The Adventures of Buddy Young

The Adventures of Buddy Young

By Michael Young

Copyright 2011 Michael Young

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The Adventures of Buddy Young

By

Michael Young

Introduction to the character

My Character Buddy Young is based on stories that I heard about my Dad. These stories were among the many marvelous stories we heard from both our parents about what it was like growing up in the twenties, thirties, and forties. This book will follow the life of Buddy Young as he grows from a very young boy in the rural areas of New Mexico and travels to the big city where he suffers the tremendous loss of his father.

The story takes a turn when he now becomes the son of the mile high city, Denver Colorado and grows up in its streets. He struggles to survive city life in a fatherless world. Buddy is a handful and his mother Louise, who has little control over him. We follow Buddy while he learns to make his own way.

The book will follow Buddy as he escapes the city and attempts to see the world by concealing his true age to join the Merchant Marines. As a member of the Danish Merchant ship Leonatus, he sees many adventures as he travels from port to port.

The story will then shift to find our character a full grown man and joining his friends as they join the Army Air Force and being assigned to a Base in Hawaii and then back home to Denver, Colorado.

Dedication

I would like to thank my family, for their help with gathering the memories that make up this book.

Story telling has been the American way for years and has brought our family together in good times and bad. The stories have become fixed in our memories and tell of those who have partaken in the history and cultures of our family. These stories provide us a sense of knowing one’s self and understanding the family struggles that our predecessors dealt with as they made their contribution to making this country strong.

It could be said that family history is nothing more than collected stories told over and over again. So this book is dedicated to the generations of our family in the future so they may look back into the past and see a part of their heritage.

I hope that in this busy world our families never lose the time to sit down with each other and share the stories that make us who we are.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 - Popguns and Puppies

Chapter 2 - Ringing the School Bell

Chapter 3 - Harvest

Chapter 4 - Moving to Denver

Chapter 5 - Loss of his Father

Chapter 6 - Fearing the Lord

Chapter 7 - Curtis Park Pool

Chapter 8 - The Sand Pits

Chapter 9 - Billy Kick the Can

Chapter 10 - Plunder and Booty

Chapter 11 - The Junk Man

Chapter 12 - Idaho Spring Journey

Chapter 13 -Crossing the River

Chapter 14 - Trip to the Theater

Chapter 15 - Devil in the Window

Chapter 16 - War Shipping Administration

Chapter 17 - Buddy the Mess Man

Chapter 18 - Port Golfito

Chapter 19 - Neither Snow or Sleet or Gloom of Night

Chapter 1 - Popguns and Puppies

Life in New Mexico was very hard for Buddy and his family. They managed to make a meager living on a small ranch where they raised vegetables and live stock. Buddy was only six years old but already knew how hard life could be.

Being raised on the ranch, he was witness to all that Mother Nature could dish out. Killer storms brought flash floods and crop failures. Draught dried up the crops and depleted the herds as they died from lack of water. Nature wasn’t the only challenge for Buddies family either as cattle rustlers did their damage too as they stole the cattle and tore down fences. Buddy took all of that in stride and still loved his life in New Mexico. The ranch house, that he lived in with his mother and father, was a small three room adobe dwelling that was set near the Pecos River in the small settlement of Tecolotito. It had a fine little porch in front where his dog Princes rested on the hot afternoons. The small roof overhang was just enough to cast a bit of shade on the dusty old porch. Dog and boy often sat together on that porch protecting the ranch house from the savage Indian menace and cattle rustlers. Buddy had his two barrel popgun and he likened himself a dead eye shot. He could take out the right eye of any rustler at 100 yards with his trusty pop gun. He felt sorry for any snakes or coyotes that would cross his path as they would soon be hides hanging to dry on the shed wall. Yes he was doing a very important job here on the ranch. Didn’t his Dad say so? Just the other day he and his dad were walking down the road to check some fence lines and he would say, Look Buddy! There go a couple of rabbits! Get em Buddy!

Buddy drew down on the rabbits and squeezed off two shots in rapid fire. The corks blasted from the barrels and flew their distance and fell dangling at the end of the string that tied them to the barrel.

Wow! You got both of them Buddy! What a great shot! His dad grinned from ear to ear and patted Buddy on the back. Buddy reloaded the corks back into the fronts of the barrels and re-cocked the weapon. Buddy felt it was important to get the rabbits and take them home so his mother could cook them up. His dad would tell him that they would have Princes get them on the way back. But that dog forgot to get them and his dad had to go back out after they had gotten back to the ranch house. Buddy was sitting on the porch with Princes when he heard two shots from his dads shot gun. Soon his dad was walking up the trail to the porch with the two rabbits tied to a string and being carried over his dads shoulder. Buddy asked, Daddy, are those my rabbits?

His dad replied, You bet, you got em right between the eyes! You are a dead eye shot that’s for sure.

Buddy was proud and stuck out his young chest and padded the popgun that was at his side. Aw Dad, I can’t shoot as good as you can. Did you shoot something out there too? I heard you shooting your gun.

Just snakes Buddy. They tried to get the drop on me but I taught em.

Buddy loved to go on the walks with his dad and Princess. He had his dads’ back and his dad had his back. Between them no rascals or bandits could hurt them.

That night buddy and Princess kept watch until the sun went down and the moon was shining brightly over the New Mexico landscape. Soon the dog whined and put her paw on Buddy’s leg. The boy was fast asleep and dreaming of protecting his family from all kinds of bandits, thieves, and wild animals. His popgun blazed away with every bad guy he dropped.

Two strong hands lifted the boy gently and moved him to his small bunk near the old pot bellied stove. He removed the little cowboy boots from his feet and tucked him into his bed. He reached down with his powerful callused hand and laid it softly on Buddy’s’ head and smoothed a lock of his hair. His eyes looked on at his son and he felt a strong pride. He whispered a little prayer, Good night my son. Thank you for protecting our home tonight. You are a brave little man.

Although he didn’t say it his eyes showed the love he felt for his son. In the back of the room, his wife stood watching and wiping a tear from her eye as she thanked God for her son and husband. Her brave little man lay sleeping in his bunk and her strong handsome husband was kneeling by the side of her son’s bed. She loved them both very much.

Some months later Buddy was out with his mom while she was working the small garden. He asked her if she had seen Princess. His mom shook her head from side to side and said, No Buddy I haven’t, but I’m sure she is fine. He told her that he had not seen her at all and was worried sick that she might be lying hurt somewhere. She was expecting puppies and hadn’t been herself lately. His mom told him that nature takes care of these things and that maybe it was Princes time to have her pups. This didn’t make Buddy feel any better. This morning she was nowhere to be seen and he was still worried. His mom harvested some big ripe tomatoes and put them into her bucket. She stood up and shook her apron and then lifting a hand to her brow to shade her eyes she scanned the area and again shook her head saying, Mejo, I haven’t seen your dog and she didn’t eat anything from her bowl this morning but I am sure she is nearby somewhere."

Buddy was really worried and walked away to continue on his search for his dog. He would call out for Princess but she didn’t respond. He always saw her come running up to him wagging her tail whenever he called her. His heart was saddened and he tried to keep the welling tears in his eyes from falling down his face. Visions of his dog laying hurt in some field or arroyo filled his head. Worse yet she could have fallen victim to any one of the wild animals that hunted the area.

His mom had told him not to wander away by himself and to always stay within ear shot of her. He knew this but he also knew he just had to go look for his dog. He started to walk away from the house and down the road following the fence line. He looked over his shoulder after walking for some time and noticed that the house was now a lot smaller and he knew he had never been this far away from his house without his mom or dad being with him.

He continued down the road until he came to a culvert that ran under the road. He climbed down from the road and called out for Princes but there was no response. He climbed into the culvert and smashed a scorpion that came at him when he kicked the rock it was under. He looked around and could see that the culvert was empty except for small sticks and rocks and dirt that had been left during a run off.

He struggled back up to the road and dusted off his overalls. He continued on his search down the road. He looked up at the sun and could feel its heat on his face. He wished he had a drink of water but soon his thoughts went back to his dog and on he went. The sun was getting high. It was directly over his head now. The heat was bearing down on him and his shirt was soaked with sweat. He was feeling funny and looked for some shade to sit in. There was no shade.

All he could see was the dirt road and fence lines with dirt fields on either side. He wished that he had brought his pop gun with him. He was so far away from his house now that it was just a speck on the horizon.

On down the road he went. He was too tired now to yell out for Princes but just walked with his head hanging down. He looked at the dirt road with hopes of spotting her paw prints.

He stopped in the middle of the road and at the side of the road was a pile of brush that had been blown there by the dry winds and had stacked up in a jumbled pile. His dad had told him to stay away from piles of brush like this because they could be hiding snakes and scorpions and black widows.

He was tired and thirsty and wanted to be home. He turned to walk back to his house but in the heat he lost track of which direction he had come from. He stood there and the world seemed to spin. He was getting dizzy. The two fence lines at the sides of the roads seemed to cross over and back again as he was spinning and spinning and then he fell to the road. He looked up and saw the red sun glaring down at him and he closed his eyes and wished that his dad was there to carry him to safety.

He saw a form that looked like an angel’s face. The face was blurry but right there in front of him. Then he felt the dampness on his face as the tongue cleaned his face. Buddy then heard the angel whimper and thought how beautiful it was that the angel was cleaning the sweat from his face but that it sounded just like his dog. He closed his eyes hard and then squinted. He then saw the vision of Princes standing there over him licking his face. He slowly sat up and then after coming to his senses he cried, Oh Princes is that you? You’re OK! He grabbed the dog and hugged her