Squeak and the Mustangs (Part 2)

but I knew Squeak after his glory days on the ice
he had been a high scorer
but whether he showed any hustle or was a cherry picker
it made a difference
but unless he used to dig for the puck
he would never saw
like Gordie Howe he had played right wing

my position
maybe like his politics
and whether he used his elbows in the corners or winded defenders
with the butt end of his stick to the solar plexus like Gordie
nobody's saying now

in those days I didn't know much about those things
politics
I mean
except that if you lived in Calgary
you were probably a So Cred

Image result for social credit in alberta

and listened to Ernest Manning's evangelism on the radio

and had been complicit in saving funny bucks

and if you shifted your allegiances
it was probably only as far as Herbert W. Armstrong

or his son Garner Ted Armstrong

and the World Wide Church of God
The World Tomorrow today
out of Pasadena California
these were before the days when people were gone but not away
Alberta had its day of the perma fry
but we listeners were just God fearin' Christians
who said their prayers after the broadcast at bedtime
so this was hardly a con
or a cult
like Amway

but Garner Ted made a change
and to be fair
even that was an advancement on Bible Bill Aberhart who did the same thing

and you might have tried to trade some of your funny money
for a few American stamps
to affix to a self-addressed envelope
for a pamphlet or two
Why Were You Born?

Image result for "Why Were you Born" World Wide Church of God pamphlet

or Are These the End Times?

and in those days
voting for Peter Lougheed

was not that much of a stretch

when you heard the voices of doom
from Pepperdine University
speak over the waves
of Malibu
to you
to beware the illuminati
and head the warning of Robison from Edinburgh

who know the score
whether he was a free mason or not

To be continued.

Comments

Of course she's not a true red

As the parent of a "ginger", and having red heads on both sides of the family, and having married into two Irish families, I know first hand that ginger covers the whole spectrum from strawberry blonde (to my way of thinking a classic ginger!), to orange (carrot tops), to a real rust red (what my father in law would call a true red). When Pat Todkill first set eyes on his granddaughter, he remarked, "Of course, she's not a true red". For one thing, Emily the Elder lacked freckles on her face and upper body. For another, she really was and is a strawberry blonde. A further observation. Even people with the raven blackest hair have rust red lights--caveman red, soot covered ochre if you like. Woolly mammoth red. Sometimes it takes just the right light to pick out the smoldering ember, but beard and eyebrows tend to incorporate the tell tale ginger strain, like chili pepper in a spice jar of mixed pepper corns. And, of course, brunette...

Danusia and the brickworks

Kipling, who made comments about big guns and so many other politically inappropriate things it would be impossible to include them here, once visited Medicine Hat and declared that it had all hell for a basement. It does have natural gas, and a flame is constantly lit in the coulees to mark the spot. Some say it is a waste of gas, but at least you can actually tell the whisperer by his flame. Harder to pin down is the wind. In southern Alberta they say the cows sleep standing up because of the wind. And you only know there isn't a breeze when you get bit by a sand fly. Here I met Danusia, the daughter of Polish combatant, who, along with her childhood girlfriend Bogusia, sold Toni home perms and L'Oreal hair colour to fellow children of displaced persons, who cut hair and did it up just so in the Flats, where it flooded every Spring, or thereabouts. Danka and Bugsy were married, as was the custom, to strapping Polish lads who worked at the IXL brickw...

I double dog dare ya

I double dog dare ya to repeat the story you heard in 3 Trees the shop of Indian incense and beeswax crayons from Germany perhaps a source for Waldorf or Montessori Nepali filigree or Balinese woven silver and semi-precious gems cut loose dresses and butterfly pants from Indonesia or somewhere similarly hot and breezy and yoga cushions maybe made locally and unmentionable remarks harder to tell than listen to I think it was a tall woman of subcontinent ancestry who was trying on bras and dresses and saying she was generally pleased at the selection and the clerk who replied yeah who knew Asian women have boobs and height and take up space and commisserated with her customer who mentioned she didn't think men looked for a mirror to see how their bum looks before deciding and buying down the risk she knowingly showed to me I was there for the sale half price and no tax the gift they give 3 times a year to generate so...

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