We Love you Bonnie

repost 12 11 071

2

It was the Summer of 1955.3

I was a snot nosed 12 year old kid when4

Darryl Steel (18) talked Ross, (14) and me5

into going to see Bonnie Serchel '15' at 6

the Deconess hospital in Billings, Mont.7

Most people in town looked down on8

Daryle and his old man.9

There was graffiti denouncing both of 10

them on every public restroom wall in11

town.12

Bonnie Serchel was the lone survivor13

of her family when they ran into an oil14

tanker head on. They put the mangled15

wreck by the court house with a sign saying16

'THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU! in front of it.17

We took off in Darryl's dorky 18

looking old 40's something model green19

car that reminded me of a turtle.20

We got to Billings before visiting21

hours was over, and found poor little22

Little Bonnie looking lonely in her little23

hospital room. Her head looked real24

funny because a car tire had run over it.25

That's what I was told anyhow. we spent a 26

couple of minutes looking at each other27

in sad eyed bewilderment.28

Then Steel walked over to her29

and said something to her. I didn't quite30

hear. iI sounded like it was only three 31

or four words long, but for some reason32

I have always remembered that sound.33

Then we left and Daryle started34

driving like a hound from Hell.35

A few minutes later, Darryl turned36

his old car in between five sets of railroad37

tracks for about a quarter mile38

and got hung up on the rails. He39

left it there, a sacrafice to the train God.40

Then we said a sad goodbye. Steel41

walked away and vanished into the night.42

I never met or heard from him again43

I now believe poor Bonnie44

never walked out of that room alive. 45

.She was such a sad, quiet girl.46

Her memory haunts m47

Ross and me started walking the48

45 miles back to our town 45 miles North49

of Billings, and mid-morning the next day50

we got a ride with a guy driving an oil51

tanker??? He took us back to town.52

My family moved to Spokane 53

shortly thereafter, and I found out about54

ten years later that Ross shot himself55

in his woodshed outside his Wyoming56

home. I never found out why. But I know57

his brother, Rick, was killed by a high58

pressure hose on an oil derrick, when its59

coupler came lose.60

( Here are some other poets in my heart:61

Sarann, (16) (Baltimore 1963) Wanda Kiner, 62

Devie, The Goffena brothers, Louis, Wesley, 63

Bob, Paul ,Wilbur, and Jerome.and my64

late second cousin Betty, and Elizabeth65

and Ann and Cheryl etcetera etcetera66

etcetera! and Kay and Henry Bedord whom67

I would have liked to have known better. 68

These were serious minded people who 69

didn't stand for much foolishness. And the70

Sandvicks, (leonard was a joy) The Vukiches,71

The Blisses and the Shorty Reed family.72

The McPhersons, My Uncle Donald,73

My Uncle Cyrus, (A turret gunner in World74

War 11) Delpha Mills, my sociology teacher,75

Terrence Kelly my lit teacher-------------76

Jesus is definitely in the mix---------------77

my brothers Les and Dan, and especially78

my mom and Dad. All the servicemen,79

living and dead, who fought and died 80

so I could write what I want.81

Many cows, hogs, turkeys, chickens, dogs, cats82

and trees etcetera etcetera, etcetera. All83

the above are a part of me and others too84

numberous to mention are a part of my85

experience and contribute to my poor86

attempts at writing poetry. I have lived87

a life of great passion.88