Photo by Phyllis Stokes
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that on this day that “will live in infamy” in FDR’s famous words, it lives on in the keeper’s memory as a ride in the family Model A Ford to stop at Riven Clark’s Standard Oil gas station on Highway 8 to hear the cluster of customers speak of “dirty sneaks” and “signing up” and “gas rationing,” and never dreaming of five years without Hershey bars or corn candy.
Those years became the setting for the keeper’s “Margaret’s War” novel of several years ago in which he tried to make the point that when isolated civilian populations are brought face to face with enemy soldiers in the form of German Prisoners of war there is a recognition of commonality and the burning question arises: “Why the hell are we killing each other?”
Unfortunately, the question was buried in the postwar frenzy to ignore the Goldstar mothers, throw out the ration books and consume, consume, consume.
The keeper remembers seeing the German POWs playing soccer behind the county highway shop and wondering what they had to do with missing Hershey bars.
“Margaret’s War” is available on Amazon, at stores or from the keeper for $10 plus shipping at his website–billstokesauthor.com.
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