Peculiar things
One thing I have noticed several times and have meant to comment on is a length of highway on the Kansas Turnpike. This bit of Kansas Department of Transportation real estate is just beyond the Emporia entrance as one heads north to Topeka.
I am certain there must be a story behind this stretch of road in the center of Kansas, but I cannot imagine what it might be. Its almost like KDOT is testing us to see if anyone is paying attention. There is a sign right there on the side of the turnpike, flat old land-locked Kansas stretching out for miles around it, as far as one can see.
The sign says "Submarine Veterans' Memorial Highway." Does anyone else think this is odd?
How do you suppose our submarine veterans selected that spot to commemorate their service to the country? I would have thought something along the Pacific Coast Highway. Or perhaps a super-two running parallel to Peugeot Sound or a stretch of Florida beach property.
You know, a body of water. S-u-b-marine
I have probably missed something here. If you figure it out, let me know. (And PUL-EASE do not misconstrue this commentary as a criticism of submarine veterans or anything like that. They certainly have a right to have their memorial highway any darn place they please. I just would have thought it might have some proximity to moisture.)
A second peculiar thing happened after I wrote this past week about my final trip to northern Illinois. Big news for Peabody: we have more than one former fire baton twirler in our midst. I am keeping most of this information to myself, because I am in charge of fund-raising for Peabody Main Street and I am not above extortion. I think there is real potential in having this knowledge.
Twirling a fire baton must have been a boomer-girl dream come true. I wonder who started it?
As I said, I was surprised to find that my baby sister twirled, spun, tossed, and caught something she soaked overnight in kerosene and then set aflame. I never knew and I can't imagine her doing it. Good grief. My mother simply couldn't have been paying attention.
There must not have been an "October is Fire Prevention Month" back then. How else would you explain entire school districts letting young girls do such a thing every fall? Maybe that is why October is fire prevention month. Maybe too may drill team participants ignited themselves during halftime shows.
I do want to share one bit of local trivia with you, just because I can.
It seems a much younger Patti (Sutphin) Gaines (now a grandmother as well as our dignified school district treasurer) was once a famed PHS drill team member who DID twirl a fire baton. And she confessed that she actually did set herself on fire, burning all the hair off her arms in a single performance! From that halftime show until the end of her career the band director never let her onto the field unless he had a bucket of water at the edge of the 50-yard line. Wait until I tell my mother what could have happened!
Patti is a pretty good sport about most things, so I bet she'll tolerate all you comedians for about two and half days. After that, anyone entering the Peabody-Burns central office waving a lighter or a book of matches might learn the definition of the term "death wish." But knock yourselves out. I expect she can hold her own.
And those are two peculiar things I have learned. Don't you wish you had this job?
— SUSAN MARSHALL
