Even in grade school Hugh Allen was all GUTS!

Hugh Allen Jones

 If you knew him today you would say, "where did you get all that hair?".

Grainola School 2011

Even in Grainola grade school Hugh Allen was all GUTS.    When in grade school we played "Alligators" where the old water well was base (that means when you got there you were safe and yes the base was a cement slab and someone could get hurt).  Anyway the idea was for everyone to line up on the far north side of the playground in front of the Grainola School (about 100 yards long) and try to avoid whoever the Alligator was before you got to the base.  The last one standing was the winner.  Even if you got to base and if there were more than one left you had to go back to the northern most play yard and run back through the alligators.  By the way if you were tackled before getting to base you became an Alligator and thus the sides started turning.  Yes it was tackle and sometimes people got hurt or bruised and no one filed law suits and that was the rules.  If you did not want to get hurt then you did not play.  Get over it.  And by the way no one was overweight as we played hard and ran and tackled and then we ate great food at the school.  Lizzie Scott was our cook and she loved us.

Anyway since by the second grade I was already over five feet tall and over 100 lbs it was very difficult to tackle me.  As I remember I loved this game because it was one of the few that I was uniquely built for.  You also have to remember that all grades were on the playground at the same time including the BIG kids, meaning older kids.  Well I usually won this game as I would run through and over everyone that got in my way.  Most would avoid a direct hit by me except you guessed it, Hugh Allen.  He was small but he was tough and would take me head on regardless of the damage.  I don't recall breaking any of his bones but once he got a hold of me he would hang on while the rest of the kids tackled me.  Then the game started over or I should say we started another Alligator game.

Did I mention how the apple man would come by once a year and Hugh would chase his truck and take a couple of sample apples?  He got caught at least once.  How many of you did the same and did not get caught?

What did we learn from those days:

• be tough and you will win even if you lose
• life is full of chances and you have to take a few
• if you work as a team even the big guys will fall
• take care of yourself and don't expect everyone else to take care of you

Thanks for your time,
gary@thepioneerman.com
write or call and send me pics and stories
friends are friends forever or they were not friends to start with

For a book to read:
The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl
The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels--A Love Story