MY BIG LEAGUE EASTER EGG HUNT

"I returned and saw under the sun, that the race 
is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong,
neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to
men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of
skill, but time and chance happeneth to them
all.". .....Ecclesiastes 9:11
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Growing up in Clovis, N.M. in the forties was 
great in so many,many ways! You might say it
was a paradise for little boys---at least a paradise
of the shoestring variety.

We used our fertile little minds to conjure every
activity we could think off. We played every kind
of ball there was...we flew kites, built stilts for
tall-walking, spun tops, played marbles---the
whole nine yards, as they say.

Then on weekends there were the ten cent movies
at the Lyceum...and the weekend Denver Post
with the funny-paper section...and Prince Valiant
and the giant octopus.

But we were open to the BIG SPECIAL EVENTS!
Not only open...but eager and ready!

Thus it happened that when I was about eight or
nine, some little church in west Clovis, facing north
on ninth street, between Davis and Hull (or whatever),
announced a big Easter egg hunt for Saturday, 9:00
a.m., the day before Easter.

Word got around fast! Come, bring your sacks or
baskets! I don't remember the name of the church.
I didn't know any of the kids who attended there.

Few of the streets in town that far west were paved
at the time, and certainly no east/west streets. The 
church faced right onto ninth and there was a big
empty full block vacant lot stretching in front of it,
to the next corner.

Vacant lots in Clovis in those days were not jungles,
but "bear grass," dead grass, dead thistles, early
weeds, rocks, etc. These served to give quite a bit of 
cover...and there were random small cacti.

So on the appointed morning, as the saying goes:
"all kinds of kids arrived," ready to go. Why is it that
the big adult-looking kids, 14-15 years old
and with the pillow cases---always show at these
things (like on Halloween)? We had them.

The hundred or so kids were stretched out down
ninth for a full block---ready! There must have been
hundreds of eggs on that vacant lot, and many of 
them were peeking out from under little bushes,
whetting our appetites for action...and our greed.

It was enough to stir the excitement and raise the
blood pressure of every kid present! Eager to go?
An understatement.

Everyone was ready...and the shout came: "GO!"

At the signal, I took off! About eight or ten steps in
and I spotted two eggs, close together! I knelt and
grabbed them; multitudes went swooshing by me!

Then my right shoe felt funny...it was about to come 
off. The shoelace was untied! I tied that sucker as
fast as I could...but alas, it dawned on me---I was
sunk. Clovis kids could run, and there were some 
future eight-second-hundred dashers out there...that
day.

The kids were already nearly to the end of the block---
backsides showing...scarfing every egg in sight.
Between me and them, I daresay---there was not a
single egg "in all creation." In fact, in those hungry
times, they were already grouping together,in little 
happy groups, sitting, and eating their eggs..

It was all over. That one-block vacant lot had literally
been vacuumed of all protein. 

I was proud of my two eggs, and I had my cup of
Koolade and walked the five or six blocks home.

It was my first, last, and only BIG LEAGUE Easter
Egg Hunt.

I had retired at age eight.

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BY MIL
4/19/14