My hometown got its start as settlers seeking a new life moved north and west. It got its name in 1879 because the Wichita River ran through the new community and a large waterfall existed at that location. Ten years later in 1889 a flood washed out the waterfall. Wichita Falls was never a laid back community. Things were always happening. Something you might notice is the wide streets. Several US Highways, a busy State highway, and Interstate 44 all converge at Wichita Falls. You might notice eight railroad tracks by the depot, trains running from Denver through the city to Dallas and Ft Worth. Wichita Falls is on the way to somewhere. Later the city rebuilt the waterfalls. It can be seen as you drive in on Interstate 44. The Waterfalls
As we come in from the South we see a football stadium over to the left. Its parking lot is filled with bicycles and riders, some four thousand of them. They are about to start the race. It is the largest race of its kind in the world. In additional to the various distance races, it is a ride for those wanting to participate and enjoy the festivities. A short ten mile ride and a twenty-five mile ride. I no longer have the picture but it showed a bunch of racers, bent over their handlebars, serious about their business. One lone rider in the middle of that mass is not bent over, his is not a racing bike but a mountain bike. He sits straight up on the seat, back straight, helmet square on his head, an oddity among all those racers. That was me. Taken by a family member who had et among themselves I could not finish the ride. I did. It is a popular annual happening, held in August when the temperture hovers around just short of one hundred degres. I rode it, three different years. The ride out to Sheppard Air Force Base and beyond.
Such a great introduction. Are you just going to leave us hanging about the storm cellar? No rush. Just curious if you planned more.
I don't know what experiment you are talking about. I don't see any failures here. I'm going to quote your last post so you can't delete it. That is really good writing.
Right. let me clear the deck with little article, previously written and we’ll think of something else. A Replay I stand on the bank of the river watching the water roll past me. The river is up, swollen in size due to the spring rains. It rushes along faster than its normal pace when it is at its normal level. On the far bank I see a father and son fishing and several people are walking along its bank. A stone makes a number of splashes as a young boy skips them across the water. I know where the river goes. Down stream is a picturesque waterfall. The water falls over a hundred feet splashing onto rocks below. Destruction awaits anything going over the falls and certain death to any living creature. I look upstream and see coming toward me, a small, flat bottomed boat. One individual sits in the middle of the boat. He is oarless. He yells for people on the far bank to help him. No one pays attention. As the boat nears, I look at the man and I am startled to see that it is me. I'm going on down the river and I am terrified for I can hear the waterfalls. It makes a constant roar. Yet, above all the noise I hear my name. The rocks are calling me and I know they have already claimed me and I am seeing a replay.
Watching the Kennedy Center Honors tonight honoring, Joan Baez, Dick Van Dyke, Midori, and Garth Brooks, These Kennedy center Honors are usually good entertainment. Tonight was no exception. These men and women have entertained us for decades. And James Taylor who has been around somewhere forever, performed one of Garth.’s songs. Glad I watched it.
An Incident That happened in Wichita Falls, My Home Town A man called his friend and asked if he could operate his service station over the weekend while he and his wife attended his wife’s family reunion. It was an imposition but they had known each other a long time and had helped each other over the years. Clearance agreed and his friend came over bringing the station’s keys and a cash box. They talked and laughed over some current event and asked about each others family? Clearence wished his friend a good weekend. Saturday morning Clearance was inside the service station, reading a novel when the chevy pulled off the highway and stopped by the second gasoline pump. The driver hopped out of the car and walked inside the station. Filler me up and you got a restroom? Yes, sir, out that door and right around the corner. He walked out to the vehicle, filled the tank, and wiped the windshield and went back to await the man’s return from the restroom. Shortly he did, asking, “What’s the damage?” Two dollars and eighty-eight cents. the man reached for his wallet, but instead, pulled out a gun, saying, give me your cash. Inside the right top drawer was the cash box. Clearance handed the man all the bills in the box. The man walked around the desk to see if he had been given all the cash. He sat the cash box on the desk. It was then he hit Clearance in the head with the gun. Clearance fell on the floor and was momentarily stunned but got to his feet, opened the desk center drawer, pulled out his pistol, walked quickly to the station door as the man drove off. He stopped at the highway before going back the way he had come Clearance shot at the man as he stopped at the highway, fired five more shots as the man made a u-turn and sped away then slumped and hit a tree. Clearance called the police. A few minutes later they returned and arrested Clearance and haul him off to jail. Ten days later Clearance was convicted of murder, not for killing the man who had robbed him but for shooting and hitting him five times? Deliberate overkill. Clearance got three to five years in Huntsville State Prison. Three years later when he was released he had numerous scars on his back from being beaten with a blacksnake. A blacksnake was a heavy leather whip with metal attached to the end of the leather. His wife he felt being unfaithful during his imprisonment, he left his home, drove to Houston and disappeared. Same two years later I heard he was working as superintendent of a large construction company. I liked the man. He had always treated me fairly. I hated to see him and Ruby split the blankets but I understood. He drove a classy car and at that time was my favorite uncle. I hoped his future was better than his past and fate favored him. I never saw or heard from him again.
i said I was going to tell about my hometown. I have spread little stories and a couple of incidence remembered around the forum. Some were seen through the eyes of a child, some when I was older. l grew up in that town. The experiences were mine. lf they had been yours you would have told them differently and better. Most were written off the cuff, while I was taking my morning medicine or at my desk while dinner was being being made. What one remembers about a place is all there is. Most towns and cities are about the same. We live there, work there, go to church there or play golf, ride horses, whatever we like to do. It is memories that tie us to the place or maybe its a birth certificate that says you were-born wherever. They are fun for me. And it keeps my mind doing something. There has been so much dementia and Alzheimer in my family it scares the socks off me. So while most could do better, please accept these short shorts I have spread around in the spirit they were written. Thanks.
Yesterday my grand-daughter and her mother got a tattoo, one they themselves had designed recently prior to their trip this summer to Italy and Spain. Ranaldi, her brother is going with them and stay two or three weeks before returning. He and his dad will drive back to Wisconsin. While I never felt the need to distinguishp myself with the likes of a tattoo, I do think their design is rather clever.
I'm as you, Bill. I have no desire to "get inked," but I do like that design. I'd not have someone put it on me, but I still like it.
At Four thirty this afternoon, with a full stomach and the book due back at my library in a couple of days. I finished it and checked it back in. Every once i. a while Nora Roberts writes a good story. This was one of them.