2001-03-23 - 19:16 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Spring Fever

Even when I was still working and having to be at work x hour to x hour at this time of year. My body was there, but my mind was romping in the spring weather.

Chuckling I remember when sludge from our sewage disposal plant was spread on the lawns at school, just about the time that windows would be opened to prevent discomfort in the class rooms. That super icky smell gave us kids something to complain about other than mean teachers anyway.

My last times in high school were spent in East High School at Denver, Colorado. It was bounded on the North by City Park with only 17th Avenue between.

After I learned the term and was out of school for several years, in a fit of wacky thought, I wondered why City Park was not condemned by the city as an, "Attractive Nuisance."

Spring time, when we all wanted to be outdoors doing something, anything not structured by the establishment.

The park had huge plantings of all kinds of trees, some which came into leaf early and some later. Shrubbery the same, but in the spring over there things were getting, by golly, green.

When the ROTC went over to the park to drill it made me grit my teeth to be doing something so formal and uptight when all I wanted to do was whinny like a horse and go trotting off to nuzzle something. I did learn, in spite of the distraction, maybe better than I would have otherwise. But hey, you know, the graveled old school grounds were for drill, it seemed a perversion to march in the grass in the park.

As the weather warmed there were so many things to do there. We used to ditch school and wander over to the zoo, smell our way past the lions, etc. watch the Polar Bears and see the seals swimming, and usually we would end up at the monkey cages watching them act more maturely than most of us ever do, I often wondered who the spectators were, or was it a reciprocal thing ? Monkeys never threw peanuts to us though. And as the playground adjoined the zoo, we would circle on the rings which once seemed so difficult in 3rd grade. Trying to wrap the swings chains around the horizontal, never could do that but we tried, a little bit above horizontal at each end of the arc was the best I ever saw done.

The Museum of Natural History was at the East end of the Park, and because curiosity was a better teacher than a dull school field trip we would go in and learn, thinking we were having fun -- or go in there having fun and learning to boot.

The big lake had ducks galore, sometimes we would bring the crusts from our lunches and feed them while watching their antics.

Those of us who became romantically inclined and were brave enough to ditch school went over there after a little courting dance succeeded in separating a lady from her crowd. Sweet nothings and sweatily held hands were the norm. Some of us dared to kiss a girl in broad daylight there, fearing not the park police leaning on us but fear of discovery by the jocks and the consequent sneering and jeering by them.

It was there in a balmy spring time that Mary Lou and I were enough in love to make plans to elope. Planning to go to some town in Nebraska or Kansas where we had heard underage kids could marry. She thought that one of her uncles would hire me to work in a sawmill down south and we would live happily forever. I was totally committed, ready for whatever should come.

It was never revealed to me how big sister and her mom found out our plans. I will never know whether it was a ploy by Mary Lou to wangle a car from her mother or whether she confided to her big sister and the skein came untangled. I was of course the prime example of a broken hearted, puppy love victim, watching her driving her car around school. Puppy Love = A little feisty dog trying to assume adult status ? Vacation time came soon after that and she and her sis and mom moved out of town. It probably was the biggest stroke of good luck that ever hit me between the eyes, neither one of us were truly prepared to assume the responsibilities of married life. But dammit, at the time, it hurt like fire.

City Park, where in the evening the majestic fountain played, ever changing in configuration and lit by colored lights which changed second to second also. It was a symphony in water and colored light. There was a control room up in the top story of the overlooking building where an engineer sat and changed the lighting and pattern of spray. At that lake is a band stand which used to be used in the summer time for band concerts in the evenings. People sitting in the rows of park benches listening and enjoying, Heather and I used to take out kids there as they grew. Near the band stand was where row boats and paddle boats could be rented. A little concession stand there was busy, busy from early in the morning until a bit after the concert was over. On the north side of the lake was a slight down grade where kids used to roll from the top down, ours learned the fun in that.

Of course there were many places to picnic, a place to play horseshoes, tennis courts were there too.

In later years I played City Park Golf Course, which was just North of the park. The muni ball games were at the North of the museum for years.

My temperature rises, by golly, once again I've got Spring Fever . . . .

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