"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.