January 22, 2012
Just an Old Line Shack
The Old Line Shack on Thunder Butte Creek
Git go`n Lindy!
Reins slap Lindy on the flank.
It`s been a long time Ole Buddy, we
gotta git home.
This ole man has been gone about
70 years and he`s go`n home.
Where`s home? It`s just a line shack
about ten mile from Thunder Butte
down on Thunder Butte Creek.
What`s a line shack, Dad?
Oh, it`s just a little frame house down
on the creek. I grew up there, then
when I went away to high school, the
ranchers in the area just moved in and
took it over for the cowboys to bunk in
when doing roundup and scout`n strays.
What`s so important about it now? Why '
go back to an old line shack?
Git up, Lindy. Well, son, you know how
important were some of those great days
in your life, the day you graduated from
college, that day you got your MA down
in Texas? Well, when Tony Roach and I
found that pool full of wild fish, that was
the same kind of day for me. Tony told me
they were wild fish and I filled my pockets
full of them and took them home and my
Mother found me emptying all those pollywogs
out on the floor. That was graduation day
for me. Boy did I get a whupp`n. Yup, that
was the day I became a man.
What else do you remember about that old
shack, Dad?
Whoa. That`s a long story son. Got a few
days to listen?
--John Crowley
Mike Crowley Sunday, January 22, 2012