We weren't wearing chaps, or spurs

Did Judas tremble, stutter or in any way get flustered when he betrayed his God? Imagine the look Jesus must have given him when he said: "Hurry up Judas, and do what you must do". Things probably wouldn't have worked out much better for me if I hadn't also rushed. But, I often wonder what might have been.

We were welcomed as minor celebrities in the girls' dormitory. I don't subscribe to any faiths that promise eternal promiscuity, so this was as close to a harem as I would ever get. We had long hair and wore fatigues. Maybe we couldn't sing and we certainly had no guitars. I was no Bob Dylan, but I had received an "A" in my creative writing course for "The Mighty HJ". This was a sad tale of hundreds of ants, clinging to life on a Howard Johnson's hot dog holder. They are swept along the gutter to their eventual doom in the city sewer. We had hitch hiked half way across the United States. This was the sixties. Our conversation was seasoned; "peppered" with the words New York City, Columbia, protests and police. We told the tale of the State Trooper who squeezed out all the toothpaste from our Colgate tubes and our "detention" in the station. We were accepted as hippies. 

This was Fort Hayes, Kansas, and we were in the dorm of Fort Hayes State University. This was the same school that today offers scholarships for barrel racing and goat tying. Some of the famous figures associated with the fort included Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody, General Nelson Miles, General Philip Sheridan, and Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. It was also the home of several well-known Indian Wars regiments such as the Seventh U.S. Cavalry, the Fifth U.S. Infantry, and the Tenth U.S. Cavalry, whose black troopers were better known as buffalo soldiers. Our situation was as close to perfection as I would ever experience in my young life. All was well until we felt obligated to pay for some of the 3.2 beer we were drinking at night.

Why we had this act of Conscience I'll never know. My friend found a job working at the stalls of the rodeo. He basically shoveled manure all day. I found work at the fairgrounds setting up for the local carnival. I was just a one or two day grunt, not a "Carny" or a "50-miler" ('Green help'. New workers who have not made at least a 50 mile 'jump' with the 'show'). The Green Help was usually townies just working that particular "spot" (the location of a carnival. As in, "What was the best spot you played last year?").   A roughy (Middle management in the carnival business) briefly explained that a group of us were to assemble the Ferris wheel. The smaller guys, myself included, were each handed several paper bags full of nuts, bolts and washers. We were told that each bag was enough to assemble one carriage to the wheel. There were exactly all the parts that were needed. No extras, no shortages. We were also given some basic tools and a deadline for the job.

The first Ferris wheel was designed by George W. Ferris, a bridge-builder from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Ferris began his career in the railroad industry and then pursued an interest in bridge building. He understood the growing need for structural steel, Ferris founded G.W.G. Ferris & Co. in Pittsburgh, a firm that tested and inspected metals for railroads and bridge builders. He built the Ferris Wheel for the 1893 World's Fair, which was held in Chicago to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus's landing in America. The Chicago Fair's organizers wanted something that would rival the Eiffel Tower. Gustave Eiffel had built the tower for the Paris World's Fair of 1889, which honored the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution.

I panicked when I started to fall behind. I am not mechanically inclined. Some of the nuts were tough to turn. I started stripping the threads. I took parts from one bag to finish another. By the end of the afternoon my pockets were full of the stripped bolts and nuts that I couldn't attach. My seats had a few holes with no nuts or bolts to hold them tight.

I worked the midway during the evening. I had no sawdust in my blood. I had been taught a patter to use, but I was too distracted to pay much attention.  I couldn't tell an "educated" (knowledgeable. A good tip that you are playing a 'mark' who has been 'with it' is that he is too 'educated' for the game) from a "mooch" (an exceptionally good 'mark'). I wound up giving away gifts to just make the people go away. My thoughts were far away. Each time screams came from the general direction of the Ferris wheel I would almost pee in my pants. I was convinced that by morning my picture would be on the front page of the local newspaper with the headline: "Terror on the Midway. Scores fall from Ferris wheel. Hippie found with missing bolts."

At the turn of the 20th century Buffalo Bill Cody was the most recognizable celebrity on earth. Billy Comstock was chief of scouts at Fort Wallace. Comstock, his friends said, was Cody's superior as a buffalo-hunter. So a match was arranged to determine whether it should be "Buffalo Bill' Cody or "Buffalo Bill" Comstock.  In those days the prairies were alive with buffaloes.  In 1868 General Philip Sheridan reported seeing a herd of 300,000 buffalo near Fort Hays. He estimated the herd covered a territory 90 miles in length and 25 miles wide. Score, sixty-nine to forty-eight. Comstock's friends surrendered, and Cody was dubbed "Champion Buffalo Hunter of the Plains."      The heads of the buffaloes that fell in this hunt were mounted by the Kansas Pacific Railroad Company, and distributed about the country, as advertisements of the region the new road was traversing.

The girls quickly lost interest in us. My friend smelled of the stables and I stank of fear (and maybe I had peed in my pants). Besides the cowboys were now in town. Some might sing, a couple had guitars. More importantly, they all wore chaps, and spurs!

You may enjoy reading: Imagination presents to our minds objects that do not actually exist.

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The Silver Surfer (Norrin Radd) is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero created by Jack Kirby. The character first appears in the comic book Fantastic Four #48 (March 1966), the first of a three-issue arc fans and historians call "The Galactus Trilogy".

Originally a young astronomer of the planet Zenn-La, in order to save his home-world from destruction by a fearsome cosmic entity known as Galactus, Norrin Radd made a bargain with the being, pledging himself to serve as his herald. Imbued in return with a tiny portion of Galactus' Power Cosmic, Radd acquired great powers and a silvery appearance. Galactus also created for Radd a surfboard-like craft — modeled after a childhood fantasy of his — on which he would travel at speeds beyond that of light. Known from then on as the Silver Surfer, Radd began to roam the cosmos searching for new planets for Galactus to consume. When his travels finally took him to Earth, the Surfer came face-to-face with the Fantastic Four, a team of powerful superheroes that helped him to rediscover his nobility of spirit. Betraying Galactus, the Surfer saved Earth but was punished in return with everlasting exile there.

Stan Lee enjoyed the character and decided to feature him in his own individual title in 1968. John Buscema was penciller for the first 17 issues of the series, with Kirby returning for the eighteenth and final issue. The first seven issues, which included anthological "Tales of the Watcher" backup stories, were 72-page (with advertising), 25-cent "giants", as opposed to typical 36-page, 12-cent comics of the time. Thematically, the stories dealt with the Surfer's exile on Earth and the inhumanity of man as observed by this noble yet fallen hero. The Silver Surfer comic book series became known as one of Lee's most thoughtful and introspective works. Englehart writes that Buscema and Lee were "pouring their souls into the series".

Waldo County, situated in mid-coast Maine along scenic Penobscot Bay, has genuine New England character evidenced by working port towns and quaint rural villages. Visitors are awed by the area's unspoiled beauty. From striking coastal views to sweeping mountain vistas, dramatic natural settings abound. In addition great care has been taken to preserve and refurbish numerous historic landmarks, homes and buildings. Consequently, the Maine of yesteryear is still found here.

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