Butte youth's tongue freezes to iron fence

Did anyone “triple-dog dare” him to stick his tongue on an icy wrought- iron fence?

No one knows for sure — and no one’s talking — but an unnamed little Butte boy who dared to touch his tongue on a fence Thursday may never speak of it again.

The predicament evoked shades of the tongue-stuck-on-a-pole scene from “A Christmas Story,” the much-beloved, kick-in-the-pants retro holiday movie from 1983 that reminds us of real-life kid shenanigans that remain slapstick funny.

A Kennedy Elementary School boy found himself in the same jam Thursday; an adult neighbor rescued him from the tight spot.

The boy and two girl school chums had been walking to school, heading east down the hill when Wally Butt, who lives at 1223 W. Granite St., was roused from bed by surprise knocks on the door sometime between 7:30 and 8 a.m.

Expecting instead to catch a few extra winks while his wife was away at work, Butt described how events unfolded:

“I hear our dogs give a couple of barks,” he recalled. “I hear a knock on the door. After donning some pants, I venture to our front door and see a couple of young kids walking away from the door.”

At first he thought the kids were unexpected drop-offs for his wife’s at-home day care business. But the girls said no.

“These two little girls said they needed a glass of warm water ’cause their friend got his tongue stuck to our neighbor’s wrought iron fence,” Butt wrote in a firsthand account to The Montana Standard. “I swear, I’m not making this up. I grab a jacket and step into my slippers, grab a glass of warm water and yes, my cellphone so I can snap a pic.

“Out I hurry, still not believing this is actually happening. This little guy is all teary-eyed and looks up at me trying to ask for help.”

Flash back to the film’s scene when Schwartz, one of the playground rabble-rousers “triple-dog dares” another minor character to stick his tongue on a flagpole. There’s no backing down from a “triple-dog dare,” as main character Ralphie observes, so the boy takes the challenge. His tongue freezes to the pole.

“Stuck! Stuck! Don’t leave me. Come baaaaaaack,” the character hollers as the bell rings and his classmates abandon him.

Flash forward to Butte time: It’s 7 degrees above zero, two days before Christmas break.

“I told him not to pull away until I poured the water on his tongue and then to gently pull it off,” said Butt. “After introducing myself, he looks up at me with that ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ gaze and he had tears rolling down his face. He was looking at me as if he was in shock.”

The tongue came undone quickly.

Upon close inspection, Butt determined that the appendage sported only a few raw, red spots that did not warrant calling the boy’s mother. It happened so fast that Butt didn’t catch the kids’ names.

It was so cold that the boy’s glove stuck to the fence, too, and Butt pulled it off.

The trio, who averaged age 7 or 8, then nonchalantly continued to school.

“I was trying not to laugh,” added Butt, a driver for Triple S Building Center when he’s not rescuing adventurous children. “I was feeling sorry for the little guy.”

The youngster probably won’t mention it to anyone.

“He was embarrassed, but I’m sure he was more scared than anything. I’m sure his heart was pacing pretty good.”

Distributed by MCT Information Services