Gary, that was a well told story it had me hooked to the end, I got the feeling
there was more to the story
than is directly told, I found a lack of conflict, and the part where the father
seemed to be preparing his sons for a time when he would not be around ( the old
saying about idle hands and the devils tools).the time sounded late 40s early
50s
I enjoyed this!
davidc
Gary Blankenship wrote:
> (When all else fails go back to your roots.)
>
> Remember when we were kids,
> sand shovels clutched in our dirty fists
> as we dug under the old maple stump
> that stood rotten near the front porch.
> Pa was gonna give us each a round dollar
> if we got it loose enough for him to move.
> He never told us it had a taproot that went
> clear to China, maybe even the North Pole.
>
> Summer, as old Sol beat down
> on our tow-heads, we dug so slow
> our grandchildren might've finished the job.
> Winter, we picked at the ground
> with ice axes when it was froze stiff
> and there was more snow to move than dirt.
> Fall, we dug when given the time,
> but much of the season was spent
> at harvest, hog-killing and canning.
>
> Spring, we made headway. Once the earth
> partly thawed, we hauled hunks of dirt
> out of that hole until we nearly wore
> the wheels off the old Tonka dumper
> Buddy gave us when he got old enough
> for real trucks, not toy. Absent from the dig
> only long enough to help plant beans
> and hoe, as the years passed by we made
> real headway, some help given by uncles
> and cousins to cut away the more troublesome roots.
>
> Eventually, we finished enough so a good pull
> with a spavin tractor could hank out the roots.
> I was 10 and a three, four months, you almost 9.
> Pa had left the previous summer, no letter left
> or received from him since.
>
> The cartwheels left with him. Ma paid
> us in pennies and nickels whenever she
> could save a few coins from egg sales,
> laundry, and bottle returns.
>
> Where ever Pa is, I hope it's on the end of short shovel.
>
> Dec Byron Sacre at: http://gardawg.homestead.com/gardawg.html... Writer's
> Hood at http://www.writershood.com/... Poets for Peace.... ˇPoemas sí, balas
> no!
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