DREAMS AT HERMAN JUNCTION:POST #57

What in the world does a boy from Herman Junction dream about? I mean, does he just intend to spend the rest of his life at Herman Junction picking cotton? I suppose that when I was very young that was about all that I had in mind for myself. Oh, I would stand in the cotton patch and watch the trains and cars go by and wonder where they were going and wish that I could catch one of them some day and find out the answers to those questions. But, until I got in my teens I never thought much about doing anything except living at Herman Junction. I remember My Lady and I were in Bay one time and wanted to just go out and walk around the streets in town. We met Howell Morrison coming down the street and we stopped and visited with him. Howell said, "You know, Hook, everyone always wanted to hurry and get away from Bay. But, I always wanted to just stay here." And, he did and not long after that he died right there where he had always lived and I suppose he was as happy as could be.

When I was out of school in the summer between my Junior and Senior years in high school I went with brother Rayburn and some guys from Harding to work for the Del Monte Canning Company out in the fields harvesting English Peas. We lived in a bunk house and worked long, long, hours every day. We made $1.00 per hour and that was the most money that I had ever made in my life. Sometimes when I would just give completely out, Ray would do my work for me and let me rest awhile. I remember one night that he and some of the other guys went in to Deklab, Illinois to the White Castle Drive-Inn to get hamburgers. I ordered one but when they got back I was sound asleep and I never knew what happened to my burger.

But, it was during this time that I began to dream a little. I dreamed about cars, dating My Lady in my own car, going to Harding in the fall, and a lot of other things. I had begun to learn that there was life outside of Herman Junction.

Then between my graduation from high school and beginning at Harding in the fall, I went to Michigan City, Indiana and C. W. got me a job with him at the Weil-McClain Company for the summer. I liked that job and I really began to dream about the future.

Dreams are good and they help to motivate us to go on to better things. I think that I have gone on to better things but the memories of Herman Junction still live in my heart and they always will.