High Noon

The teen and I passed our neighborhood fire station tonight. It looked so quiet. I was surprised more lights weren't on. It started me thinking about my home town.

The centerpiece of the town is a little lake. There's an island in the middle of it, with a pretty gazebo. Beautiful place for a wedding or a reunion. The lake was dug by Mormon pioneers who paused en route to Salt Lake city- which, as you know, already has a lake.

Just to the south of the lake was Gaylor's Corner Conoco- straight out of Mayberry, I tell you. Mr. Gaylor owned it, and Mr. Weller worked for him. They wore green uniforms with their names embroidered on them, and caps. They washed your windshield for you, checked the oil, etc.

Just east of that was the stable. Every afternoon in the summer, when the stable closed, the cowboys would round up the horses and run them through the town to their pasture for the night. The street was paved. It sounded so cool to hear the hooves clattering and echoing against the mountains.

South of Gaylor's Corner was the fire station. The fire department was of course manned entirely by volunteers. If there was a fire, a call went to the town Marshall's office, and he blew the noon whistle for all the fire fighters to get to the station.

My granddad was a volunteer fireman until he was too old to help- and then he was an honorary fire fighter. In fact, he was honored at a lovely dinner one spring night in 1979. He went home and told my grandma that he felt better than he had felt in a long time. Then he went to bed, where he died in his sleep.

My granddad was the town's mayor for years and year. He was on the school board- President of it, in fact, when the "new" elementary school was built. My granddad was a gentle, quiet, learned man. He read Kipling. Quoted Kipling, in fact. My grandma was a complete spitfire, but somehow they made it work.

I told Andy all of these memories. It was a dreamy reminiscence. He listened. There was a pause, and then he simply said, "Wow." It was really touching to me that he "got it."

Then he said, "That'd really stink if your fire was at noon."