Just something that came to mind today.

The old Steel Bridge 

Just a memory...

                          
I miss days like this…

 

    It was a late summer afternoon. I can remember walking down that gravel road back to my home. I had been fishing down at the old steel bridge that day. I had just stopped at the artesian well on Old man Evan East, property.  Ignoring the “No Trespassing Sign” and the fact that we all knew “old man East” would sometimes come busting out of his front door waving his shot gun, yelling, “You good for nothins” even firing a round or two just over our heads to scare us off his property. Knowingly with a bit of respect and an ounce of adolescent fear, I still drank my fill of the deep wells ice cold water. All the while, with one eye on my escape route and one on Mr. East’s house, just down the road.  I brushed the sweat from my forehead and then squeezed back through the falling down wooden gate there at the corner and made my way towards home. 

    The willows that lined the gentle bend of the creek that also followed the road, rustled in the warm Indiana afternoon breeze and their limbs brushed along the road side, like a broom dusting my path as I walked. I looked down as my feet shuffled through the gravel, my eyes always looking for that fossil or amazing stone to add to my collection.
    My life and my mind were simple then.

    I was a lucky boy living outside the city life. The country side is filled with so many different things to excite young senses. From the trees came the vibrating rhythmic beat of the invisible cicada’s song. It would rise and fall as it filled my ears. The flying grasshoppers chirped and rattled about in the tall grasses and wild Jasmine that also grew there. The smell of fresh cut hay laid slightly upon the early evening, as well the aroma of the corn fields that had been heated by the day.

     I remember as if it were yesterday. I kicked the rocks as I walked along, I can still taste the gravel dust.  I stopped and turned to look up and watch a red winged black bird as it cawed, while flying above the corn rows in the field next to me.  Then I turned back to continue upon my way. To my surprise, I looked straight up into the dark hazel eyes of this huge white tail deer. Looking into the wide frozen gaze of this massive animal scared me ... I froze and he froze. It was as if time stood still. I believe I could even feel his heart beat while I felt my heart rise into my throat, my chest tightened I couldn't breathe or even break the riveted stare. I can remember that feeling of rigid fright. Then I saw the deer’s nose twitch…he snorted and with a grunt he jumped an unbelievable distance across the road and over the small ditch and the broken wire fence next to the corn field. He disappeared into the thousand corn leaves. Like an actor at the end of a play, he took a final bow and in a wisp, as if the curtain briefly parted, he disappeared behind it. The road fell silent as if he’d never been there. Still in a bit of a daze, I shook my head, I realized I was sitting in the middle of the road … I grabbed my cane pole and my spilled coffee can of worms. Jumping up I ran the rest of the way home. Excited to share a new a tale, one of many that filled my evenings and those funny shared stories at the super table. Including a special place in my thoughts forever.

It's just one of those moments one never forgets.

hear are 10 of the top hits of the summer of 1964...Enjoy