"I don't think the properties of that particular plant are any more of a surprise to God than the results of fermenting grape juice."
A Quote from a Friend
A story:
A jingle sung by school children:
 |
| Not Miss Allen |
Miss Allen
had a steamboat,
The
steamboat had a bell
The
steamboat went to heaven
Miss Allen went to…….
 |
| Miss Allen disguised as Bette Davis |
Miss Allen was a fearful woman. Whatever she said was a command, not a
comment or question. She wore orthopedic
shoes and dresses fit for a mature woman in the 1950’s. Miss Allen was a spinster teacher of advanced
years, at least 45. We shivered in our
seats as she towered above us warning of the wages of sin. Her
room was always hot from the heat radiating out of the steam register under the
window. She carried dainty embroidered hankies
to lightly mop the glow on the forehead or to address the result of a chronic
sinus condition. The steam register was
always festooned with neatly placed hankies drying in the heat.
Isolated between towering mountains to the west and a vast
inland steppe to the east, Denver was an overgrown cow town in the early 1950’s. Our “family” was an oddball in a solidly
conservative and Republican community.
Though my parent and two older sisters were minions of that conservatism
we were cast-offs of a sort as my mother, who was divorced and proud, was
raising three children in near poverty. Not
well churched, lessons on morality were learned from family stories or
authority figures.
So it was the wages of evil were passed on through Miss
Allen to the willing minds of young supplicants. One of the great lessons took the form of a
Motion Picture, one of the greats from 1936.
After watching it I lived in fear for my very being. Would I succumb to the evil weed? Did I have the strength to resist?
I had to rely on my family heritage – 5 generations of
staunch Presbyterians. They would show
me the way…. But then there is the issue
of my Great Grandfather who abandoned his family. Well, that doesn’t count. Then there is my father – NO, we really don’t
want to talk about that one. They didn’t
go to church, I am certain of that. So I
am safe from the evil temptation.
Colorado has changed a lot since my youth. Denver is now a trendy place of over 1.5
million people and the evil weed is LEGAL!
I am in trouble, we are going to Colorado – now an old man in his dotage
- how will I ever resist?
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You realize this story is a complete fabrication.
