Stories by Robert

Bob was always a story teller.

President’s Corner, December 2007

Robert S. Gaylord © September 14, 2007

“Hope you enjoy this book, and all that it may inspire!” These words, written a couple of years ago by our youngest son David, are in the front of his gift, “Walking,” a book written by Henry David Thoreau. I wonder if our son may have remembered a poster on the wall of my den when he was just a child. The poster was given to me by a casual acquaintance, not well known by me. It prominently displayed a quote of Thoreau; “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” There was a picture of a young man sitting on a rock, under a cypress tree, looking out over water. It was a peaceful scene, inspiring.

What did this gift of a poster mean? Many writers are seen to step to a different drummer. I was proud of this interpretation and immediately put the poster up in a prominent place on the wall of my den, grateful to be seen as “different.”

In June of 2006 Paul Everett Nelson; poet, teacher and broadcaster, spoke at our quarterly membership meeting. He urged us to write “Organically.” Make that first draft “organic.” Bring it out from your gut, rapidly. Don’t pull your punches, so to speak. I again saw this same advice in Writer’s Digest recently. Now, absorbing these two doses of expert advice, I felt motivated to push even more in that “organic” direction. I urge you to do that also, speak freely in your writings. Don’t wince at your truths, believe me, truths are of interest to others!

In the first paragraph of his book, Walking, Henry David Thoreau writes, “I wish to speak for nature, for absolute freedom and wildness, as contrasted with a freedom and culture merely civil,…to regard man as an inhabitant, or part and parcel of Nature, rather than a member of society. I wish to make an extreme statement, …for there are enough champions of civilization: the minister and the school-committee, and every one of you will take care of that.”

WHAT MORE DOES A PERSON NEED?

R. S. Gaylord © December 2, 2007

Dad built our house with his own hands on a good sized lot. We had a fireplace for warmth and a dog for entertainment. What more do you need? On the back of the lot we raised chickens and rabbits. Dad always had a large garden filled with beets, peas, chard, beans and many other vegetables. The lot must have originally been part of an orange orchard. The yard had several orange trees and a lemon tree for us to enjoy.

Every year we were told when farmer’s fields had been harvested so we could go pick up the missed crops. I remember with fondness the warm fall days we would wander the fields picking up the potatoes left behind. Or, even better, we would gather the spilled lima beans from another farmer’s field.

We did not go hungry. We hunted quail and deer. We had plenty. Our table always had a variety of meats harvested from our own chickens or rabbits. We carefully watched for the lead shot in those rabbits and quail we harvested from the wild. We usually got two or three deer each year. We even gave some of our venison away. To this day I love venison and quail.

Horse meat and liver must have been cheap in those days. Occasionally Dad would bring some home. I learned to consume liver. I don’t know if one ever really learns to enjoy liver, even with the bacon and onions covering it, improving the flavor. But we were hungry and the kids ate what was presented to us on our table. Momma made our ice cream using real cream and she added egg often. We took turns cranking the handle on the maker. The vanilla ice cream was wonderful. What more do we need?

CLUMSY

As I woke up this morning I stretched my legs and looked out at the fog blocking the view from the window. Rolling over, considering more sleep, I noticed my teddy bear had fallen down behind the bed.

My teddy bear is probably 70 years old now. He shows it too, having lost much of the original fuzz on his muzzle. His replacement eyes stared at me while I picked him up and hugged him just like I must have as a little boy.

Sitting him on the pillow I spoke to him, “Clumsy we have come a long way together.”

You are laughing at me now I know. How it he still has a stuffed animal on his bed? You must be thinking, This guy is a case of arrested development.

Maybe I am.

So let me tell you my excuse: After seeing the movie, Toy Story, I came home and went looking for Clumsy. If you have seen the movie you know little toys come to life in the script. One of the sad moments is when you see some toys are ignored or even discarded by children as they grow up.

Immediately after seeing Toy Story I decided I would look for my childhood toy. I found Clumsy in our daughter’s old abandoned bedroom which is now a storage room. I picked him up and assured him I had not forgotten. I turned him side to side and noticed one of my children had apparently slopped blue paint on his head and shoulder long ago. His eyes were missing. He still had on his denim pants and leather belt I made for him when I was about 5 years old. I smiled at my old childhood friend.

Do you want to know how the bear got his name? When I was very young my Mom told me often I was a very clumsy boy. My older brother sometimes said so too. It hurt me. When I was given this little stuffed brown bear I immediately named him Clumsy. I guess he was a part of me.

I played toy soldiers with him often, he was “General of the Army, Clumsy,” so I must have felt he needed some pants. Now it is difficult for me to believe when I was a small child I made him denim pants just like mine. I can barely remember asking Mom to teach me how to sew, borrowing her needle and thread to make Clumsy his pants. Poorly done, I see now, but fine for a child’s effort. I remember I found an old dog collar which fit perfectly for his leather belt.

After I went off to college, then on into industry, I saved Clumsy for my future children to play with. And, maybe someday, my grandkids would want him as well.

Although I recently bought replacement eyes for Clumsy, I have to believe he is still too unsightly for our grandkids to appreciate. I have noticed many stuffed toys today actually talk back! And besides he doesn’t have the sentimental value with grandchildren which he has with me. I can overlook his blue-painted head and shoulder, worn muzzle, and oversize eyes. After all he only shows the wear and tear we both carry.

Earth, a small spin stabilized satellite.

R. S. Gaylord May 27, 2005

As I worked day after day on satellites I began to realize that the planet Earth is a small spin stabilized planet, a satellite of the star we call Sun.