Willno

Way back in my early high school days, before we were old enough to work, my friend Sonny Mundale and I would go to the State Fair when it was on in late July. We had very little money, but youthful agility, and fences did not keep us out.

We would look at all the free exhibits, and watch the free midway attractions. For a couple of years the free midway attraction was "Willno, the human cannon ball." He had a large cannon mounted on a trailer. When he preformed once every hour, He would come out in his "Cannon Ball" suit of a canvas coverall painted with aluminum pain, and a football helment, also painted aluminum. With all the appropriate fanfare, he would climb up on the cannon truck, and go through all the preliminaries that seemed necessary for a human cannon ball before climbing up to enter the cannon feet first. They would then raise the cannon to the exact angle for him to land in the far end of the net set up a reasonably good distance away. When all was ready, the cannoneers would shout "Are you ready Willno?" From inside the cannon would come a muffled shout "Yes" and BOOM would go the cannon, and Willno would come flying out, his arms out in front of him. He would tuck his head down and turn over length wise to land in the net on his back. After a few bounces in the net, he would get on his feet and walk as one has to walk in a safety net to the edge of the net and swing down to drop to the ground. All this was while the audience cheered.

We watched this every firing. It was free.

One day as we were watching, when Willno slid down into the cannon an the cannon was raised to firing position, and the cannoneers shouted "Are you ready Willno?" From in side the cannon came a muffled "NO." BOOM went the cannon. And Willno came flying out arms akimbo trying to get into landing position and landing on the net not in his usual position. After the momentum bounces, he got to his feet and limped to the edge of the net and swung down favoring his left leg, trying to make the best of it for his bows.

NO BODY LISTENS!