The Frontier Kid

Maybe I better go back a little bit. It seems I got a little ahead of my story. I should bring up the fact that I did meet a girl that I liked pretty much, and went with her for better than a year before I met the sweet Ardis Dickey. Her name was Marie Freed. Her dad owned and farmed 2500 acres over around Camden, MI, and he was a Ford Dealer in Hudson, MI. I might say that she was a real good sport. She'd do just about anything that you'd mention that would create a good time. She had two brothers; John, the oldest and meanest, and Lyle, the nice guy. John was a real nasty roust-about, but he was a likeable cuss anyway. He always had a new car. His dad always gave the three of them new cars every year, new Ford cars, because the boys worked hard on the farm with the rest of the help and Marie helped take care of her invalid mother. John liked to skate, so he'd come over and pick Howdy and I up. We really loved this guy… We never had to buy any gas or furnish a car! We'd go all over the country skating, usually on a Sunday. We went to Paulding, OH, we went to Defiance, OH, Montpelier, OH, Walled Lake, MI, Battle Creek, MI, Detroit, and there was another small rink down in Ohio on the Maumee River… I can't think of the name of it, but I think it was Maumee. We went down there a lot because they always had something going on that would interest the young people. One of the things they had quite often was "The Dunking Ducks." In other words, they'd have white pekin ducks that they'd throw in the river, and the guys that were lined up on the bank waiting for the gun shot start would dive in and try and catch the duck. Of course, the Maumee River was a muddy river. You'd open your eyes under water, but you couldn't see anything because it was so muddy. Anyway, they'd throw the duck in the water, and the guy that… or the person (some women would participate in this too, but it was mostly a bunch of young guys), that caught the duck could keep 'im. So that created a lot of competition because there would be 10 or 12 guys trying to grab him. Of course, they'd dive under water, so you couldn't see them. But anyway, Howdy and I caught a couple of ducks apiece over time.