Clifton

Last night I was sitting around thinking about nothing and into my head pops Clifton. I found myself thinking about Lynn Davis and when i used to work for him, feeding and branding cows. I was about 13 when I was walking past his house, or more specifically his old red rundown barn, when he hollered out, "A dollar for what you know."

Being a dumb 13 year old I really didn't know what to say other than, not much. Little did I know I missed out on making that dollar, which back in those days would have bought 2 cokes and 2 candy bars. A few days later he asked if i wanted a job helping him feed his cows, which I jumped at as I was always reading old westerns and wanted to be a cowboy so bad.

I worked for Lynn until I was 18 and when I quit I was making ten dollars a week, whoo hoo! I had a lot of fun with him, driving his truck and shooting coyotes and learning about cows. He used to take me to the sale barn in Preston and sometimes let me bid on a cow or bull I liked. I have many fond memories of Lynn, more than I can write her but someday I need to sit down and write all the stories as some of them are really funny like the time I got chased all over by a calf but that is a story for another day.

So like I was saying I got to thinking about Lynn and wondering if he was still alive. I decided to turn to the Internet and look up the Preston Citizen. I found it and typed in his name and found he had just recently passed away. He died on December 4th 2006 at the age of 88. His wife is still alive which is surprising because I thought she would be the first to go.

I remember the last time I saw him. I was about 27 years old and he didn't recognize me hardly at all. He was sitting at the counter of the old Cowboy Cafe in Preston and I was there eating lunch. This is when I drove for Naylors.

I guess there are some good memories in that weird old town as well as bad.