ROCKETED AND DOUBLE-CROSSED

************************************
MY FIRST BALL-POINT PEN!
************************************

I was once rocketed and double-crossed....but not like you think!

For you see, I was going along on my merry way in life, and in school just a year or two done with printing everything and into writing, script-style! I used expensive (five-cents- each) Dixon Ticonderoga yellow number two lead pencils---the ones with the cool green tops and erasers. Also, I was getting to be a penmanship nut and had a blue Eversharp fountain pen from Clovis Printing Company, which used real ink. My color of ink choice was...green. (I still have that pen somewhere.)

The Big One, WWII was just over by a few months and the year was early 1946. I   listened to KICA, Clovis, my favorite radio station---every day before going to  school.  About 7:45 each morning they read a winning joke, selected from those sent in by  listeners; and awarded the person whose joke was chosen, some product from one of their sponsors. One day, several weeks earlier, I, thinking it was a long shot, nonetheless had sent in a joke on a penny post card---to KICA!       

Guess what? One morning, while eating my cream of wheat, and just listening to the radio,  they were reading my joke! My grandad had told it to me a year earlier, and I didn't even catch the joke, until explained to me. Here it was being read over the air--- "Why didn't Hitler have anything to carry his clothes in?" Answer: "Because he lost his grip in Russia!" 

They were saying "Mil has won our joke-of-the-day and he will be given one of the new BALL POINT PENS--- A REYNOLD'S ROCKET--- from Western Auto!" There I was, excited like little kids get, dribbling my cream-of-wheat all over my chin! (The "Reynold's Rocket" ball point had been announced on May 1, 1945, advertised to write under water, in space, and in dry deserts. I suppose it was a bit "over-qualified" for little me, who didn't get around in the world, very much.)

I had never heard of a Reynold's Rocket, or maybe even a "ball-point" pen, but as soon as school was out that day, I rode down there to Western Auto on my bicycle, a couple of doors north of Hotel Clovis, to collect my free new pen,"state of the art!"

If that store were still there, I could take you with me today, half-way down the aisle, and show you the little glass square dividers on the table, where the pens lay, in long plastic tubes, like cigars (I guess.) I selected a steel blue pen; it was very long and it had a pocket clip on it. I remember the ink as being blue and it balled up quite a bit when I used it. Ah, but we had to start somewhere!

Now is where my unfailing memory deserts me! What did I use in high school and college? I have no idea. No doubt my ink pen, and likely some cheap ball points or complimentary ones, which seemed to be favored in those days for advertising. And of course my trusty Ticonderogas!

What I can remember is that in 1962 I was in an important meeting in Roswell. An erudite gentleman was up front and had a chart and was making a presentation. He had a neat gold pen in his hand;  clearly it was a quality piece and he used it as a pointer and occasionally stopped and jotted down something with it. When the meeting was over, I went up and visited with him a moment and asked him, "What kind of a pen is that?" He said: "Oh, it is a ball point from a Cross gold pen/pencil set my wife gave me." Recognizing quality, I was sold!

I told my wife about it, and lo and behold, for Christmas, I was DOUBLE-CROSSED with aCross pen/pencil set. Mine was the 10 karat rather than the 14 karat set, but it has lasted well all these years. It was MADE IN THE USA!

Cross is one of the great American companies. Their guarantee is unsurpassed. They will fix or replace any pen, no questions asked, for either a nominal fee or none. I once  found a gold Cross pen in a parking lot---smashed by a car. I sent it in and received a brand new pen.

Yes, I was once rocketed, and once double-crossed, but it's okay!

*******30*******
BYMIL
1/20/13





Sent from my iPad