My Pioneer partner had to have had the quickest, fastest draw in the West for come-back insults to rude self righteous people at the door.
Talking to an elderly Mormon couple trying to convince him that "they" had the truth. They admonished him to read the Book of Mormon and all would be explained to him.
He implied that the writer of the book, Joe Smith, was heavily involved with spiritism and could not be trusted.
You have to visualize this. This very old Mormon man, starting to have what I thought was a heart attack, gasping for breath, yelling at him, pointing, waving with his finger and saying, "You, you....YOU could be STRUCK for saying that!"
Calmly, he stepped back off their porch and looked up, then glanced all over the sky, then said. "I've said that on many a cloudy day and it hasn't happened yet."
My other Pioneer partner was working with me on return visits. Remember, we were are all young and single.
I took him to one of my calls, Mrs Smith in an old part of town. For some reason, I overlooked telling him Mrs Smith was not 79 years old which he assumed she was.
The truth was, she actually was a Greek Goddess and always wore revealing sundresses.
As we walked to the door, I reviewed in my call book our last visit . "Got it" he said, "let's go save another soul".
When she opened the door, in another sun dress, his jaw dropped, literally. He was staring at her, so much so that she was smiling nervously.
I went through the motions, introduced him, (he never responded, just kept staring) finished the call, and went back to the car.
He sat in the car not saying a word at first, just staring at his book bag between his legs, then saying firmly. "Don't EVER take me to see Mrs Smith AGAIN!!"
He told me later, that he sinned at the door, while walking back to the car, in the car, and probably would sin "at least two or three more times that night"
Weeks later he asked how Mrs Smith was coming along? I said "I thought it wise to turn her over to the sisters" He mumbled something not audible.
