Climbing with the Medfords - Part 1

 Good morning!

Are you sure it's Friday? Isn't it Wednesday or something? No? Maybe Thursday? Well, I suppose if you and the calendars insist that it is Friday, I should post.

This week has been busy. Not a lot of extra things at the beginning, but it was still busy. Between trying to get some blog posts done for Read Another Page, and editing and publishing Lessons from Liberty (yes, it's published now), and writing, and really starting prep for KDWC, and normal life, I guess it was a bit busy. Yesterday my mom, sis, and I went up to help my aunt clean out some things. Then this evening I'm heading over to a friend's house to help her try out her new ice cream maker. :) She invited the other single gals at church too. Maybe I should start calling us the "Unmarrieds". Oh, and my best friends are back in town, and I'm hoping to get together with just them (no kids for one time) to talk and celebrate their birthday that is coming up. And I need to get my final 2 miles for the Spring 100 challenge walked. I don't think I'll have any trouble doing that. I also need to finish getting ready to teach Children's Church on Sunday. I taught a last minute review last Sunday because there was a mix-up in schedule. And we have music practice after church again.

Anyway, I have a 2 part story for you this time. Well, you can have the first part this week. I first posted this back in 2016. I have a whole lot about the Medford family written, but it's all in letter form. I hope you enjoy this! And if you've subscribed to my newsletter and have read "The Medford's 4th of July" this is the same family.

 

Climbing with the Medfords

Part 1

    It was a beautiful October day. The sun was shining in a cloudless sky and the air was brisk as the Medford children of school age climbed onto the school’s bus. It was time to head home and the bus was full of chattering children.
    “What are you going to do when you get home?” Alice asked her best friend Katie.
    “I’ll probably have to help with some chores or start on my homework. I wish we could do something fun.”
    “Me too.”
    “Maybe we could go roller skating later.”
    “Oh, that would be fun. I’ll check with my mom after we get home.”
    The two friends continued to talk as the bus stopped here and there to let children off. They were discussing their teacher’s upcoming wedding when a sudden noise and the jerking of the bus interrupted them.
    “What’s happening?”
    “Did something break?”
    “Why did we stop?”
    The questions were asked so quickly that Mr. Benton, the driver, held up his hands. “I don’t know. You kids just sit there a minute and let me take a look.”
    After waiting a few minutes Mr. Benton climbed back into the bus. “I don’t know what we’ll do. There’s something wrong with the engine. Don’t know how long it will take and I’ve got to get you kids home.”
    “Oh, we can walk home,” Walter Medford spoke up.
    “Yeah,” Frank Burton put in. “We all live near each other. Why can’t we walk home?”
    “Please,” the rest of the children begged, eager to be out in the sunshine and fresh air.
    For a moment Mr. Benton looked at the excited, pleading faces of the school children. “All right,” he began. “But,” he raised his voice to be heard above the sudden clamor of tongues, “you must all promise to stick together!”
    A loud chorus of “We promise!” filled the air as the children eagerly grabbed their books and climbed down off the bus. With many shouts and waves, the children set off down the street in a happy bunch, jackets open or slung over shoulders. It was glorious to be outside at last with a tramp through the town ahead of them.
    They had walked a few blocks when suddenly Frank exclaimed, “Walter, look!” He pointed to a very large billboard. It was the largest one the children had seen and it excited their interest. “Let’s climb it!”
    “Yeah, let’s!” Walter shouted eagerly, running towards it with Frank on his heels and the rest of the children tagging along. Climbing billboards was a favorite activity for Walter and Frank as well as several others in the group, though no one had climbed one that high before.
    Reaching the bottom of the billboard pole, the schoolbooks were quickly dumped on the ground and the girls waited eagerly for Walter and Frank to tell them it was all right to climb. The two boys, feeling responsible for the welfare of the rest of the children, wanted to make sure the billboard was safe.
    “I think they just wanted a chance to enjoy it by themselves,” Alice whispered to Katie.
    Katie nodded.
    After what seemed like hours to those waiting below, Walter called down, “Okay, come on up!”
    There was a scramble for the ladder and before long Lillian and Alice Medford, Katie Burton and Ester Hershal were standing with the boys at the top of the billboard taking in the amazing bird’s eye view of Boonsville.
    “It feels like we’re birds in a nest,” Ester laughed. “But I don’t see any mother bird coming with a bug to feed us.”
    The girls laughed at that thought and Katie added, “Good, because I’d hate to have to eat a bug!”
    “Look!” Walter pointed, “there’s our house!” Sure enough the Medford house could be seen among the trees many blocks away.
    Turning to look in another direction, Frank pointed out the large church on Clark street.
    “Why, I think I can see the school,” and Alice pointed in the direction where a building of some sort could be partially seen that might indeed be the school.
    “I don’t know if it is,” Frank said.
    “It rather looks like it though,” Walter added, not wanting to sound too critical of his younger sister’s idea.
    “And see there,” Katie pointed near the Medford’s house. “Is that Rob and Sara?”
    “Where?” Ester and Alice asked at once.
    “There, at the corner grocery. Don’t you see them?”
    Frank and Walter turned. “Wouldn’t that be funny if it was? We ought to ask them if they were at the grocery at this time,” and Walter looked down at his watch. “Too bad we didn’t bring any binoculars with us. Then we really could have seen things.”
    “Walt, you and I should come back some time with a pair.” Frank grinned at the idea.

 

 Did you have a busy week?

Have you ever climbed a billboard?

Do you think you'd like to?