It would be a century before anyone would make a call on his cellular telephone or play a video game. Nobody watched television, sent an E-mail message or used an I-pod. Nobody had to line up to be searched before boarding an airplane; there were no airplanes. There was not a shopping mall or a McDonald’s to be found in the Land. No need for them since automobiles were things of the future. Nevertheless, nearly every family had a horse and a wagon since most in southwestern Virginia where Presto...(click to continue reading)

While touring a secondary highway, the children were playing a travel game. They selected an object on the roadside and counted points when the object appeared on a team’s side of the road. The object of the day was a herd of cows. They made no distinction between a herd of milk cows or a herd of beef cattle. When a herd was sighted a team of two would declare a point for the team. The points accumulated for each team, and the advantage would swing from one side to the other from time to time. A...(click to continue reading)

As I was growing up nearly every boy I knew wanted to have a toy train. It was his dream to find a train under the tree on Christmas morning. I was no different. I looked at the Sears Roebuck catalog and drooled over the pictures of trains in the toy section.

We lived in sight of a real railroad where many trains passed every day. I wished that I could be the engineer and drive a train. If I had my own train I could make it go whenever I wanted it to go.

I got my wish one Chris...(click to continue reading)

The June night was clear with a bright starry sky above. We sat around a little campfire that was not for the heat but for the effect. We always thought a campout was incomplete without a fire to gaze into. It had been a daunting, sometimes frustrating task to get the assembled family together; for every date I suggested someone objected. Eventually we found a time we could agree on, and here we were sitting around a campfire as happy as could be. Some even wanted to sing songs and they did. Now...(click to continue reading)

Fred walked in, just arriving home from work. He greeted Fran with a friendly kiss on her lips, and said “Hi, Babe. Did you have a good day?” 

“Good enough I guess,” she replied, “I did a little dusting. The stuff just won’t stay outside.”

Fred looked around and said, “Good job, I don’t see any dust except what I just tracked in. Aunt Martha is looking in a different direction from usual.” Fred went to the mantle where Aunt Martha’s picture sat and turned it slightly to its usu...(click to continue reading)

Sam Camper was a craftsman who worked in the sample department at Westinghouse. He had built many sample devices to specifications of engineers of the control section. He frequently suggested better ways of making an item. He was a good-natured man, about twenty years my senior. He was also advisor and consultant to young engineers on almost any subject especially women, sex, and marriage. He had attended my wedding after giving me his unsolicited advice.

One day during my first year as...(click to continue reading)