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"THE WAGON TRAIN"

 

 

 

 

WHEN I WAS A YOUNGSTER EVERY KID I KNEW HAD A LITTLE RED WAGON AND ON THE SIDE OF IT WAS ITS NAME, “WESTERN FLYER.”  I BET MOST OF YOU EITHER HAD A WESTERN FLYER WAGON OR KNEW SOMEONE THAT DID.

 

MY FAMILY LIVED AT THE TOP OF A HILL IN AN OIL COMPANY CAMP NEAR GLADEWATER, TEXAS.  WHEN I WAS NINE YEARS OLD MY DAD HAD BOUGHT ME THE BIGGEST WESTERN FLIER MADE AT THAT TIME.  THAT MEANT MY LITTLE BROTHER, WAYNE INHERITED MY LITTLE WAGON.  WAYNE WAS ONLY FIVE YEARS OLD.

 

ONE MORNING AS WE WERE PLAYING WITH OUR WAGONS BY COASTING DOWN THE HILL SEVERAL OF THE OTHER KIDS BROUGHT THEIR WAGONS AND JOINED US.  IT WASN’T LONG BEFORE THERE WERE FIVE WAGONS AND SEVEN KIDS AT THE TOP OF THE HILL.

 

THERE WERE WAYNE AND I AND JUNIOR AND JUDY ROSS. NEXT CAME SWEETPEA AND HIS LITTLE BROTHER KENNETH.  THEN GENE ROZELL SHOWED UP.  WE WERE ALL AT THE TOP OF THE HILL AFTER PULLING OUR WAGONS BACK UP THE HILL.  WE WERE TAKING A BREAK BEFORE WE COASTED DOWN AGAIN.

 

THAT’S WHEN I GOT THE IDEA THAT WE SHOULD MAKE US A WAGON TRAIN.  WE COULD TIE ALL OUR WAGONS TOGETHER AND COAST DOWN THE HILL AT THE SAME TIME.  SO WE GOT SOME SHORT PIECES OF ROPE AND TIED THE WAGONS TOGETHER IN A LINE.

 

BECAUSE MY WAGON WAS THE BIGGEST IT WAS AT THE HEAD OF THE LINE.  WE TIED A PIECE OF ROPE TO THE BACK AXLE OF MY WAGON AND THEN TO THE TONGUE OF GENE’S WAGON.  NEXT CAME SWEETPEA AND KENNETH’S WAGON, THEN JUNIOR AND JUDY ROSS’S WAGON.  LAST IN LINE WAS WAYNE’S LITTLE WAGON.  THE WAY THEY WERE TIED TOGETHER MEANT THAT MY WAGON WAS THE ONLY ONE THAT COULD BE STEERED

 

WHEN WE GOT EVERYONE LOADED AND PUSHED OFF WE STARTED DOWN THE HILL. AT FIRST WE WERE ROLLING ALONG SLOW, BUT AS WE CONTINUED DOWN THE HILL WE STARTED PICKING UP SPEED.  FINALLY WE WERE GOING AS FAST AS I HAD EVER GONE.

 

I WAS TRYING TO KEEP MY WAGON IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD BUT WITH ALL THE OTHER WAGONS TIED TO MINE IT WAS HARD.  THE WAGON TRAIN STARTED WHIPPING BACK AND FORTH AND EACH TIME I TRIED TO CORRECT FOR THE CHANGE IN DIRECTION IT JUST EXAGGERATED THE WHIPPING.

 

WAYNE WAS THE FIRST CASUALTY. HIS LITTLE WAGON TURNED OVER SPILLING HIM OUT ON THE ROAD.  HE JUMPED UP AND RAN FOR HOME BAWLING ALL THE WAY.

 

JUNIOR’S LITTLE SISTER JUDY FELL OVER BACKWARD OUT OF THEIR WAGON AND WAYNE’S WAGON RAN HER OVER.  THAT MADE HER MAD AND SHE CAME RUNNING DOWN THE HILL AFTER US.

 

THEN JUNIOR LOST HIS GRIP ON HIS WAGON AND HE FELL OUT AND WENT ROLLING ALONG THE GROUND.  WHEN HIS LITTLE SISTER GOT TO HIM SHE KICKED HIM REAL HARD AND KEPT RUNNING AFTER THE TRAIN.  BOY, WAS SHE MAD.

 

SWEETPEA AND KENNETH’S WAGON WAS THE NEXT TO TURN OVER.  IT SPILLED THEM OUT IN THE DITCH AND THEY LANDED IN A BUNCH OF GRASS BURRS.  KENNETH WAS CRYING AND CURSING AT SWEETPEA FOR DOING THIS TO HIM.  SWEETPEA BOXED HIM ON HIS EAR AND TOLD HIM TO STOP CURSING.

 

NOW ONLY GENE AND I WERE RIDING THIS RUN AWAY TRAIN AND GENE FIGURED IT WAS TIME TO ABANDON SHIP.  HE JUMPED OUT OF HIS WAGON AND LEFT ME BY MY SELF.

 

THE BOTTOM OF THE HILL WAS COMING UP FAST AND RIGHT AT THE BOTTOM WAS A CATTLE GUARD.  THE WAGONS COULDN’T CROSS THIS CATTLE GUARD SO I KNEW I WAS IN TROUBLE.  THE ONLY THING I COULD THINK OF TO DO WAS RUN THE TRAIN OFF INTO THE DITCH.

 

JUST BEFORE I GOT TO THE CATTLE GUARD I ANGLED MY WAGON OVER TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD AND RAN INTO THE DITCH.  MY WAGON TURNED OVER AND THREW ME OUT.  THEN THE REST OF THE WAGONS PILED ON TOP OF ME. 

 

AS I LAY THERE UNDER ALL THE WAGONS ALL I COULD THINK OF WAS THAT SONG “THE WRECK OF OLD NUMBER 99.”  AFTER A WHILE I MANAGED TO CRAWL OUT FROM UNDER ALL THE WAGONS AND I WAS SITTING THERE ON THE GROUND NURSING ALL MY BUMPS AND BRUISES.

 

JUST THEN JUDY CAUGHT UP WITH THE WAGON TRAIN AND SHE WALKED AROUND TO WHERE I WAS SITTING ON THE GROUND AND KICKED ME REAL HARD.  I GUESS SHE WAS STILL MAD ABOUT BEING DUMPED OUT OF HER WAGON.

 

I TOLD HER THAT IF SHE WOULD HELP ME GET ALL THE WAGONS … BUT NO THAT’S A WHOLE NOTHER STORY FOR A DIFFERENT TIME.

 

 

  BY LOREN MOORE

COPYRIGHT 2003

 

LOREN

 SEE YA LATER

 

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