I Coulda Been...

There are reasons I never made it all the

way to the top of the ladder. A couple of

those come to mind. I never read Moby

Dick and Ivanhoe in the eighth grade when

they were assigned. Oh, I picked up the

books and read a few pages, then became

board and watched the movies instead.

Sr. Ann Vincetta was no fool. She could

tell by the shallowness of my book reports

that I never completed the assigned work,

and she gave me a failing grade for my neg-

ligence and stupidity. “I coulda been a con-

tender; I coulda been somebody instead

of a bum!” Marlon Brando said that in the

movie, On the Waterfront, which I admired

at the time. Perhaps I could be a longshore-

man instead of a lawyer, doctor or magnate

of commerce. Nope, wasn’t meant for me.

I was a Midwesterner and there were no

oceans anywhere close to where I lived. I did,

however, sail down the Mississippi on Eileen

Ender’s dad’s boat one summer. I imagined

what it may have been like being Huck Finn

on his great adventures with Jim. My dad read

Mark Twain’s celebrated story to my brothers

and me when we were kids. We made the trip

to his childhood town of Hannibal, Missouri .

My dad even bought us each an authentic straw

hat. That should have accounted for something.

And as useless as all that ladder climbing stuff

turned out to be, at least in my old age today,

I have those fond childhood memories to keep

me company.

Chris Hanch 7-22-19