W

Listen to Tom while I tell you a story.

‘WHAT ARE WORDS?’

W is for WISHES – WILDFLOWERS – and even WUNDERBAR

WISHES {a hope or desire for something}

WILDFLOWERS {a flower that grows wild, meaning it was not intentionally planted or seeded}

WUNDERBAR {a German expression used in English which means wonderful}

For a couple of years I lived in Alma, Colorado. Alma is famous for being the highest incorporated town in North American (sorry Leadville), for more reasons than one. At that time Alma had about 60 residents (mostly old folks and hippies) about 40 dogs and one goat named Hartzel.

While I lived in Alma I was employed as the town clerk. I worked out of my home. It was me and the mayor and town council. On my birthday, one year, we had absolutely no money, so we decided to take a drive up Mosquito Pass (not a real good idea in February). We proceeded to get stuck in a snow bank and had to walk out to the local VFW Post (yeah, it was located on the Mosquito Pass road). The boys at the Post bought us a drink and called “The Alma Hooker”.

That’s when I met Mickey Micek, the owner and operator of ‘The Alma Hooker’ (the local wrecker). When Mickey learned it was my birthday he took us back to the AOB (Alma’s Only Bar – which was located across the street from the other bar in town. Ah, come on there were 60 people in this town,of course, that included small children and babies) and bought us beers while he told his story.

Mickey and his brother had escaped from Czechoslovakia to Austria by swimming the Danube. I think Mickey was about 13 years old at the time. He was one wild mountain man, livin’ the ‘American Dream’, in one wild and wide open town.

A few years later Mickey was killed down in the flat lands just outside of Denver trying to outrun a train. They brought him back up to Alma to bury him at Buckskin Joe, the old time local cemetery. It was winter again (Alma was 10,300 ft above sea level, it was winter there a lot), I had come down to the old town hall to unlock that cold, drafty, haunted building. Mickey was a big horseman, so somebody brought in an old horse drawn hearse to carry him up to Buckskin Joe. They had the ceremonial rider less horse with the empty boots turned back and the whole deal. He was gonna be buried like a true American hero.

I had to run back home for something and was at THE stop sign in Alma when the truck in front of me started to back up. He had a big four horse trailer hooked up so he didn’t see me, actually I don’t think he looked (everyone was pretty preoccupied). I saw him coming at me at the very last minute and couldn’t get my truck in reverse fast enough so I hooked my thumbs around and laid on the horn. He hit me with enough force to break my thumb. That hurt like a @#$%. Anyway…I had to ‘buck up’ and get through this ordeal.

We had to walk up to Buckskin Joe behind the horses. It was cold and the snow was at least three feet deep. Mickey was laid to rest in the hole they had pick axed into the ground the night before. They literally had to cover him with stones until spring. In the spring his grave would be covered with wildflowers once the earth settled. We all walked back to town for a real ’wake’ at the Silverheels Saloon (Alma’s other bar). Everyone decided my thumb was broken, so they kept buying me drinks until it didn’t hurt anymore. Actually, nothing hurt for awhile, not even my heart.

Mickey was finally completely free. Laid down among the wildflowers. I WISH he hadn’t tried to outrun that train.  I WISH he had lived to be an old man followin’ that dream. I WISH I had known him longer and heard more of his stories. He had an interesting accent and used to say some strange things. I can’t remember if he ever said Wunderbar or not but he certainly was.

When I asked a friend with word help for these final few posts, he suggested Wunderbar. That and a post about bars knocked this old memory loose. While it made me sad for a few minutes, it also made me reflect on how much God loves me to have put so many interesting and Wunderbar people in my path. There are no coincidences.

Sorry for the length of this post. I just needed to tell this story. Excuse me while I go and explode.

{definitions courtesy of Wikipedia or Wiktionary}

A to Z Challenge – Want more information? Go right over there to that little A to Z A Badge, CLICK and see what it’s all about. While you’re there checkout some of the other participants. It’s fun. You will like it. Go on now, you know you want to.