Shopping and Loafing in Heavener

Loafing .... I don't have a definition for loafing, but Daddy and many of his friends did it. Sometimes they would loaf at the pool hall. Sometime they would loaf at the cabin - Dad, Blue John, Mr. Cleo, and T. A. Roop - even Tom Johnson sometimes. At the cabin, loafing meant fishing, playing dominoes, and eating a big T-Bone steak. I guess loafing meant doing just about anything besides working. Well, Jim and Judy went down to Heavener to loaf with Harry and me last weekend. We pretty much covered the West Side, especially our old neighborhood. Lots of stories, lots of memories, lots of changes. Together we could name the families that lived in just about every house, street by street. Then Judy and I got to loaf in the way that we enjoy most - shopping! It used to be Tiffee's Tote a Poke, but now it is First Friday Traders. Just a strange assortment of stuff, and they are only open on the first Friday and Saturday of the month - obviously no returns. That little shopping trip reminded me of my early shopping adventures in Heavener at Franklin's 5 & 10. I loved to get new school supplies, especially paste. Was it just me, or did that paste really smell as good as I remember? Paste wasn't the only thing I bought at Franklin's 5 & 10. I still have a little heart pin that I bought for Mother one year for Mother's Day. It says Mother inside the heart, and I was so proud of that purchase. I wear it on a sweater that has some assorted buttons, so it looks like it just belongs on it. I think I bought that pin the same year I discovered that Mr. Franklin was married to Mrs. Towry! Yes, even to his face for years I had called him Mr. Franklin, and he always answered and never told me the difference. Gosh, I felt like a moron to learn the truth!

Another shopping adventure in downtown Heavener was when My June (that's what my boys called Mother) would give the boys $2 and let them walk down to the General Store over close to the Ledger. They had more fun walking past the playground, across the railroad tracks, over by the deer pen, and around to the store without any adult interference. Well, one Saturday back in MWC, we had a serious visit from a federal Postal Inspector. It seems that one of the neighbors had reported that my boys had been tampering with their mail. The Inspector was very clear that it is a federal offense to tamper with the US Mail. I just couldn't believe it, so I called the boys to the door, and they admitted to the crime. Not tampering with the mail really, but they did spray "fart spray" into their mailbox because they wanted to get the attention of the pretty little girls who lived there! Fart Spray! Can you imagine? When the Inspector asked them where they got the fart spray, they both said their Grandmother bought it for them! Can you imagine June Bain having anything to do with Fart Spray? Even after teaching junior high, I had never heard of such a thing! It was one time that I probably did not respond appropriately at a time when my boys needed disciplined. I laughed until I cried!

It was a good day last Saturday - loafing, shopping, and remembering - in a place that I love with people that I love!