she heard, namely, When my father noticed the newly constructed chimney sliding down the roof, he unsuccessfully tried to warn the policeman

:)

[applegrove]

3. Oh it was a success. That policeman could have been hurt by bricks and that didn't happen thank god

[struggle4progress]

4. Then you have a moral obligation to set the record straight:

When my father noticed the newly-constructed chimney sliding down the roof, he immediately warned a passing policeman, who was therefore unharmed by the falling bricks

[applegrove]

5. I apologize for my grammar. You are kind to wake me up to the fact I have

been ignoring the need for commas. I meant no offence.

[struggle4progress]

6. Nor do I mean to offend by my quirky habit of omitting periods at the end of paragraphs

[applegrove]

8. LOL!

[Crystal Clarity]

7. What a funny story!

Luckily the policeman didn't get hurt, otherwise I probably wouldn't be saying that! :scared:

Yes, I would contact the author of the book. As someone upthread pointed out, it might just be a misunderstanding. How far into the publishing process is this? Is there still time for it to be edited?

... Oh wait, I just noticed that you said the author wrote it 1/2 a decade ago. If it's already been printed and distributed my guess is that you are probably out of luck. But if there are reprintings, maybe the author and publisher would agree to edit? If the omission of the warning bothers you enough, it may be worth a try.

Pretty cool that your dad got a mention in it though. And even if the warning cannot be added, I don't really think it makes your father sound that bad. Most everyone can relate to doing some unintentionally foolish things as kids. I know I can! ;-)