LEVI, CHS '51
There is a friend
who
came along...on
this Earth
'Bout the same time
as me
or a year earlier
We went to grade school
on opposite
sides of town and thus
didn't "meet"
until later on at church in the
church choir
Where I learned to "sing bass"
standing beside
him
and even an A-Flat was as low as
I could go, then...
barely
Now, as I look back, on those
Happy Times
It's a miracle....and God's Hand that
we're still here
For...
My new daring friend, a year older, was
already driving
a CAR
and make no mistake, that Boy had
a gift---he could
DRIVE
His dad owned an old '36 Plymouth, when
floor-boarded went
seventy-two MPH, sometimes
west on the "Stockyard Road," with all
its intersections
Jumping "Santa Fe Ditch" there west
of town
again...at max speed...and could that Boy
land a car
SMOOTH
Okay, maybe a little initial jolt
We did stuff like...snuck off to Texico
and shot Pool
at that Pool Hall on the south side of
the highway
So utterly and deliciously e-vill it all seemed
at the time
We once't slipped off eighteen miles
down to Portales
and saw a Marilyn Monroe "show"....we didn't
say "movie"
until later in college, when we were "suaver"
Nary a drop of booze ever touched
our lips
all thru high school...for we were taught
"not to drink"
But one night, bored and all...things
were slow
in Clovis on Main Street, and we headed
out west
forty miles to Taiban, where Clovis people went
to buy
their booze
There wasn't much to see...a seedy little
wooden BAR building
and six or seven cars...place all lit up
we didn't stop
Our drinks at the time...were "cherry cokes..."
We liked coffee too and there on Main Street
just south of the Green Stamp Store sat
a little hut---
A greasy spoon cafe, as if from the Thirties
We liked it...and often went there,,. no tables
just a counter and stools...a Juke Box
that was wont
to play "My Happiness" when we were there
and had nickels
It also had a Pin Ball Machine that my friend loved
and I never
could get him away from it so we could drink
our coffee
civilized-like
And I reckon he tilted that pin ball machine
more
than all the other players ever---totaled up
Gasoline was about twenty-five cents a gallon
in those years
luckily-so for us
and at say twelve mikes per gallon, we could do
a lot of "Dragging Main" iffen we each
kicked in
50 cents
Not to worry about our wearing out those
marvelous
Red Bricks of Main Street...we tried hard...
with all the other kids...but those bricks
laid down
in 1918
are still there, worn by now a bit, but more beloved
than ever
(You see, when a Clovis kid writes about old friends,
Main Street becomes a part of his thoughts.)
The (to-be-acclaimed) CHS '51 class was launched into
the world
for better or worse...we all went our separate ways...
My friend became a noted Geologist and worked in
several countries
Our paths crossed a number if times...it was always
a happy meeting
and we indulged in a favorite thing
(for we were both avid students in Dora Russell's
SPANISH THREE)
We talked Spanish then, as we did in high school...
We finally retired and corresponded rarely in those days
before computers
Then in December 2010 I got Henry I, an iPad
and nearly wore
it out
in amazement
My friend and I began to write each other again...
One day March 2011, BE said to me: "You ought to be
writing...
you're talented." My first raw piece went on MIL'S PLACE
March 31, 2011. Since then there have been
some 560 stories, poems, and some are fine pieces from
friends of old Clovis Times
My dear friend is Levi. After I had written six or eight
pieces, I needed some encouragement, and
I sent one to Levi....
He wrote back something like this: "You write uncommonly
well, and I think
our English teachers at old CHS would be amazed and proud."
At a time when it was most-needed, my old friend came
through, sincere-like.
So this piece is to tell you that my friend has always been
there---loyal, true,
steady--- bright,
and ever---fun!
Here's a closing surprise, he is one of the best
and sharpest writers of that whole class. Two of his
pieces are on MIL'S.
Vaya con Dios, mi amigo estimado.
*******************
A TRIBUTE
BY MIL
5 July 2016
No comments:
Post a Comment