Welcome to My life in the shadows
THE WILD BLUE YONDER
I remember my parents taking me to church on slow days, until the old man’s forty-nine Chevy got its windows broke. Someone told him that it was caused by the expansion of the sun’s heat so he never went back to that church again, sometimes that all it took for him, but they still sent me. By now all the siblings had left home except old Green Eyes who I was secretly at war with. Of course, her being 17, she was so much bigger than I was at 6, so all my attacks had to be well planed in advance, like one Sunday afternoon when I threw her clothes into her bath just before her big date while yelling sneak attack at the top of my lungs. Then I quickly made my escape to the neighbors swing set. Mother had me all dressed for church, wouldn’t you know it, but for some reason she wasn’t angry when she finally found me with grass stained knees…
THE WILD BLUE YONDER
When I was youngster
of test pilot age
(and at war with my older sister, Old Green Eyes)
I would dream
of piloting the X-15
just like Chuck Yeager did
until I got sick
flying the neighbor’s swings
deep into the atmosphere
at twice the speed of sight
and bailed out
making a mess
of my Sunday dress
and just before church.
But somehow
I got the impression
that Mother didn’t care so much
about church
on that particular Sunday,
and that a little mud and grass stains
on her test pilot’s knees
were no big deal
as she happily busied herself
finding something
well worn
from Saturday’s flight
for me to squeeze into.
The summer of 1956
Page 8
uTAH jAY
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