To say its hot is an understatement, you don't get any shade from corn. You see, trailers are like match boxes with tar roofs covered in tin foil. This means when it is 90 degrees outside, it can easily be 30 degrees hotter in your mobile hotbox. The concept was great on paper, aluminum, faux wood paneling and roll out windows on a frame with wheels equal home sweet mobile home, or as I like to call it "The Trailer". And during the summer I like to call it the hinges of hell.

You can tell summer is running its course, you can see all the little children are running around the trailer park, without shoes of course, their little feet covered with tar and their little mouths covered with stains from the Mulberry tree by Mrs. Zimmer's double wide. There are about 30 kids with 12 teeth between them. Since there are only 2 fire hydrants in the park, they have to find sprinklers in other peoples yards to keep them cool. Well, this doesn't set well with some of the residents in the park.

Bobby Ray is a quiet man, he hasn't said much since he got back from Viet Nam. Most of his time, he just sits out in his tree and shoots squirrels with his BB gun. Well, last summer, his Ma was sprinkling the lawn during the drought, and some of the neighborhood kids were running through the yard and Bobby Ray winged two of them. No permanent damage was done; they were both young and couldn't run as fast as the other kids that got away. This year to avoid any more mishaps, they have installed an electric fence.

Fishing is another great past time, there is a creek that runs just south of the trailer park here. Lots of crawdads and frogs, but it does run deep and you can catch some good fish in it. True, it does flow in or out of the city nuclear power plant, but that depends on how you look at it. Scooter and Cyrus are related they are cousins and in-laws at the same time. Yes, it is possible. But anyway, they go fishing almost every day and frog gigging every night, and in their spare they dig for crawdads. It appears that one night Scooter and Cyrus were a bit liquored up after a long day, which is nothing out of the ordinary, but it was a full moon and the frogs were out in full force.

Cyrus was stabbing frogs left and right and before he knew it he ran his gigging fork clean through Scooters foot. Well, Scooter sent out a howl that started all the dogs in the park to barking and lights came on in trailers down the row. Cyrus wobbled and Scooter hobbled back to the Trailer Park and they bandaged him up on the same table they cleaned the fish on and had themselves a good old fashioned midnight fish fry and hoot nanny! Several days later after they sobered up, they found out that gangrene had set in and they had to amputate 3 of Scooters toes, but he didn't mind because they made great catfish bait.

Another great Trailer Park Holiday is the 4th of July. There is probably not a group of people more patriotic than the impoverished trailer dweller. At the lake every year there is a festival where the Knights of Columbus cook pork chop sandwiches and the Volunteer Fire Department Band plays and Tammy's Twirlers twirl their batons using a flatbed of a truck for a stage. Young Delrina Kittle had her baton 20 feet in the air and a firework went off and hit her square in the eye. But the highlight of the show is the Mayor's wife singing her medley of Patriotic Hymns. It's kind of like Scooters howl when Cyrus stuck him in the foot, it starts the dogs barking too. This year, we were so embarrassed to find out that Little Luke was setting off fore works at the cemetery, but then I guess it wasn't his fault that they buried his Aunt on the 4th of July. So remember, it doesn't matter where you live, there is always a story to tell. Look for more tales from the trailer park coming soon.