My older brothers came up with more daring adventures on the riverfront. Whenever he would visit, my brother Donnie Mac always had a scheme to get attention on a large scale. He like to make dummies and would throw them into the river to look like a drowning victim. On one occasion he and one of my other brothers actually climbed onto the supports of the bridge now known as the Purple People Bridge, walked out until they were over the river itself and hung one of the dummies by a rope. Someone either on a boat or in a car drove past, noticed the body and called the authorities. There were police officers and news reporters trying to get to what they were sure was a body hanging from the bridge.
For more normal entertainment, my brothers formed a ski club at the boat harbor . I was not old enough or big enough to ski so I was the spotter, sitting in the back of the boat letting the driver know when someone got up onto the skis and when they fell. Lou kept a large pickle jar on the bar for donations to our club to help pay for skis and gas for whatever boat they could borrow to go skiing. When I was finally big enough to ski, I had no desire and never did learn. Our family did, however, sometimes just drop an anchor in the middle of the river and go swimming, jumping off the top of our little boat “Pogo.” We would bob in the wake of a boat going by with our musty yellow life vests holding us up out of the water.
My brothers sometimes fished, too, but I just thought it was a smelly pastime. When we took our little boat “Pogo” out for a ride I enjoyed being down in the cabin by myself, singing at the top of my lungs, knowing that no one could hear me above the sound of the engine. I’d sing about things I’d see on the shore we would be passing or about adventures I could have along the river banks. When I was playing on the river bank I would make camps and forts in small clusters of trees and cook up great stews and potions from weeds and flowers I found there.
Just a few years ago, my grandson, Nicholas, inspired “Just Like Tom & Huck” a river song I wrote about having fun wherever you are. “Just Like Tom & Huck “ celebrates imagination and what adventures can be found in your own back yard.
Just Like Tom & Huck
We’ve been buddies since I don’t know when
We go on wonderful adventures now and then
We read a story of some friends from long ago
Now floatin’ down the river, my friend and I must go
We found some tires to keep us afloat, and a piece of wood to build a boat
We’ll do it all with our own four hands, so we can go a floatin’ to distant lands
Down the Licking to the O-hi-o, to the Mississippi River we will go
All the way to the ocean with some luck,
We’ll go floatin’ down the river, just like Tom & Huck
I found a handkerchief to give our boat a flag
My friend will bring his tent and a sleeping bag
I’ve got a lantern to give our boat a light,
We’ll sing songs around the campfire to get us through the night
But we’ll have to tell our mom a great big lie
They’d worry so much it would make them cry
We’ll take some fishing poles, some hooks and string
We won’t worry ‘bout tomorrow, we’ll just see what it brings
Down the Licking to the O-hi-o, to the Mississippi River we will go
All the way to the ocean with some luck,
We’ll go floatin’ down the river, just like Tom & Huck
We’ll both sneak out at the first light of day,
We’ll set our boat afloat and then be on our way
Best friends forever, wherever we may roam, We’ll go floatin’ to the ocean
And then we’ll come back home
Down the Licking to the O-hi-o, to the Mississippi River we will go
All the way to the ocean with some luck,
We’ll go floatin’ down the river, just like Tom & Huck
Floatin’ down the river, just like Tom & Huck
Copyright - Prudence Hunt © 2003
Just Like Tom & Huck
We’ve been buddies since I don’t know when
We go on wonderful adventures now and then
We read a story of some friends from long ago
Now floatin’ down the river, my friend and I must go
We found some tires to keep us afloat, and a piece of wood to build a boat
We’ll do it all with our own four hands, so we can go a floatin’ to distant lands
Down the Licking to the O-hi-o, to the Mississippi River we will go
All the way to the ocean with some luck,
We’ll go floatin’ down the river, just like Tom & Huck
I found a handkerchief to give our boat a flag
My friend will bring his tent and a sleeping bag
I’ve got a lantern to give our boat a light,
We’ll sing songs around the campfire to get us through the night
But we’ll have to tell our mom a great big lie
They’d worry so much it would make them cry
We’ll take some fishing poles, some hooks and string
We won’t worry ‘bout tomorrow, we’ll just see what it brings
Down the Licking to the O-hi-o, to the Mississippi River we will go
All the way to the ocean with some luck,
We’ll go floatin’ down the river, just like Tom & Huck
We’ll both sneak out at the first light of day,
We’ll set our boat afloat and then be on our way
Best friends forever, wherever we may roam, We’ll go floatin’ to the ocean
And then we’ll come back home
Down the Licking to the O-hi-o, to the Mississippi River we will go
All the way to the ocean with some luck,
We’ll go floatin’ down the river, just like Tom & Huck
Floatin’ down the river, just like Tom & Huck
Copyright - Prudence Hunt © 2003
No comments:
Post a Comment