NOTRE DAME FINISHED ----HOME. 10-5-2012

FINISH AT NOTRE DAME and The Long Trail
back to the ranch at Thunder Butte.

It was a long grind, the year at Notre Dame.
The jobs brought me no money and barely
enough to eat, but there was a girl, Loretta,
trips to her father`s farm,  movies when
she had some money, walks through the
park and visits with friends.

Loretta was a clothing model , and sales
girl in a "fashion boutique", she had
lunch in a drug store where I prepared
the lunches and that`s the story.

My grades started out poorly and
steadily went down hill.  I was
summoned to the Dean`s office and
she read the riot act to me and I had
to agree.   I spent all my time on getting
food and litte time studying .

Toward the end of the school year I had
saved up $25 and bought a 1935 Ford
three window coupe.  It ran, leaving a
cloud of smoke, but it ran.

Graduation !   I was entitled to a
teaching certificate which licensed me
to teach in the first grade through eighth.

Freedom.... the drive home was a joy.
When I arrived close to home I discovered
the roads were a mass of mud.  When close
to the ranch, the Ford became hoplessly
mired in the muck, so had to abandon it
and walk the remaining mile or so.

My Dad was the only one at home, as my
Mother had gone visiting her sister in
North Dakota.   There was not a bit of
food in the house and no way to get to
town.

As usual, my Father had the answer.  He
still had his old reliable 30-06 rifle  and
there were young goats on top of Thunder
Butte.
When we arrived at the foot of the butte,
a young goat looked over the escarpment
at the top and my Dad fired.  The goat came
tumbling down, almost at our feet.

That night my Father roasted that goat
and that was one of the best meals of  my
young life.

A short time later my aunt Mabel Van Sickle
wrote from Alameda , California.  She had
a rooming house and invited me to come visit.

Since there was no work to be had in South
Dakota and no prospects, I decided to visit
one more time in Mitchell, then hitch-hike
to California .

Clouds of war were gathering over the world .
I knew that my time of freedom was probably
limited.   What to lose ?   Any thought of
work and a career was just postponing the
inevitable.  It was decided.   The Ford had
been stolen, recovered but wrecked.
I stuck out my thumb on the nearest highway
and left........

------  John Crowley