THE MINK'S CAR/TRUCK: POST #45

When I was about 15 I had some good times with James and Melvin Mink in an old car that had been converted into a truck by their Dad. Some of the time the doors were taken off of it and we would fly up and down those old dirty gravel roads around Herman Junction and Bay and it was a wonder that all of us didn't get killed. But, on a very hot day with cotton chopping over and it wasn't time to pick yet, we could take off in that old buggy and be as cool as a fellow could be in a vehicle without air-conditioning. The 'thing' had some side boards on the back part of it and we had a message on each side. On one side it said, "Lady, don't laugh your daughter may be in here." On the other side was a more classy little saying, "Constipated, can't pass a thing."

I don't know how many people could get in it to ride around. I don't remember any girls getting in it but maybe they did when I wasn't around. But, I remember it being full of guys laughing, gouging each other in the ribs vying for a little more room, and having a good time. We had an old radio antenna that we used a few times to hit mail boxes and weeds as we flew down the road. A dollars worth of regular gas would last nearly all weekend.

When we got a bit older and starting courting some we moved up to their Dad's car and that was much better when we expected the girls to come along. It is funny how things work out. I have ridden in the back seat of the car with another girl and James had My Lady sitting next to him in the front seat. It wasn't very long until that changed and I have been tagging along after My Lady ever since. A young man told me one time, "When I get married, my wife is not going to know where I am all the time!" When he said that I thought, "I have been married for many years and most of the time if you wanted to know where I was, just find My Lady and there I would be." I wouldn't have it any other way.

James and Melvin's father, Bead Mink died not too long ago. Melvin has told me that that old 'thing' with the sayings on the side boards was still sitting in his back yard. Nowadays guys have to have a spruced up sports car or something to drive, but I love the memories of that 'thing' we had so many years ago at Herman Junction. Do you see why I say, "Everything is Ok at Herman Junction?"