HELLO FROM HERMAN JUNCTION: POST #5

I am back in Herman Junction today, at least in my mind. I come here quite often and the older that I get the more often I visit. In my heart I even have some good visits with the ghosts of the family and friends that I have carried with me through the years.

Herman Junction was a place where there were many children to grow up with. Of course, there were the eight Knight kids and then there were the Norwoods, the Woods, and many others. In addition to those who lived there, there were many others who came there to visit often. If you tried to drive down the old highway you would find the road full of roller skaters or kids just walking, running, batting rocks off the railroad with a stick, or playing king of the hill on top of the storm celler. At times you could get right in the middle of a wet corn cob fight or mud ball fight. If you have never been hit in the head with a corn cob that had laid in the barn yard for days and soaked up all of what was in that barn yard, you have never really felt pain. You might see a bunch of guys with an old car that they had built out of the remains of an old wagon. It had four wheels, one seat, and a rope to guide it with. It had no motor with horse power but it had plenty of man power with several guys pushing it and one trying to pull the rope to guide the thing down the road. It has been the experience of more than one guy to run the thing into the ditch in spite of doing all that he could to keep it on the road. There may have been a basketball game going on. Of course we didn't have a basket ball but we had a wadded up toe sack tied into a basketball like thing and we would bounce it in our hand instead of bouncing it on the ground and it worked about the same. Our goal was a post with a big, round, TEXACO sign that my Dad had picked up when he replaced the old sign with a new one and we nailed it to the post with a hoop from a keg on it. Kobe Bryant and some of his friends would have had thier hands full with the Knight boys.

I learned to roller skate on the old highway. If I had a dollar for every mile that I have skated I would be in pretty good shape. I have no idea how many pairs of roller skates that we wore out there. I have fallen hundreds of times but never broke a bone. My Barbara even learned to skate on my skates.

Not long ago we visited with one of the kids that had grown up in Herman Junction and she told about my Mom inviting all the kids into the warm house while they waited for the school bus to come pick us up. What a great bunch of young people. We never thought about shooting each other except with a rubber gun, BB gun, or a sling shot. We never thought about stealing anything because we all had the same things and there wasn't any need to steal something that you already had.

Well, it's been nice to visit Herman Junction to begin this day but now I must rush on. My busy day beckons with things that must be done NOW, but all is well in Herman Junction.