Once Upon A Time...

 Long, long ago when cities were just towns, towns were no more than villages, and villages were tiny hamlets, such was the hamlet of Freiburg, Germany. Freiburg was quaint and life was simple. Nestled into the southern border of the Black Forest where magic was known and mysteries flourished, Freiburg was made up of fewer than fifty stout citizens.

The hardworking folk of this little hamlet toiled throughout spring and summer growing the food they would survive on throughout the harsh winters. You would think they would be sad to see the cold weather leave because the sun and warmth brought work, work, work. But no, the citizens were always happy and never more so than when the first warm breezes began to blow across the fields.

Spring time also ushered in the very best day of the year for the people of Freiburg….Easter! Easter meant feasting and playing games, frolicing in the sunshine and dancing in the streets. Easter also meant Easter eggs. It’s not known if any other areas of the world had access to Easter eggs. Truth be told, Freiburg citizens didn’t know, or care whether there even were more people in the world. Freiburg was their home. It was where they were born and where they would die, but I digress.

The tradition on Easter was for the mystical rabbit from the Black Forest, Herr Peter Hare, to appear from the forest bringing brightly decorated eggs for all the children. Early on, this tradition inexpertly referred to Herr Hare as a cotton-tailed rabbit! Very odd indeed since this large rabbit-looking creature had no fluffy white tail. Nevertheless, the description stuck and Peter Hare decided to just live with the moniker. So each year, when the children of the hamlet began their chant, Herr Peter would come out of the forest bringing joy to everyone. The chant sung by the children went like this. “Here comes Peter Cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail. Hippity hoppity Easter’s on its way!”

After one particularly bleak winter, in the wee hours of the thirteenth century, Easter seemed ever so important to everyone in Freiburg. Herr Peter knew this and wanted to make the celebration more special than normal. He made up hundreds of additional decorated eggs and loaded them up in his burlap bag. When he heard the chant from the children, he immediately started down the path to the edge of the forest, next to the meadow, next to the hamlet of Freiburg. He happily hopped along and just as he stepped out of the dark forest into the brilliant sunshine of the meadow to the sound of “Here comes Peter Cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail. Hippity hoppity…” TRIP! Peter snagged his foot on an exposed tree root. With a crash, he fell to the ground, bumping his tender nose, and losing his grip on the large bag of goodies. The eggs flew out of the bag and went in every direction, all over the meadow, under bushes, behind trees, IN the trees, and many more in plain sight. Hundreds and hundreds of colorful eggs were scattered everywhere he looked.

Panicked as never before, Peter looked around and realized he would never find and collect all the eggs by himself so he rushed into the hamlet in search of help. As he ran down Main street, which was also the only street in the hamlet, he yelled, “Help me! Help me, before Easter is ruined! Everyone grab a basket and come help me find my Easter eggs!” Everyone who could walk, wobble, or scoot grabbed a basket and headed out to help with the hunt. The children were the most excited and pleased but the older people had a great time too. After an hour or so, every egg had been found. Some had found many, some had found few, but everyone had found joy on this special Easter day. As they gathered all the eggs together to give to Herr Peter, he laughed and said, “The eggs are for you! Would you rather I hand them out to you as usual or would you prefer to keep what you found?” A resounding “Keep them!” echoed throughout the hamlet, across the meadow, and into the forest.

So, that’s how the world began the wonderful tradition of hunting Easter eggs. Over the years, the hamlets became villages, the villages became towns, the towns became cities…but this wonderful tradition remains the same. And, let’s hope it always remains for all the children…and all the old people who still feel like children on Easter!

Hello Frank,

I hope this finds you and Irma doing okay. I wanted to tell you if possible, you might want to move up your plans a bit for coming out for a visit. It might already be getting kind of warm in July but if you could figure out a way to come right now I think y'all would be glad you did. This is the most beautiful time of year I'm finding out from the locals. The cactus is in bloom and wildflowers are growing like crazy. It's nice and warm during the day and gets pretty chilly at night. Perfect weather, which is something hard to find in Texas. If you can, come on out. If not, I understand. We'll still have some great places to go in July but we will need to pray for good air-conditioning. We'll take your car!!

I've settled in here pretty well. I met the neighbors down the road a while back and we've visited a bit. They even invited me down for steaks on the grill!  I don't know how well she cooks on anything else but that lady knows a thing or two about grilling steaks....and making banana pudding. Whooee, I ate well that night. I guess I'm going to need to get a grill again. When I sold my old one before moving I didn't think I would ever want to grill again. That must have been the depression talking. She cooked over mesquite which I've never done. I've always cooked with propane but not any more. I'm going to start picking up mesquite as I find it lying around.....and there is a lot of it around. I'll probably burn up the first few things I try to cook but I'm looking forward to trying it out.

The old Chevy gave up the ghost the other day. I was coming back from a run to Alpine and found myself sitting on the tailgate waving frantically at people passing by. It's amazing how many people start concentrating on the road when they see a person waving for help. They don't even try to slow down. A few good souls smiled and waved and then kept on going. Finally, a lady in a Cadillac threw on her brakes and backed up when she passed. I'll give you three guesses who the driver was and the first two don't count. You are correct sir! It was the widow lady I helped with her groceries when I first moved here. Why did it have to be her?! I had finally been cool enough on the phone that she had stopped calling. Now I feel obligated to return the favor of a much needed ride back to town. The wrecker service I called charged me an arm and a leg to haul the old beast (truck, not widow lady) home where it sits under my shade tree looking mighty sullen. It has been my only transportation since I moved so I guess I better consider replacing it. I'm renting a Jeep Wrangler right now and I think I might just buy one of those instead of another pickup. Who knows...

That ride back to town in the Cadillac would have been pleasant if I hadn't had to be so nice to the widow lady. I feel terrible saying that. She's been nothing but nice to me and I avoid her like the plague. I guess I'm afraid she's looking for another husband and I sure ain't looking for another wife! I'll go ahead and take her out to eat one night to pay her back for the ride but if she starts calling again I'll have to speak to her about it. I guess you could say "I'll have to be frank" with her....get it? Frank? Okay, so it was corny. I'm kind of out of practice. I'll work on that before y'all come out. HEY, why don't y'all come on out and we can go out to eat with widow lady....you know, I guess I better start using her name. Widow lady takes longer to write than Jo. Her name's Jo. Ew, that makes me feel like we're friends or something. 

Not much else to write about. If nothing else, Fort Davis is quiet and pretty slow moving compared to Hurst. I guess I'll end this before you get too bored. Oh yeah, I'm going to keep my old truck. I think I might try a restoration. I know that's probably a silly idea, especially since I sat out there on the side of the road not having a clue why it died on me. It's been a long time since I played like I was a gifted auto mechanic.

Take care. Give Irma a hug for me....and seriously, y'all think about coming on out. Protect me from old widow Jo!

Bert

Haltom City Revisited...

 I went out for breakfast with a few friends this morning. We decided to go to the Bluebonnet Cafe in Haltom City. If I can stay awake long enough I'll tell you a little bit about it. It's been around for twenty-nine years and I had never heard of it....of course I don't pay attention to most conversations so I could have easily missed it...everyone else in the group, and there were five old wornout coots in the group, knew about and had been there at least once over the years. I wasn't very hungry so I simply ordered a cup of coffee and biscuits with gravy. Normally that's a reasonable order if you aren't too hungry. The waitress carried out this huge platter of biscuits and a matching sized bowl of gravy. When I saw her coming I figured she was bringing the order for all of us at the table but no...she sat it down right in front of me. Two others had ordered the same so two more platters of biscuits with gravy came to the table. The two remaining guys had ordered a regular breakfast with eggs, bacon or sausage, toast and hash browns. I'm glad none of us ordered the "tall stack" of pancakes or we might still be there. The food was delicious but none of us could put a dent in our respective orders. There were lots of biscuits carried home for the wives. I don't think I'll be able to eat the rest of the day. 

Anyway, that's not what I chose to write about. The tale is about the ride over there. It was a true, dyed in the wool stroll down Memory Lane for all of us. We weren't reminiscing much until we passed the old Haltom City Theatre (the only theatre I was ever thrown out of twice, thank you old junior high buddy Harry). Seems like all of us started pointing and talking at the same time then. We had all spent time there growing up...well, maybe not Tom. He grew up somewhere else but the rest of us all had stories to tell about that old movie house. I remember daddy driving us over there from Hurst on Saturdays, dropping us off, then driving back over to pick us up. Don's memories included being dropped off at the theatre with a nickel for a giant Butterfinger candy bar and instructions to not leave the theatre until he was picked up. One day he and his brother watched the same movie four times before their parents picked them up. Daddy did this occasionally, especially if he and mama needed to do some Christmas shopping, but it wasn't a regular occurrence. 

My first trip to the Haltom Theatre was when I was seven or eight years old. Uncle Frog took my brother Glenn and me out for hamburgers at the Brown Trail drive-in and then on to Haltom City to see "The Bridge Over the River Kwai". Uncle Frog let each of us order a chocolate malt with our meals if we promised we would finish them! We both agreed that would be no problem. Now let me say that a 55-gallon drum of chocolate malt is a lot of ice cream for a five and seven year old to consume in one sitting...and each of us had one. We couldn't even carry them in one hand when they were handed to us. I gotta tell you, we both sucked on those things as fast as we could trying to finish them before we got to movies. We hadn't made much headway when we passed the Haltom City limits sign out on Hwy 183. I was sitting in the front seat with uncle Frog while Glenn was in the back. Frog looked over at me and said, "I hope you boys are about finished with those malts. If they aren't gone when we get to the movie, you're going to sit in the parking lot....all alone.....in the dark, until they're all gone." Our malt sucking went into overdrive and just before we got there I hit the bottom of mine and tossed the empty out the window. (Back then no one gave littering a second thought.) I heard the empty cup hit the road and it sounded just like an empty cup should sound....no noise. I announced my completion of the malt proudly and wished I could throw up. Less than a minute after I tossed my cup out, Glenn's window came down and he threw his out bragging he had finished too. Funny thing though, my cup throwing was uneventful. Glenn's sounded like a chocolate explosion going off. Malt hit the road but only after hitting uncle Frog's Pontiac and dripping down the side of it. I don't know how it happened unless Frog was puttering around real slow but when the cup hit the ground it had time to splash back up on the car's rear panel. The right side of that old Pontiac was covered and dripping chocolate malt when we parked at the theatre. Old uncle Frog didn't have too much to say about it. He was good that way...but he never took us out for hamburgers and chocolate malts again....ever!

That was only one of the fond memories of driving through Haltom City today. We were so busy pointing out landmarks it made me wish I could go back in time for just one day to experience some of those memories we all had. I won't tell stories about all of them but you might remember some of those memories we shared: 1) The Haltom City Theatre of course; 2) the Haltom Drive-in with the big bison painted on the front; 3) the Shetland Pony farm back behind where the old Farmer's Market was located...remember the ancient pick up trucks lined up with all kinds of fruits and vegetables?; 4) the Clown Burger; 5) the Holiday Skating Rink (the only skating rink I was ever thrown out of, thank you again Harry you old troublemaker); 6) the propane store with the old rocket standing in the parking lot (that old rocket is still standing there); 7) the Old South Pancake House; the original Birdville High School where Haltom City and Richland Hills produced their scholars back then; 8) and of course I had to point out where Debbie and I lived when we were first married... Bertha Lane down behind where the old Mitchell's Department store stood. 

These were my memories, sparked as we drove through town. Each one of us had our own stories to tell and I won't steal any of their good times. They can tell the stories if they want you to hear them. I'll even give them the blog space but I doubt they'll take me up on it. They all seem to still have active lives while all I have is this old laptop and lots of memories. I wouldn't trade with any of them!

Lou Two...

 Lou stood in the courtyard of the student union building at UTA contemplating life…well, his life anyway. It was a cold, windy and overcast day, which matched his mood perfectly. He had come to this courtyard hoping the location would help him figure out exactly what happened to cause his life to become so unraveled. This spot had been one of his favorite haunts when he had been a happy, carefree college freshman here. He loved the life he had created for himself after finding out his family was moving out of state during his first semester in college. It had been a real challenge convincing his parents he was old enough to take care of himself if they would just let him stay in Texas to go to school. Finally, his dad agreed with the stipulation of keeping his GPA where it was supposed to be and finding a part time job to pay for his living expenses.

That first year of college was wonderful. Lou had no trouble keeping his GPA on target even though he had to snag a job at the local Kroger grocery store to pay for his tiny apartment and other expenses. The freedom he felt and the pride he had in his ability to handle that freedom made every day a good day. Good friends, good school, good job, dismal yet acceptable apartment, made life all Lou had imagined. 

In May, after his freshman year was wrapped up, Lou spent  a couple of weeks visiting his family in Detroit, He came back to Texas secure in his knowledge his tuition was covered for his fall semester at UTA. He had worried his parents would say, “That’s enough! You’re moving back in with us!” His grades were so good though his parents didn’t want to mess with perfection! He planned to work as many hours as possible during the summer to build up his savings to cover his living expenses. It wasn’t a problem because he loved his job and had made many new friends, both at Kroger and at UTA.

In early August Lou was invited to a “back to school” party hosted by an upperclassman. Lou was surprised at the invitation since he didn’t really know this guy that well. In fact, he didn’t know him well enough to know about the little sister who had discovered Lou while stopping off for milk at the Kroger one afternoon. It was her insistence that Lou get that invitation and get it he did. Little sister, an eighteen year old beauty named Dana, was the typical baby girl of the wealthy family. She was spoiled by adoring parents and older brother and typically got what she wanted.

I gave a pretty good background on Dana in the last story so I won’t go into it again. I’ll just say Dana wanted Lou completely to herself. She didn’t like sharing him with his job, his school work, or even his friends. Lou didn’t seem to mind this arrangement but his grades started to drop pretty quickly into his second year at the university. Things would have to change or Lou was going to be in trouble with the dean, and even more importantly, in trouble with his parents. 

I guess I’ve spent too much time reviewing and not enough time telling about the important stuff. As I mentioned in the first story, Lou was a twenty-five year old recently divorced man with no job, no home, and no plan. He was feeling completely lost as he sat on a cold bench in the UTA courtyard. He thought about the mistakes he had made over the past six or seven years. He had lost his wife because she no longer found him “fun and mysterious”. He had lost his relationship with his family because they didn’t approve of the way Dana treated him and he wouldn’t listen to them. He lost his home because well, it wasn’t his. It belonged to Dana’s parents and had been a gift to her when she and Lou married. He lost his job because he had foolishly thought he was accepted by his father-in-law as the brilliant young entrepreneur he tried to be. As soon as Dana got tired of Lou, Lou was let go from the car dealership her father owned. It seems Lou wasn’t as good a car salesman as he had been led to believe. When he lost his job he also lost his transportation. He lost everything and the only positive thing he could think was that he no longer had to deal with the foolishness he felt for dropping out of college to make a fortune selling cars for an unappreciative father-in-law. Had it not been for the $10,000 check the family gave him “to go away” he would be completely destitute.

Well, enough pity party. Some decisions had to be made, and made fast. He called the Uber service he had used to drop him off at the campus and requested a ride back to the dingy “weekly stay” hotel he had rented. He had to decide on an immediate start…somewhere! His “severance package” wasn’t going to last long if he didn’t get out of that hotel and find a job. Trouble was, he didn’t want to come back to his old life. He no longer had any of his old co-workers still hanging around at Kroger’s. They had all moved on with their lives. Although Kroger did offer him work, he would be starting at the bottom again with all new people. He couldn’t talk himself into it. He also didn’t want to go back to school for two reasons. First of all, he couldn’t afford it and secondly, everyone walking past him all day were kids. They were all carefree, laughing and joking kids. He felt like an old man around them. He needed to get away. He promised himself one more really good meal tonight, a good rest at the hotel, and then ACTION! 

The next morning, with a vow to not spend another dollar frivolously, Lou packed up his meager collection of clothes, personal items, and one or two memory makers he had taken from his former home, and walked outside. He allowed himself one more Uber trip and chose downtown Fort Worth. He truly did not plan to become homeless but he was sure getting close to it. On the ride west to Fort Worth, Lou made the decision to be dropped off at the Greyhound bus station. He would choose a town that sounded good, buy a ticket, and wait for the bus to load up. Looking over at the bus schedule for something fairly cheap, he chose Graham, Texas. Only $49.00 one way. He walked up to the counter to find the next bus wasn’t leaving until 1 a.m. the next day. He decided to find something else and settled on a town called Alpine. A bus was heading out at 3 in the afternoon. Alpine sounded nice. It sounded almost refreshing. He bought the ticket without even asking which direction he was going. It didn’t really matter. It was a long bus ride away from Arlington and bad memories. He would have some time to really work out a plan as he rode the big bus to his new “home”.

Note. There will be another installment of Lou’s story beginning as he stepped onto that bus to Alpine, Texas. How will he react when he discovers he has chosen a town not nearly the resort mountain town he envisioned but a little town basically devoid of trees and surrounded by desert! This story and those that follow are dedicated to my sister Julie Myers. She is the only one to express disappointment with my decision to stop the Bert and Lou stories. Thank you Julie! I love you too!!

Instant replay....

I've been trying to decide what direction this blog is going next. I've been working on stories about my new imaginary characters and got some shocking news about them just yesterday. Debbie told me, as gently as possible, that no one was really interested in old Bert....or Lou....or Frank. People read my stories because I write about growing up in a wonderful era. Lot's of memories have been struck over the years due to my stories and that's what I should stick with....so, Bert, Lou, Frank, and the fat lady at the grocery store in Fort Davis, Texas have all met with their untimely and respected demise. A moment of silence would be appreciated by all at this point.....okay, that's long enough. In an effort to get back on target I decided to go back and read some of my earlier stories....I've got to say, that's some darn good writing for an unlearned soul such as myself. I went all the way back to the first story I told on this blog to try to re-focus. While I work on my reboot I hope you'll enjoy reading this first story one more time.

..................

My little brother, Glenn, was always around. Sometimes it was nice and sometimes I longed for a few minutes to myself. Five kids growing up in a house with less than 900 square feet made it hard to find any time for ourselves. Oh sure, you could hide in the workshop for a few minutes but eventually you would be discovered by one of the others seeking solitude. They would go back inside and tell Momma you were hiding in the workshop studying the lingerie section of the Sears catalog. You would be hauled out by your ear while the tattling sibling slipped into the workshop. Anyway, as I was saying, Glenn was always around.

Glenn was (and still is) one of those guys everyone loves. He was funny, mischievous, and 'cute' according to Mama and a few of the little girls in the neighborhood. All I could see was this little guy who wet his pants a lot and sucked on a bottle until he was old enough to play football with us. As we grew older and discovered girls, cars, and general teenage good times, Glenn and I had less and less in common. He had his friends. I had mine. By the time I was in college I didn't feel like I knew Glenn all that well. When he got into college he let his hair grow and started on an impressive set of sideburns. He became a hippy. He wasn't a very good hippy though because he was raised with morals, a disgust for tobacco, and strict adherence to an alcohol free body. He wore the sandals, sloppy jeans and tee shirts. I think he had a couple sets of beads and he flashed the peace sign to anyone who made eye contact with him.

While the world watched thousands of young men shipping off to Vietnam, Glenn and I enjoyed the relative safety of the college deferment. We wanted to serve our country of course but we did not want to get shot.....of course. We figured the longer we stayed in college the better the chances that particular war would end and we could serve as officers in a good old peacetime army. My world evolved into a marriage and two little kids before the war was over. Glenn's turned into a marriage and a job he hated. We both felt guilt for not serving our country but we had obligations now. People to care for....One day while Glenn was working a co-worker got seriously hurt. Glenn watched the drama unfold and without another word stood up, walked out, and never looked back. He went straight to the Air Force recruiting office and signed up. Glenn's hippy days were over.

The Air Force transformed Glenn on the outside into the man he already was on the inside. I won't go into detail about Glenn's military career....after all, he may decide to blog one of these days. I will simply say Glenn spent most of his adult life serving our country in various parts of the world. He took his family with him and they all gained educations in life unavailable to those of us who remained stationary all our lives.

After his retirement, Glenn started his new career in education. He had hoped to work in a high school setting but the only opening he could find in his small district was for a second grade teacher. Oh well, it was a foot in the door. He discovered quickly how much these little students needed a daddy figure in their precious lives. As much as he wanted to move on up to the high school, his heart was captured by the little ones. He still teaches second grade today even though he swears each year, "this is the last time I'm doing it"! He is a wonderful teacher and takes his role of educator to young minds very seriously.

I am so glad I have had the chance to be the big brother to Glenn. I am very proud of him, his achievements, and especially his selfless life. It's my prayer his golden years will truly be golden.