Growing up in the Ozarks in the 1950's was fun in the face of being so poor that trying to find a dime to take in a movie at our local theater could become a challenge but if you were fortunate enough to have a quarter you could drink a coke and a bag of popcorn while watching a carton, a short serial and then the movie. You had to make sure you moved your feet every few seconds because if you didn't your shoes would stick to the floor. Loafers were a no-no because once they stuck to the floor you would pull your foot out and heaven forbid you stepped down on the floor with your stocking feet.Otherwise it was a great Saturday morning to met your friends and sometimes you even watched the movie all the way through.
The mode of transportation was basically on a bike so it was imperative to maintain it because the alternative was hoofing it. As money was a non existing commodity buying a bicycle tire was out of the question I resorted to measures of desperation by cutting the rim off of the tire and sliding it inside of another and rearranging the holes so the tube wasn't exposed. Of course my mom today would have been arrested for allowing her son to ride a bike without a helmet not alone for allowing a child to ride his bike downtown at such a young age to attend a movie.
Nearly every kid played baseball and most of our games were played in Herb Henry field. We would gather as many as we could about everyday, climb over, under or between the fencing and play work up. We would have maybe 7 to 10 kids and if you played the field and made the out you got to bat. We got our balls from the day after a game as the fouls or home runs were not always carried back for the 5 cent reward for returning them. We would find them and finders keepers. All this fun without interference from adult supervision. Obviously these days these lawless delinquents would be in separated from their parents.
As summer time became hot we would find relief by swimming in a nearby river. A neighbor of ours would take us almost every afternoon as the temperature became too hot to play ball. We would all pile in the back of his old pickup truck and as we made our way over the rough road to the river we yelled and hollered and knew we were close to jumping in the cool water. We drove across the shallow part of the river and parked on the sand bar and as most jumped out and swam to the deepest part of the river. Climbing up on the bluff reaching the rope and hanging on as it took us over the deep and we released and splash. Oops today of course there are numerous laws we broke from riding in the back of the truck to jumping off of rocks into the river.
Gas was 25 cents a gallon so if you picked up three guys and each forked over a quarter you were set for the entire evening. As I got into my teens I noticed if you were caught speeding by our local police he might take your license and store them in his desk until he thought you learned your lesson. No points just the embarrassment of talking to him was enough for most.
Would I trade any of those days for one of the current days with all of goodies out there? Nope
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