Problems in Perfection

A delay in the completion of the new daycare facility would have been enough to cause an uneasy stir in Perfection, Missouri -- best known as "The Perfect Town." But as news spread about Plumber Lenny's accident (which had caused the delay), new problems emerged in the form of a howling dog and a refrigerator on the front porch of Bob Odle's house. The mayor immediately called an emergency city council meeting.

The council quickly decided there was nothing they could do about Lenny and the building delay. After his long fall from a short ladder, his wife had hauled him to Kansas to see her family doctor, and he was not expected to return for several days. However, the dog could be housed at the local shelter until Lenny's return, in which case the council assumed the howling would stop.

The refrigerator-on-the-porch required a lengthier debate. It had been there past the three-day grace period, a violation of the beautification section of the city code. One councilman suggested they call the police, which initiated a new difficulty. The Perfection Police Department was Chief-Patrolman Harris. Since both Harris and Odle had served in the US Navy, the council voted it would be unethical to ask one former sailor to arrest another.

The council settled on a formal request, courteously asking Odle to remove the appliance from his porch. The letter was dutifully composed, signed, stamped and mailed by the council secretary.

Before the message could travel from Perfection to the distribution center, forty miles north, back to Perfection, then on foot to Bob Odle's house, Plumber Lenny had unexpectedly returned and finished the daycare's kitchen. The final installation was a shiny new refrigerator with a brass plaque that read: "Donated by CCK USN Robert K. Odle."