"As It Was"
by
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I
was now homeless. Mac still had my
sheep and the .22 that he gave me for Christmas but said it was mine, but yet
not mine. I felt very tired and hungry,
no place to eat or sleep tonight. Old
Bessie still had the only thing that I owned that belonged to my mother. A fold-out Kodak camera made in 1917 and was
a gift to my mother from my father on their wedding. Orphan kids are everybody's game. I stood there for awhile.
They knew I was there but didn't come out to talk.
What
shall I do? I had been there since my
parents died and I was twelve. It would
be dark soon. I guess they got a new
kid, probably a cheap laborer from the state training school. Orphan kids are always on their guard. People try to exploit them. They are at the mercy of others until they
achieve independence and a means of support.
This could go on for your lifetime.
At fifteen I felt it was up to me to do for myself.
A
couple miles away in a neighbor's sheep pasture, I had seen an old school bus
body laying there with the sheep around it.
It belonged to a guy that had my first name, Maurice. I asked his wife if I could sleep in the bus
body and help out on the ranch for my meals.
They said yes, but I had to find a place before the weather turned
bad. She gave me an old quilt and I
bunked on the cushioned seats for a few nights. There was a few sheep ticks that found their way into my hair
because we shared the bus body. Sheep
laid in there out of the sun in the daytime and I laid in there at night.
September
came and my job with AAA was ending and my second year in high school would
start and I had not found a place to stay and earn my keep. I had made a few bucks in the summer and put
in postal savings, but didn't want to spend it. It was for my own ranch that I dreamed about.
George
Green took me in for a couple of nights at their ranch across the North Fork
River. They had a brightly colored
parrot that laughed at the Charlie McCarthy radio show louder than anyone else. George put it out in the porch so it would
call out, "Oh, George, Oh, George, Peter be good." We would laugh at the bird more than the
show.
"I'll
bring it down tomorrow when I get it out of the post office," I said.
At
9:00 a.m. when the post office opened I drew out $25.00, got on my old bike and
peddled ten miles to Hudson. Grandpa
saw me coming and came out of the house.
I handed it to him. He said nothing. I said nothing. I got on
the bike and peddled ten miles back to Lander.
Mostly uphill. Went back to
finish a half day in school. I had
mixed feelings about this. I felt good
about it, but sorry to let go of my muskrat and horse hair cavalry money. Somehow I felt my mother's spirit was
satisfied and happy.
When
people know you're poor they stay away.
You might ask for something. Even today the bottom line is money, health and social
standing. I might add family
connections. I was smart enough to know
I must build on them. It was beginning
to be the right thing to be in the military.
I must make some choices soon.
Your chances of success were better if you had a high school diploma. I'll never get one on time. I had too much English to make up. I'll join the Navy and see the world. A few of my friends were on battle ships. I'll do it; it will solve a lot of my problems. Sexual temptation and harassment was getting to be a problem too. If I impregnated a bobbysoxer teenager and she tells her mother, my reputation as a decent hardworking kid is ruined. I am at the peak of a
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Book Details
About the Book
A real story about a family of orphan children, 6 of
them, at the mercy of the public in the mid 1930s. A Scotsman sheep farmer took
in a 12-year-old boy to work for his keep, milking cows, hauling manure,
castrating sheep, work sun up to sun down in the summers. At 16 he joins the
horse cavalry, a few months later he joins the U.S. Navy, then World War II out
to sea on destroyers 359 & 752 chasing the enemy all over the world, China,
Brazil and North Atlantic U-boat war. 4 orphan boys were in World War II, their
father “Pinky” was in World War I, all as non-coms.
READ ABOUT A PIONEER FAMILY’S HERITAGE AND PRIDE!
About the Author
The author, born in 1922, at a coal mining camp,
near Hudson, Wyoming. One of six children. His father, Pierce Ricketts, was
born on a ranch in Wyoming, in 1891. His mother, Miss Edna Leora Carroll, born
in Broken Bow, Nebraska, 1901.
Because of their death a year apart, the author was left to the mercy of the community during the depression of the early 30’s. At the age of 12, he was picked by a Scotsman to become a ranch hand to earn his keep and the right to go to a one-room school at rural Milford, Wyoming. His tiny brothers and sisters disappeared out of his life for years to come, out of state with relatives. He attended Fremont Vocational High School in Lander, Wyoming, and joined the National Guards Horse Calvary at 16. After a 29-day encampment with our Rag Tag Army, 1940, he joined the regular Navy for six years, and was happy, proud and obedient.
He was assigned to a destroyer as a deck hand going
everywhere at a time of a national wartime emergency; combat experience in the
North Atlantic, South Atlantic and Pacific. Naval occupation in China.
He attended several Ordinance Service Schools as an
honor student, became a first class petty officer. He attended Real Estate
school and became a licensed realtor. Also, a Ham Radio operator.
He married his wartime pen pal 50 years ago from
British Guiana, south America. The father of three daughters and give
grandchildren.
After his 6 years in the navy, he became a small
merchant, owner of a donut shop as well as a fast-food place on coastal Highway
1.
He is the author of a featured article in the
California Miming Journal, 1972: “What’s brewing in Guiana.” He had a featured
article published in the quarterly newspaper Tin Can Sailors, “The Blue Beetle.”
The author mentions that the greatest satisfaction
of the war is his war bride, Olivia, who was also his pen pal during the war.
He talks a bit about his family and siblings. One brother dies of leukemia;
another dies at 52 of a heart attack. He also recalls some family friends who
died in the war and talks about the fate of his two ships. The Winslow was used
for scrap, and the Cunningham was eventually used for target practice. The old
house he was born in became a stable and then was burned down.
Eventually Maurice decides to join the cavalry with
some friends. this is a great experience. His Grandpa Carroll shows up at
school one day to ask for twenty-five dollars to help bury his son, Cecil, who
has died of some strange disease. It was very difficult for him to ask for the
money and Maurice gives it to him out of his Muscrat savings.