Page 5 - The Shores of Jupiter - August '22

The Shores, Page 5

Bill’s Box from page 1 elect one party to power, why the other party don’t do any The woods were always quiet. I was alone but far
useful work for the next four years, only try to work some from lonesome. Those were good days that made one
We are here just for a spell and then pass on. So, get scheme to get back in. But if they were elected for life think of Daniel Boone. If I was depressed, I did not know
a few laughs and do the best you can. Live your life so they wouldn’t have to worry. The minute a man knows he it. I liked the solitude and dreamed of living in a cabin
that whenever you lose it, you are ahead. can’t get a political job; he may turn to something useful. in the woods. There was no one to yell to so I did not
***** A business that’s doing well don’t change people every distract from the quiet. Though I was always gregarious
The fellow that can only see a week ahead is always four years. A man don’t no more than get into the White and loquacious and enjoyed being with people, when I
the popular fellow, for he is looking with the crowd. But House and learn where the ice box is than he has to get learned more about girls and got a driver’s license the
the one that can see years ahead, he has a telescope, but out again, then he is never any good for hard work again. call of the woods with Jack became less a pull; however,
he can’t make anybody believe that he has it. ***** being in the quiet woods is still appealing. I have hiked
***** All I know is what I read in the papers. and camped on the Appalachian Trail and was having a
You can’t say civilization don’t advance ... in every ***** longing to return.
war they kill you in a new way. Always drink upstream from the herd. Sadly, today’s preteens and teens cannot have those
***** ***** experiences. We live in a different world fraught with danger.
I am not a member of any organized party – I am a If you ever injected truth into politics, you’d have no Children know that, even at an early age, because parents
Democrat. politics. have to keep a close eye to see that their children are safe.
***** ***** That’s about it. Thanks for allowing me to share.
Democrats always were a cheap lot. They never had When you put down the good things you ought to have
much money to operate on. They would rather make a done and leave out the bad ones you did do — well, that’s
speech than a dollar. They cultivate their voice instead Memoirs.
of their finances. *****
***** More
As a young boy, I didn’t know a Republican from a Things in our Village seem quiet this summer from
Democrat, only in one way: If some man or bunch of men my limited view on Lake Bend Drive. Families have
rode up to the ranch to sit or stay all night, and my father traveled. Kids are growing a bit and scream to each other
set me to watching ’em all the time they was there – what less often. By important contrast, I was an only child who
they did and what they carried off – I learned they were grew up in a North Carolina rural, small-town in the ’50s,
Republicans. a quieter and safer time and place. I spent a lot of time in
***** the vast woods that were reached by squeezing between
The Republicans always looked bad three years out strands of a barbed wire fence and crossing what had been
of four. But the year they look good is election year. A pastureland into mystical woods that stretched forever. I
voter don’t expect much. If you give him one good year was always alone with my dog Jack and a 22 rifle that I
he is satisfied. didn’t shoot except at a stomp or a dead tree. It was just
***** proper to carry a rifle in the woods. I did not hunt. On
Inventions, no less morality, no less Christianity under occasion, I stayed out most of the day wandering around
one than the other. They are all the same. It won’t make to revisit special and private spots. There was a spring
50 cents difference to a one of you. Unless you’re foolish with a small pool of water with a huge flat boulder where
enough to bet on it. I sat. The crawfish were fun to watch, and I watched a
***** water moccasin snake slither through wild grass and
Income tax has made more liars out of the American vines along the other side of the pool. I gave it plenty of
people than golf. room. There were other wild critters. Once, it had gotten
***** near dark when a huge owl flew over me way too close
I tell you folks; all politics is applesauce. for comfort. Maybe he thought my then blond hair was
***** edible. Its wingspan looked like a piper cub. Sometimes, I
Politics is the ruination of the country. Elect me for walked home in the dark. My parents did not worry about
life, then they won’t have to cater to any interest. If you me. Dinner was always waiting when I returned.