Balloons at the Cotton Gin

This is a story I probably SHOULDN’T tell, but I live very dangerously, and something or someone will finish me off anyway someday. So here it is.

Where the Heavener Nursing Home, the Flower Shop, and the Tote-A-Poke are today used to be an old cotton gin. It was only in use for a few years in my lifetime, then was closed down and boarded up. But, not so good that we kids couldn’t get into it and play.

It was a nesting place for pigeons and we just loved climbing up and robbing the nest. They always said that a pigeon laid two eggs, and, when they hatched, one was a male and one a female, and they mated for life. We used to swap the eggs, or put three eggs in a nest. You can guess what the results were.

BUT, one day, when we were playing up there, the “we” being me and Lou Tatum. Most of you know her as Peggy Gartner of Poteau. (Sorry Lou, just had to tell the story).

ANYWAY, we found a package of two balloons. When we blew them up, they were about four feet long and about a foot in diameter. They were kind of clear in color and had a mouth about an inch and a half in diameter. We tied a string on them and were flying them behind us as we went home.

Then our Mothers saw what we had.

Now, we thought they were pretty neat. NOT THEM! Lou’s mother got out the Listerine and made us wash our mouths out with it, drink it; they scrubbed our tongues with it, washed our faces with bleach, and threatened us with our lives if we EVER went back up there. They never gave us a chance to explain they were NEW not USED. I’m sure that would have made a difference.

All in a day at play in good ole Heavener.

Later, Bill