Carousel and Cow

Sometimes there was a merry-go-round. At the end of Harrison Avenue there was a turnaround circle and a broad grassy area down to the Bay. My first ride was there, age two or three, 1937 perhaps, or 1938. A carousel was set up for a few days and my mother took me. When she sat me in the saddle of one of the animals, I was too small to hold on to the pole by myself, so she sat with me in the fancy, decorated seat. A ride, and on our way to Hoffman’s.

Hoffman’s was a mom and pop grocery. You went up to the counter with your list, and Mr. or Mrs. Hoffman picked your items from the shelves behind them, laid them on the counter, totaled your purchase, and made your change. There’s no cash register in my memory, just a cash drawer.

Hoffman’s Grocery was on 6th Street, which was paved, on a corner. The side street was a dirt road -- Grace, Jenks or Mercer perhaps -- more than seventy years ago, memory fades, and I can't ask my mother. Directly across the dirt side road was an empty lot and a tethered cow, munching grass.

Mama parked out front while I waited in the car, confronted by the cow. A formidable creature, she always stopped munching grass to stare at me with enormous, piercing brown eyes while I cowered in the back seat and peeped out. Hoffman’s cow? Who knows.

During World War II the U.S.O. was built at the end of Harrison, to the west of the turnaround circle. The United Services Organization hosted servicemen, and local girls went there for dances. Our servicemen were Army Air Corps from Tyndall Field, Coast Guard from the USCG station at Tarpon Dock Bridge on Massalina Bayou, and sailors from the little Navy Base across Hathaway Bridge. For R&R the sailors had to go someplace, didn't they. There was certainly nothing to do at the beach, was there, Thomas Drive didn’t even exist, did it, so they came into town. Far too young to understand, I remember eyebrow raising about the girls who frequented the USO to dance with the soldiers and sailors. They were expected to date just the local Bay High boys, what about their "reputation" -- whatever that was, dating a sailor, you know how sailors are. After the war the USO became the Civic Center and there we had grade school events, graduations, dances, plays, and piano recitals. Gradually we stopped calling it the USO.

TW+