Poppies

Bill Walker

wildbill6807@yahoo.com

I was thinking about Poppies,  getting close to Memorial Day you know. I remember years ago kids went about selling Veterans Poppies. I was about 10, maybe 11 years of age. At the time I had and didn't know it [dumb boy you know]  a little gal that was sweet on me. Girls start out early trying to rope some sucker. Anyways we teamed up selling Poppies.  I don't know, can't remember what others was doing, but the two of us went together selling these things. Together we sold more then any of the rest in the group. We had a system, we figured out where the buyers was setting.

Together we, each with a hand full of these things headed for the beer joints. Now this sweet little Dollie.  [I hadn't started the Dollie group at the time, maybe she was the first, and I didn't know it, dumb boy you know.] We went in together, she worked one part of the place and I would another, in a few minutes we was going out the door, with a hand full of money, going after a new supply.   We turned in the money, got another hand full of Poppies and headed back.  Now we would try our luck at another joint. Soon here we would be back at first place. Sometimes if we were fast enough we sold the same guy 2 and more Poppies. I think we made a  dime on selling 10 of those, here we was coming back with more then the normal selling price. You know a lot of those was old war vets anyways, and they would buy one and give a bit more then the dime.

We moved away from here for about 5 years, when we came back, little Dollie had found another. By then I thought I might like to get in better with that little gal, but she had a new one, and she hung on to him like glue. Wonder what ever happened to Sandy?

About Me:

Well I??™m a story teller, not a writer. Never learned the art of fancy English. I

happen to live in Nebraska, but I??™m still Missouri. Never married, all the Dollies I

ever took a second look at was too smart. Now at 74, just turned that other day, I

figure they all home safe. I love Doggies and Dollies in that order. Lost my two

true friends this year, that be Tinker and Poo. So I found me a new one. This

time a little girlie Peke. She is a normal female. Got a mouth, talks all the time.

She will never be a great writers of stories like Tinker and Poo. They have

about 50 stories on HWS. And now writing back from Rainbow Bridge.

I just try to write about people, places and things best I remember. Have something

over 250 stories on HWS. under three names.   

 ~**~**~

Another Truck Driver Story

Jack Daye

I reckoned him to be about my age. (That was when I was a young and foolish 32.) He looked a lot older under the glare of the counter lights of the truck stop. His eyes were hidden by puffy pouches of  red, and he looked as if he'd just come from a hell of a fight. I ordered my coffee and eggs with ham and toast, and took in the other gearjammers in the place.          

I recognized quite a few of them; we had shared a lot of superslab   together. I felt a jab in the ribs, and a voice in my ear, really close. "What's the story on Laughing Boy, there?"

"Damned if I know, Blue Goose," I answered with his handy-dandy CB  handle. "Looks like he's been in a helluva ... HEY!!! That stuff is HOT! Ya'll burn yer mouth clean off!" He had scooped the carafe right off the burner plate and was guzzling the black eye-opener like pop.

The Blue Goose (his name was "Gus") snapped his eyes open wide. "Gawd!," he exclaimed. "Y'all got an asbestos mouth, son"? The driver looked blearily at us as if he was having trouble making his eyes coordinate and focus. "Yeh", he said, a raspy voice coming from  somewhere south of his bellybutton. "Where in hell is this place?"

I glanced at Gus, and he shrugged and walked deliberately back to his own table.

"You're in Dryden", I told him.

"Yeh, right. What 'n' hell's a Dryden?"

"It's a town in Ontario."

"Ontario California? Don't look like no California to me!"

"Ontario,  Canada." I was amazed he was able to talk as his lips had

 already blistered from the hot coffee carafe.

"Uh-huh. Cool. What day is this?!" It was almost like a demand.

"Tuesday. How long you been rollin', friend?"

"I ain't yer friend. What month is it, hotshot?"

"May. Why?"

"None of yer business, I don't reckon. Sheeit! I been on the road since March awready!"

Peering through the grimy window, I saw his rig parked by the pumps

taking on fuel. Yup, it had deep south plates on it, and interstate hauling plates decorated almost the lower half of the entire cab. "Nice rig", I opined.

"Yeh. Sumbitch cost me a fortune, but she's all I got." He seemed to nod off, and I finished eating and moved away. I kept one eye on him  and went to the corner booth where two police officers were having  their nightly donut break. Not caring too much about interrupting, I   asked in a low voice, "Y'all might want to keep yer eyes on the Peterbilt  at the pumps, boys. That gear-jockey's on jolt or somethin' about the same potency."

The younger cop looked at me and my cowboy hat. "How 'n' hell d' YOU

know?"

"Used to do stuff like that myself until I got to lookin' like that", I  answered, tipping my head toward the dozing figure at the counter.

"I don't know where he's from. Wouldn't tell me. He did say he's been rollin' steady since the middle of March. If y'all want to save some lives tonight, make sure he don't leave them pumps."

"Kee-rist!" said the older cop. "I've heard about some of those guys. A broker, right?"

I nodded. "That truck's all he's got," I answered.

"Okay, son. Thanks. We owe you."

"Nah. Y'all owe them", I pointed to the cars whipping by on the  superslab. "My guess is he's haulin' a full load of somethin', and it could surely do a bunch of damage out there if it got away from him."

I left them and went out to my rig and climbed up into the cab. I'd sleep in a real bed in a few hours. I was just making speed when a black and white shot past me, flashers whipping through the hazy night air. The driver "Pip-pipped" the siren, and I geared down to stop. Hell, I wasn't speeding! The cop got out of the car and climbed onto the foot hook outside the driver's door.

"You saved a lot of people tonight. We took that old boy to the hospital when he fell off the stool. Doc says he's so fatigued, he didn't even know  his own name. Thanks for helping make our job easier." He hopped back down and grinned. "Y'all keep the black side down and the shiny  side up, y'heah?"

"Okay, Ontario. See ya'll next time through." I tugged my air horn a  couple of times, gave the accelerator a bit of a goose, and slid the  White Freightliner into the first gear. Now, I felt REALLY good!

?© Jack Daye 2003-3005           

Rev Jack Daye
jaxworx04 @ yahoo.com

~**~**~

GIFTS FROM GOD

By: Joseph J. Mazzella

     I was just sitting down after a fantastic dinner that my wife had made today. I was feeling warm, content, and very thankful to God for my loving family and for my wife??™s delicious cooking. I was feeling blessed to have been given so much to enjoy, rejoice in, and share in my life. I doubted that there was anything that could make me feel better than I did at that moment.

     It was just then ,however, that my wonderful daughter yelled for me and my wife to hurry outside right away and see the sky. It had been raining all day long, but now the setting sun was making the breaking clouds in the western sky turn a glorious, shining yellow. That was not all, though. At the same time God was using that beautiful setting sun to create the most fantastic double rainbow that I had ever seen. It covered the whole eastern part of the sky and made my delighted heart sing with its wondrous colors. It flowed from mountain to mountain and opened up a pot of gold in my own soul as I watched it.

     This Heavenly sight reminded me once again that God??™s gifts come to us every second of everyday of our lives and that His blessings for us never end. His love for us is endless and unconditional and flows from everything in this life. We can see the gifts of this love in the setting sun, the shining stars, the colorful rainbows, the falling snow, and the glowing moon. We can hear these gifts in the songs of a thousand birds and in the wind whistling through the trees. We can feel these gifts in the hugs of our loved ones and in the smiles of strangers. We can even share these gifts ourselves by choosing to give our own soul??™s love, joy, laughter, delight, peace, goodness, kindness, and happiness to everyone we meet.

     God??™s glorious love for us makes everyday holy. God??™s endless love for us makes everyday a gift. Let??™s all join God then in giving the gifts of love and joy to the world.

Joseph J. Mazzella
joecool @ wirefire.com

Joe lives in West Virginia with his wife

and three children. Various dogs and cats

have adopted Joe and his family for their

own. Joe enjoys his family, beauty, love

and hearing from his email friends. Joe

likes to take the time to smell the

roses and enjoy the beauty around him

as he goes about his daily life.