Go with me into the
long ago dim pages
of early U.S. times..
--------
WWII had just ended.
We grade school kids
had helped win it by
gathering scrap metal,
building P51 airplane
models, and digging
foxholes on vacant
neighborhood lots.
We, at our house, every
morning while eating
our scrambled eggs...
or oatmeal and toast,
listened every
morning to KICA before school.
It was the time
of all the fighting in Europe
and the B-17 raids, like
the actor Jimmy Stewart
flew.
It was the time of great
songs-- "There'll be blue
birds over the White Cliffs
of Dover," and "We'll meet
again...don't know where,
don't know when...but I
know we'll meet again
some sunny day."
The old Poet can still
sing 'em -all of 'em to
you...80 years later.
(So ...when did you
"get a ROCKET?")
Interesting story--that.
Right after the war ended
and the boys were
coming home- I reckon
spring of '46' --we still
listened to KICA, every
morning.
The station
had added a chit chat
program, with local news,
weather, and
right at the end of the
program they had a
daily JOKE-TELLING
contest. You mailed your
favorite joke to KICA,
and if they read it-
you got an award! Kids
ate this up, big time.
I entered with a
WWII joke about Adolf,
the Nazi guy, my grand-
dad had told me...but I
didn't catch it at all...
until he explained it. I
guess you could call it--
a sort of old-timey joke.
("Why didn't Hitler have
anything to carry his
clothes in?" "Because
he lost his grip in Russia.")
I never thought it was
very funny but sent it
in anyway.. AND WON!
Got a letter saying "pick
up your award at
Western Auto, near the
Hotel Clovis, on Main Street."
IT WAS A
ROCKET.
Not the kind you're
thinking! That goes into
space! No sir:
It was a "Reynold's
Rocket," one of the
new Ball Point Pens!
It was sky blue, maybe
six inches long and with
a silver pocket clip...but
was really too long to
carry in a shirt pocket.
It came in a round
plastic tube, with some
paper of
instructions
the ink was blue
and balled up on the end
of the pen.
I proudly showed the
clerk my winning letter
and he nodded toward
a counter halfway back
in the store ...it had
those little glass dividers
and all kids of "notions."
That store is long-gone,
but I could take you right
to that counter today,
from memory, and pick
up a Reynold's even
now...fork you see--
kids in those times didn't
have much stuff or
ever win anything.
A great thing had been
introduced to the world
with the ball point pen.
As time went along, the
points were improved
and the ink doesn’t "ball up".
The CROSS Company,
one of the greats, has
provided the world with
the finest of pens.
Where my first ticket
went ...who can tell...
wish I'd kept it.
------
MIL
16 FEBRUARY 2021
