THAT VACANT LOT ON THE CORNER

That vacant lot
There on the corner, in Clovis
At 1100 Thornton, right north
Of Art's and Bob's house---
Was actually three lots,
Making one great big lot,
Ideally designed for little boys!

We about wore that lot clear out
In the forties!

There were no curbs and
There was no paving,
The dirt street just
Made our lot
That much bigger!

We never knew the owner.
We never even thought
About the owner.
It was just an empty lot---
A "finders-keepers-losers-weepers"
Deal---all the way!

We never paid rent.
And we didn't charge the owner
Anything, for keeping the weeds
Tromped down, and the lot
Free, of those vicious, e-VIL
Translers.

We played all kinds of stuff there!
We played marbles there.
We walked on stilts there.
We had rubber gun fights there.
We hit fly balls there.
And grounders...

We played catch there...
We kicked footballs,
We had races.
We fished for "translers"
With bubble gum there.

It was also our C.T.O.
(Clovis Theater of Operations)
As in E.T.O.
That means we fought WWII there.

We played "army."
We kept that lot clear of the enemy.
There's a picture of us, left to right,
James, Art, Mil, Bill and Bobby Joe!
Mean-looking, I know!

Bobby Joe, Art, and James had rifles.
I had my trusty .45 caliber pistol,
Indestructible--- solid black plastic!
My little brother---a reluctant draftee!
Art and James had WWII pot helmets
Like Van Johnson used to scramble eggs
In "Battleground."

We had B-17's flying around all the time
And on call if we needed them.

We dug two foxholes, then tunneled
Between them---a tight tunnel;
Could have collapsed, with one of us
In it... and casualties.

If we needed to "escape and evade"
The enemy...or the parents,
At the corner stop, for five cents
We could capture or commandeer
A "red-and-white" bus, that would
Take us down Thornton, Grand,
To Main Street and the Lyceum Theater!

Bob Hope didn't come to entertain
"The Troops" in the C.T.O.---
The beautiful movie star, Priscilla Lane
Lived a half a block away, and
We saw her often, driving by,
And imagined she was singing
To us.

One winter, it had to have been
The 1944-45 winter, it came a
Big snow, about the time
Of "The Battle of the Bulge."
We fought that battle and cleared
Our lot of the enemy!
And...

Are you ready for this?
Jake saddled his pony
In the barn, right south, across the street
And pulled us all around that lot
On our old knocked-together
Wood sled!

Kids we'd never seen before
Showed up from all around
for rides!

I think Jake, had more fun
Riding his horse and pulling us
Than even we did...
If that's possible.

Over the many, many years since---
I have passed that lot many times,
Always with fondest memories...
And one day I even parked on
The south side, and sat for a few minutes
Remembering, and seeing faces go by
Like in the movies at the end...you know...

It may be "gone" now with a house
On it,
But I don't think so.
I'm going to ask Country Boy Bob
To check it out for me!

Anyway, who'd want to waste it
By putting a house on it??

********30*******
BY MIL
5/03/13
Sent from my iPad