07/28/2021
“Texas Ghost Town Echoes”
Ida and John in Sweet Home Texas
Damned Ida!
Wide awake
Hawk eyed
She never looked away
True she brought cookies
And she smelled a lot better than Nate
But Nate had dozed
A couple of head jerks and he dozed off
Not Ida
True those deep brown eyes
Were beautiful
A lot prettier to look at
But it could mess up ole John’s winning streak
He was known to beat every checker player in Sweet Home
John was jealous of his title
But folks started moving off
Leaving less and less folks to challenge
Now it was down to Ida Lansing, Nate Huffines and himself John Astor
Last three residents of Sweet Home, Texas
All three natives
All went to school together
Nate was visiting his son Bo
Over in Hamilton
Bo, his wife Sally and
Four or five grandchildren
Nate would be having a great time
John figured Bo would be working on Nate to stay
True they were getting on up there
But all three of them were still spry
John missed Nate
But he was alright as long as Ida was still here
The year Ida made a trip to Fort Worth
It scared John how empty Sweet home was
The three Graduated 1889
The year the school moved out of the Masonic Lodge into the new school building
Still a thriving little town then
But not any more
Ole John finished his ice tea
And set it on the table
Ida got up to refill his glass
And John did it!
He nudged his black checker over
One square thats all
But wait till his turn!
It was a four checker jump
Ending in a Crown
The ice tinkled in the glass
The screen door banged
They were playing on the front porch
Using the parlor light as well as the full September moon
Ida’s hair was shiny
More from the moon side
Her perfume was light in the air
It mixed with the gardenias
John found it hard to separate them
She groaned when he made his 4 checker jump
But he was distracted by her hair and perfume
And she jumped his king, his king! with a streak of three jumps!
This was serious
He finished his glass of ice tea
Even though he was full
And like he expected
She headed for the kitchen
He nudged
Two spaces
It was risky but
She probably wouldn’t notice
And she didn’t
He made two final moves
And won the game
Ida shook her head and said “John Astor you old rascal!
It’s uncanny how you win every game
Your just a natural born checker player there ain’t no doubt”
He smiled leaned back and said “just can’t help it Ida-belle, guess it is natural.”
He called her Ida Belle since grammar school
She pretended not to like it but it made her smile
True John was kind of a blow hard
Kind hearted, he’d help you in a minute
But he’d let everybody that’d listen
Know he’d helped
Honestly Ida didn’t know why she loved him so
Or waited on him all this time
There were several times she thought he was going to pop the question
But he hasn’t so far
Well time for one last game
The border radio station was coming in clear
The fire flies were dancing
A cool breeze ruffled her hair and brought in just a whiff of honeysuckle
Ida took her seat
She’d freshened up her make-up
It was John’s company that drew her
Not the checkers
It wasn’t the checkers that was hard
She’d played all her life
It was knowing when to leave the table
To help that old checker cheating fool
Win another game
