Independence Day- 1962

My buddy Duane invited me to watch the fireworks from his house. He lived on a very high hill three miles north of North Chillicothe. That day I became independent from my family trip to the Henry fireworks extravaganza. Dad took the 55 Ford to the bottom of that hill... afraid old Blue Smoke would give out under the stress of something more than a speed bump. Good call on Dad’s part. I was dumped out around 6:30. Duane was waiting at the top and waving two white flags as if he was sending some kind of signal. Duane was very excited and moved to tears of joy. Nobody ever visited him before. 

About 10 minutes later I was at the top. The gravel driveway was pretty loose and the incline was breathtaking. Duane gave me a cold drink of water from a canning jar. That hit the spot and enabled me to speak. “So Duane, what do you want to do first?”  Duane wanted to show me around his world. I spotted a goat that was giving me the evil eye. “That’s my good friend Bill the goat.” Wow! I thought it was a giraffe or water buffalo I thought to myself. Duane had an imagination equal to my own and I was impressed. The goat walked over and nibbled on the cuff of my blue jeans. “Oh, he likes you!  That’s a good sign.”  I told Duane to stop Bill from eating my cuff. It was a little late but I still had the right cuff and I knew I could explain everything to mom. 

All three of us walked to the backyard and there was a two-foot round pond but four foot deep. “That’s my swimming hole. It’s muddy but it works real great on hot days. Bill likes to pee in it if I don’t give him something to eat real quick like.” I glanced down at the remaining cuff of my jeans... Bill was glancing down too!  I quickly spotted a huge apple tree and climbed up high. Duane was right behind me and kicked the ladder off the trunk. “Bill can climb ladders if he wants something. It’s a good thing we are 25’ high up here.” Duane and I decided to stay in the tree until almost dark. It was fun to watch Bill pee in the pool.

We both landed unexpectedly hard upon bailing out at 25 feet. Our fireworks were tiny lightning bugs and quarter pound mosquitoes that night. Going back to Henry next Independence Day. There’s always going to be room inside the Ford for Duane. He can sit with my sisters in the backseat. 

Hug your children and love your neighbors. Goats are on their own!