This one I wrote while in college for a creative writing class.
I Remember
By Ray Rogers
Just the other day I went out to the back yard where we keep our memories. We call it a storage shed. My intentions when I went out there was to discard some of the junk that we have there so as to make room for some new junk that we want to save. For a little while all went well, I actually got to the far corner of the shed. I began exploring in some old boxes that I hadn’t seen in years; Inside were some of my old work from second or third grade in school. I picked up a “BIG CHIEF” tablet, with it’s faded red front still smeared with candy stains and I began to remember. I remembered when you could buy those Big Chief tablets for a nickel, and they actually had some paper in them. They were on the shelf right next to the comic book racks. The comic books were a dime each. I remembered that those candy stains could be made at the rate of two Big Hunk candy bars for a nickel, and they were more than a couple of bites. I remembered Mrs. Smith and the first grade. That’s when I fell in love with Barbra. She lived right down the road from my uncle. I remembered Mrs. Sparks in the second grade, she was the prettiest teacher in school. I remembered Judy. She was the prettiest girl in second grade. I remembered polio and how frightening it was when I couldn’t make my legs hold me up or move; and I remembered Kent who wasn’t as fortunate as Judy and I, and who had to walk with crutches and leg braces. That box had to stay so I went on to some others that were stacked with it. Just some old stuff from third and fourth grade. A class picture of Mrs. Billingsly with her class. I remembered that everybody was scared of her. She was the meanest teacher in school. Right in the bottom was a Howdy Doody puppet with its strings all tangled. As I sorted out the strings I remembered Buffalo Bob and Howdy Doody, Buster Brown who lived in a shoe and his dog tige who lived in there too. I remembered Flash Gordon, Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, and Gene Autry. They were heroes to look up to. They respected woman and wouldn’t tolerate any wrong. So it went throughout the afternoon, one box after another. In one of them was my scout badges. I never got to Eagle but I did get to Star rank. I remembered camping trips and learning to tie knots. I still remember most of those knots. I remember struggling to learn morse code. I can’t remember that, except SOS. Stuck in the corner was the bow I had made in explorer scouts. I remember working on it for weeks and getting the upper limb balanced with the lower one. I remember that every once in awhile when I get a problem that takes extra patience and perseverance. I remembered graduating from the eighth grade. I got my first new suit. I remembered starting high school and football. Seniors have no mercy on freshman football players unless you can earn their respect, I remember! I remembered Coach Shay, and Coach Sloan. I remembered Freshman English and Miss Hamilton from Delaware, every boy in class was in love with her. I remembered falling in love with Barbara again, and Judy, and Shirley and Ann. I remembered a hay ride with Home Economics and Vocational Agriculture classes. As the afternoon wore on I went through the boxes faster and faster, and I remembered. I remembered our wedding and our first child. I remembered the automobile accident that took her from us six short weeks later. That one is still hard to remember. I remembered when the children were small and their problems were small and could be solved with a hug and a kiss. I remembered 4-H projects and county fairs. I remembered. I could remember when each child won each ribbon and trophy. I remembered those thousand pound steers being led around by those eighty pound kids. I remembered all afternoon and when I had finished I hadn’t discarded a single item. I remembered why I had built that shed in the first place. I guess that I am going to have to build another.
