The Buckhorn Summer

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By Dr. Jim Foster

 

“The best thing about visiting the President is the food! Now, since it was all free, and I wasn’t hungry but thirsty, I must’ve drank me fifteen Dr. Peppers. Forrest Gump

It is the afternoon of July 29th, 2025, and it must be one of the most humid and hot summers in our history here in Shelbina located in Shelby County, Missouri. I am standing on the front porch of the office of Red Barn Veterinary Services for just a moment having finished an appointment in my capacity as a veterinarian. My sixty-year-old ears are hearing a familiar sound as I am looking south past the Shelbina Greenhouse across the street. I hear the shrill of children’s voices and the words, “Marco Polo” ring a familiar image from the past and once again I feel the warm water of The Town & Country Pool’s kiddie pool. I see the Bimini blue walls of the big pool that is our ocean paradise on the prairie.

Dr. Pepper soda pop was not on the menu at the Foster farmhouse three ½ miles northwest of Shelbina when I was growing up in the 1960s, 70s or 80s. It was a delicacy for me from the soda machine at the pool as was a PAYDAY candy bar. Their flavors and scents are familiar in my mind as is the pungent yet favorite odor of the marigolds growing under the care of Carla Harris, the greenhouse owner. I see her daughter Laura playing in the side yard as a child just a few months ahead of me in age and vividly recall splashing around in that same kiddie pool together with the other kids as our mothers watched over us while catching the rays of the sun. The scents of chlorinated water and the tropical aroma of Coppertone Sun Tan oil are now filling this moment of memories as I see the visions of the occasional teenage water fight and hear the blowing of lifeguard whistles policing the action including the warnings given to those young pups running on the cement along the pool tempting fate with a slip or trip that might knock their teeth out.

It is the summer of 1974 and there is no cable television nor are there computerized streaming services. The large sundeck is decorated in the latest fashion of beach towel or possibly the largest family bath towel available. The female sunbathers fill out either the safe one-piece version of swimming attire or the bold choice of a two piece are deep in conversation over the pre-emption of their soap operas during the Water Gate hearings concerning President Richard Nixon. The NBC, CBS and ABC television networks  take a turn each day airing the hearings while patrons wonder what is happening to Bob and Lisa on their favorite soap opera, As The World Turns and there were those who were irked over missing the Friday climax when Alice threatened Steve that she would leave Bay City on Another World.  Nancy Karr’s testimony in that nasty murder trial on The Edge of Night was the talk of the sundeck along with the other soap opera dramas that were rarely missed.

The memory changes to a vision of gray as I am standing on the porch as they are calling for heavy rain on one summer day in 1974. No pool for us. No fun in the sun and no Dr. Pepper or PAYDAY treats. The television reception for the ABC affiliate KTVO in Kirksville, Missouri is zero. Too far north and bad reception. My mom fired up her new hi-fi stereo record player and the voices of the Ray Coniff Singers were heard throughout the house.

I am nine years old and bored. The imagination goes wild. Could I go camping? Bed sheets? Would it be possible to have two bed sheets? Two light pieces of furniture are turned over and the cotton bed sheets become makeshift canvas tent walls where our dachshund dog Valentine are now sitting in silence. We hear the tiny voice of one Carol Anne Foster who is now three years old. Shhh , do not move…. She will never find us. We hear girly giggling as Valentine’s tail is hitting the tent wall.

The rain is falling on this August day in 1974 where our grass that turned brown and coarse has a chance of turning green. Those weeds that we call Buckhorn catch between my toes as I walk and the memory fades while I am standing on the porch of Red Barn Veterinary Service and I still feel warm water on my ankle and realize it is a client’s beagle dog who has hiked his leg on me. Thank goodness I wear black socks.

Suddenly, I feel like pitching a tent.