Post by cottonpicker on Sept 7, 2011 11:17:26 GMT -5
CRATERS ON THE MOON AND SARAH SUE PUCKETT
Larry D. Davis
The year was 1952. I was in the 7th grade in the Memphis, Texas Junior Highschool
and it was five years before the Russians punched a hole into space with their “Sputnik”,
the world’s first artificial satellite. Those were much simpler, less sophisticated, times
but folks were already thinking about space travel, aliens on Earth and movies were
appearing about the subject since the “Roswell Incident” of 1947 in New Mexico was
still fresh in our memories. The science teacher at school had even ground optical lenses
and made a fairly decent telescope. He took a group of us students outside town to a
nearby knoll one dark night where he set up his scope to search the heavens. I was
amazed by the fact that he was smart enough to integrate the telescope with a mechanical
driver which he had calibrated to compensate for the rotation of the Earth in order to keep
our viewing field constant. I was astounded at his expertise and knowledge and thought
to myself that these were such exciting times to be living in!
My best friend, Jon Coleman, lived two houses down the street from me and we spent
nearly all our waking hours together. We both day-dreamed of space travel and decided
to become junior astronomers. He secured an old telescope and a pair of binoculars his
family used during sight-seeing trips to the New Mexico mountains and these “optical
instruments” became the heart of our observatory which was sometimes located on
his front lawn or in the back of his father’s old Chevrolet pickup. At nighttime we’d lie
there scanning the skies for any movement that might forecast a new discovery. Once in
a while we’d spot a shooting star but nothing much more exciting than that.
It was all quite disappointing, despite the fact that the clear atmosphere above the Texas
panhandle was ideal for viewing the nighttime skies. Highest on our priority list was
visually exploring craters on the Moon. They were mysterious and we pondered “how
were they formed”? Any life forms up there? What gas do “they” breathe? More
questions than answers, for certain! We longed for stronger lenses and a clearer picture,
but had no spare money since it had been shamelessly squandered on comic books from
the Drug Store and at the picture show downtown on the courthouse square.
One unforgetable Saturday night, near 10 O’clock, we were in the back of the pickup
scanning the heavens when our neighbor, Sarah Sue Puckett and her current boyfriend ,
Benny Davis, drove up & parked at the curb in front of her house located cater-cornered
( we called it ‘catty-cornered’) from our vantage point. We had already tired of looking
at craters on the Moon and, welcoming a diversion, we aimed our binoculars on the
action inside the car. This proved more suitable for the power of our lenses than an
object 230,000 miles away on the moon. Sarah Sue and Benny were exchanging
innocent good-night kisses for that evening and soon she ran inside and Benny sped
away. Wow… this was infinitely more exciting for a couple of eleven year-old boys than
watching craters on the moon!! But, it was getting late and we’d had enough
“astronomy” for the evening so I went home.
Next semester at school everyone was buzzing about a rumor they’d heard: Sarah Sue
was pregnant and not married! In 1953 this was definitely big news and the very first
time I ever remember of hearing such a thing. Times were different back then
and truthfully, I don’t know the outcome of it all since we were soon transferred back to
Oklahoma for my Dad’s job.
I suppose all of us have unanswered questions from our past and I always wondered
how it all turned out. Did Sarah Sue actually have a baby? Did she get married and
raise a family? I hope so. What happened to Jon Coleman? Last I heard of him, about
35 years ago, he got married and moved to Amarillo…or, was it Lubbock? I always
wondered: did he become an astronomer? I didn’t.
©2009Larry D. Davis
Larry D. Davis
The year was 1952. I was in the 7th grade in the Memphis, Texas Junior Highschool
and it was five years before the Russians punched a hole into space with their “Sputnik”,
the world’s first artificial satellite. Those were much simpler, less sophisticated, times
but folks were already thinking about space travel, aliens on Earth and movies were
appearing about the subject since the “Roswell Incident” of 1947 in New Mexico was
still fresh in our memories. The science teacher at school had even ground optical lenses
and made a fairly decent telescope. He took a group of us students outside town to a
nearby knoll one dark night where he set up his scope to search the heavens. I was
amazed by the fact that he was smart enough to integrate the telescope with a mechanical
driver which he had calibrated to compensate for the rotation of the Earth in order to keep
our viewing field constant. I was astounded at his expertise and knowledge and thought
to myself that these were such exciting times to be living in!
My best friend, Jon Coleman, lived two houses down the street from me and we spent
nearly all our waking hours together. We both day-dreamed of space travel and decided
to become junior astronomers. He secured an old telescope and a pair of binoculars his
family used during sight-seeing trips to the New Mexico mountains and these “optical
instruments” became the heart of our observatory which was sometimes located on
his front lawn or in the back of his father’s old Chevrolet pickup. At nighttime we’d lie
there scanning the skies for any movement that might forecast a new discovery. Once in
a while we’d spot a shooting star but nothing much more exciting than that.
It was all quite disappointing, despite the fact that the clear atmosphere above the Texas
panhandle was ideal for viewing the nighttime skies. Highest on our priority list was
visually exploring craters on the Moon. They were mysterious and we pondered “how
were they formed”? Any life forms up there? What gas do “they” breathe? More
questions than answers, for certain! We longed for stronger lenses and a clearer picture,
but had no spare money since it had been shamelessly squandered on comic books from
the Drug Store and at the picture show downtown on the courthouse square.
One unforgetable Saturday night, near 10 O’clock, we were in the back of the pickup
scanning the heavens when our neighbor, Sarah Sue Puckett and her current boyfriend ,
Benny Davis, drove up & parked at the curb in front of her house located cater-cornered
( we called it ‘catty-cornered’) from our vantage point. We had already tired of looking
at craters on the Moon and, welcoming a diversion, we aimed our binoculars on the
action inside the car. This proved more suitable for the power of our lenses than an
object 230,000 miles away on the moon. Sarah Sue and Benny were exchanging
innocent good-night kisses for that evening and soon she ran inside and Benny sped
away. Wow… this was infinitely more exciting for a couple of eleven year-old boys than
watching craters on the moon!! But, it was getting late and we’d had enough
“astronomy” for the evening so I went home.
Next semester at school everyone was buzzing about a rumor they’d heard: Sarah Sue
was pregnant and not married! In 1953 this was definitely big news and the very first
time I ever remember of hearing such a thing. Times were different back then
and truthfully, I don’t know the outcome of it all since we were soon transferred back to
Oklahoma for my Dad’s job.
I suppose all of us have unanswered questions from our past and I always wondered
how it all turned out. Did Sarah Sue actually have a baby? Did she get married and
raise a family? I hope so. What happened to Jon Coleman? Last I heard of him, about
35 years ago, he got married and moved to Amarillo…or, was it Lubbock? I always
wondered: did he become an astronomer? I didn’t.
©2009Larry D. Davis