Opie and the bully

December 29 2023

Last of the light at Kepple Lake, Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge

Big lies and a national character test

It’s a very simple story. October 1961, the first episode in the second season of The Andy Griffith Show. Opie gets a daily nickel for milk money at school. Andy, then Barney, notice that he’s asking for two nickels (discretely, from separate people) instead of one, and Barney (Don Knotts) tracks the young lad to find out what’s up. He is spying through a grapefruit-size hole in a neighbor’s newspaper when he sees what’s going on—a bully demanding the tribute of a nickel each morning, threatening Opie with a knuckle sandwich if he doesn’t hand over the coin. Hence the extra nickel to pay the bully, to get to school without getting beat up.

We have been losing our daily nickels for a while now.

(To continue reading please subscribe to The Daily Rhubarb)