CULTURAL
ARTIFACT – Prank
Ashley
Halverson
Informant:
Scott Halverson
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27
March 2014
Title:
“The Troll in the Sock Drawer”
Genre:
Prank (with supporting photo)
Informant:
Colonel Scott J. Halverson was born and
raised in Rupert, Idaho. He is 45 years old. Halverson attended Utah State
University and graduated from the school’s ROTC program. He holds a Masters of
Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Technology. As
an Apache Helicopter Pilot in the United States Army, Halverson had the opportunity
to live in many exciting places, such as Rhode Island, Arizona, and Germany, to
name a few. He and his wife and three children are stationed in Fort Rucker,
Alabama, though he is currently deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan as the Inspector
General for the NATO Forces. This year-long deployment will end in June 2014.
Halverson is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He
enjoys fishing, boating, flying, and hunting. I am his oldest daughter.
Context:
This Halverson family prank began in
2001 and has continued ever since. It is because of my father’s position in the
United States Army that such a prank was created, as it allowed us to find souvenirs
that were as odd as a hand-carved wooden troll. As children, things like
trolls, monsters, ghouls, and ghosts are terrifying to behold; our family was
no exception to this rule, and so the troll was brought into our lives at the
perfect time for it to be completely horrifying. Contrary to what my father
says in his account, we Halverson children are indeed still fearful of the
troll, even though I am now nineteen, my brother, Joshua, is seventeen, and my
sister, Taylor, is fourteen.
Text:
Scott Halverson 4:41am: So in 2001 I had the privilege of
attending the NATO winter survival course in Norway. The course took place just above Lillehammer
where the 1994 Winter Olympics were held.
It was a great course and I had a great time learning to survive in the
snow. Apparently I was pretty good at it
and for my skill in the snow I was selected by the Norwegian instructors as the
distinguished graduate of the course. My
prize was a hand carved figurine in the form of a Norwegian Troll. The Troll stood about 8 inches high and had a
red felt cap on its head of scraggly grey hair.
Like Trolls you would picture it had a huge nose and eyes that really
seemed to stare at you no [matter] where you are [in] a room. It was pretty much one of the ugliest things
I’ve seen but I really liked it as a souvenir from my time in Norway. When I got back to Germany, where we were
stationed at the time, I proudly showed off the Troll to my family. At the time my kids were six, four, and not
quite one. They immediately identified
my prize as one of the creepiest things they had seen which then gave rise to
the terror of the Troll.
Scott Halverson 4:43am: If I remember correctly, my son was the
one most freaked by it so I would sneak into his room and place it somewhere
he’d see it when he went to bed or woke up.
Sometimes it would be in a drawer I knew he had to open or on a shelf he
was going to need to get to – or on the desk at the foot of his bed staring at
him while he slept. I’d be back in the
living room watching TV and hear Joshua yell from his room “DAD!!!!!” Truth be
told - I probably would have been freaked out by it when I was his age
too. It only took a few times before he
started threatening to destroy it. I, of
course, still cherished it as a prize and really didn’t want him too. Troll found his way into the girls’ rooms
over the years. None of the kids seemed
to appreciate it as much as I did. It’s
been through several family conflicts where the kids would hide it from me
until I threaten to ground them and then it would miraculously show back
up. Finally, due to the threat to the
Troll’s existence in our household, I found a semi-permanent home for him in
the drawer of my tall dresser.
Scott Halverson 4:44am: I’m pretty sure now it doesn’t bug them
as much as it did 13 years ago. I think
they still give me a reaction because they know I like to have fun with
them. Still – every once in a while –
the Troll will sneak out of the drawer for a night raid into one of the kids’
rooms and they’ll provide me with a cursory “DAD!!!!” and then go hide if [it]
from me. It’s the little things in life
that make parents smile.
Texture:
Minor edits have been added to the text
in brackets. The manner in which my father writes is very similar to how he
talks, though he was aware that the story would be recorded and may have
embellished his words a bit. The troll itself is proof that we have done a
great deal of traveling and enjoy collecting tokens from the places we have
been. The fact that my father knew we feared the troll, yet still hid it around
our home, provides evidence of his humorous relationship with us and the way
that we interacted on a daily basis.
Meaning:
The troll is only one of the many pranks
my family has pulled on one another, which gives great insight into Halverson
family life. My family loves to laugh, and we will go to great lengths to bring
laughter about. With my dad in Afghanistan, our home feels a little emptier
without the echoes of his warm laughter. It is important to my mother and
siblings that remember things like the troll in order to help us make it from
one day to the next, always moving toward the return of his laughter.
Ashley Halverson
Utah State University
Professor Bonnie Moore
English 2010-0035
12:00-1:20
Spring 2014
Spring 2014
10:00pm Scott Halverson: I wasn't sure I
believed him so I asked -"Really Grandpa?" and he said
"Really" and he took my finger and put it in the spot directly at the
top of his nose, centered between his eyes and moved my finger left and right
and I could feel the BB THAT WAS STILL THERE rolling around under my finger. He
taught me one of my most important lessons regarding guns. They are all
dangerous, no matter how small or how big. Until I was old enough to know
better I would often ask my Grandpa if I could feel the BB because it was kind
of cool to know it was there.
