I've got some exciting news. Harts Corner is decorated for Christmas. My town, the town that has become the best thing that ever happened to me, Harold Coburn, is wonderfully beautiful and I had something to do with making it look that way.
You know, for years, I've been the street cleaner of this town. You didn't know? Well, it's right there in Miz Barbara's book about how I was pretty messed up after Korea, roamed around a lot as a lost soul, like a lot of guys do after all these wars we get ourselves into. When I woke up in the Psych Ward of a hospital in Temple after a full-blown black out, I felt like a bucket of cold water had been thrown all over me. I woke up to what a lousy life I was livin'.
I dried out and hit the road, going just a short piece down the road before I found Harts Corner where kind people accepted me, allowed me to keep their streets clean, sell the bottles I collected to supplement my disability money, and even offered me a roof over my head for a little caregiving. I met MM and she introduced me to Jewel Tate and that made life more than worth taking care of. And this year, this town sort of crowned me with new glory. I was asked to decorate the streets for Christmas.
Sam McCrory has beendoin' this prettyin' up forever. It was a no-brainer that he had the job; he had the only truck suitable to put ladders on the bed in order to reach the one stop light, the dozen or so lamp posts, and the top of the community Christmas tree to place the star on top and wind the lights around the upper branches. This year Sam decided (we all figured his wife made the decision for him) that he was getting too old to shimmy up that ladder. So he asked me if I wanted the job.
Did I ever! Who wouldn't want to put all those colored lights up and down the street, hang those ornament-covered wreaths from lamp posts, and place the big candy canes around the courthouse grounds? With Sam's supervision, I went to work immediately. It ws not easy--that Sam had done an amazing job all those years. But with his supervision and the use of his truck, I decorated the town.
If you want to see something downright breathtakin', pay a visit to Harts Corner at 6 o'clock tomorrow night. Bethy Rose is gonna hit the switch to light up the most beautiful corner of the world--at least I think it is.
Hot chocolate and gingerbread men will be provided by the Blue Moon Cafe, so come help us celebrate the official beginnin' of Christmas in Harts Corner.
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