Heartland Memories from David Lewis

Selling Dawn http://heartlandmemories.com/bits/YouGetWhatYouPayFor.mp3

Snobbery seeps into every facet of human endeavor, I think, even riding horses. Keeping equines at stables where they are cared for and have their stalls mucked by people hired for that very purpose, is an expensive proposition. Nevertheless, when I was in my early twenties, I made the financial commitment necessary […]

Those Less Fortunate http://heartlandmemories.com/bits/Kid.mp3

I never saw him wearing anything except a white t-shirt, blue jeans, and the ubiquitous boy’s footwear of the time – black and white Keds tennis shoes. He was a year or so older than I, but pale and smaller, with a shock of floppy blond hair. He lived with parents […]

http://heartlandmemories.com/bits/Celebration.mp3

As of this writing, it is May of 2010. There was a celebration at my house this morning. Last night was very stormy – heavy rain, excessive lightning, brutal winds – the temporary finale of several days of harsh weather that produced tornados in Oklahoma and Kansas, hail up to baseball size here and […]

The Taurus and the Bull http://heartlandmemories.com/bits/Baby.mp3

Leslie Hallcraft smiled at me as he reached over the top rail of a board fence and scratched the back of an immense Charolais bull.

“This is Baby,” he beamed. “He’s just as sweet as he can be…yes, he is!”

Les was my landlord. In the outback of the […]

Passing the Torch http://heartlandmemories.com/bits/LevisLegacy.mp3

[Editor’s note: This piece was not originally produced for this web site. As such, the format (music, style, etc.) differs from the other posts here.]

Roger and Sharon Sigler have lived in a rural portion of the Kansas City area for nearly three decades, and, for many of those years, their […]

http://heartlandmemories.com/bits/AlmostHeaven.mp3

In the mid through late 70s, I lived in almost Arkansas, Missouri – an area that is steeped in tradition, clannishness, and ticks. Outsiders are viewed there with a significant amount of suspicion, and not a small amount of predation. Unless you were born in almost Arkansas, of parents from almost Arkansas, you would […]

Planting the Seed http://heartlandmemories.com/bits/OnceUponATime.mp3

“Got a minute?” he asked.

I’d seen him around the area for the past few days. He was busy, landscaping mostly – installing water features, planting trees. He was a hard worker, and so old I couldn’t even guess at his age. It didn’t seem to affect him. He labored like […]