THE SHACK
I am pretty sure
that all kids who grew up in small towns around the country in the 1940’s and
1950’s had a place they used to like to go just to “hang out”. Some were places
in a park, some were old caves they had found, some were special places in a
grove of trees but mine was “The Shack”.
It was without a
doubt the place where I spent the most time other than my home. I also usually
had friends with me.
The house we lived
in at the time was in a part of town called “string town” and it was right by
the railroad tracks. This is where my Dad and I built “The Shack”. It was a
building about 10 x 12 feet. (It seemed a lot bigger when I was young.) However
the important thing is that it was ALL MINE. It was like a castle to me. It was
a hideaway- even if it was just a few feet from our home, when we were in it we
felt like we were isolated from the world.
Dad and I collected
and saved used “Dummy Doors” for about a year. It is hard to explain what a
“Dummy Door” is without seeing it. They were used in the box-cars on the
railroad to block off the sections of the cars, or to block the doors so that
when they were opened the coal would not fall out. When the R/R was finished
with them they just left them in the empty cars and when they got to Hiawatha
they just threw them out. Dad asked if he could have some of them and they told
him yes. So we saved them, split them apart, saved the nails and wood and
eventually built the shack with them.
Dad poured a cement
slab in the corner of our lot and that is where “The Shack” was located. It had
a sliding glass, window, a full sized door, a pitched roof and the whole
building was shingled.
“The Shack” was a
place of seclusion, as well as a gathering place for a lot of the kids in the
neighborhood. We slept there all summer and even into the fall until it got so
cold that we could not stand it.
We had a “stash” of
about 200 comic books in the shack and a lot of kids just dropped by to see if
there were any more new additions to the comic book pile. I remember one of our
big jokes was to call them our O.C.S. (officer candidate school) reading
material.
The one big
disadvantage to “The Shack” was the power. The power came by way of a long
black extension cord that was plugged into the porch of our house and my Mom
could control when the light went off and on.
We were good scouts
however and we were prepared, with flashlights and even a Coleman lantern.
Sometimes after the “official” lights out we would cover the window with a
quilt and read or, shoot the bull, well into the night. I am sure the quilt did
not cover up all the light, but we really thought we were pulling a fast one on
Mom and Dad.
I guess, like most
(not all) teen age boys, our shack would get pretty dirty and we would get an
ultimatum from my Mom that it had to be cleaned up OR ELSE---? At that point we
would usually get our sisters to clean it up. We usually bargained with them
that they could use the place for a night sleep over for girls if they would
clean it. They always kept their part of the bargain; however I am not sure we
always kept our part?
My Sister and her
friend did play there occasionally but for the most part it was a “Boys
Hangout” and no girls were allowed except by special permission!
W.R. Baldwin
24 Oct 2014
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