BLOGAHOMA

So picture this…… It is 10:00 am and I am leaning against the wheel of a medicine wagon atop a trailer being pulled by a firetruck. I have on my 3 lb elk hide cowgirl skirt a cobbletop Resistol cowboy hat that sits down low on my ears, around my neck is a realistically painted rubber rattlesnake. I tell people that it’s a boa to bring out my feminine side. I am surrounded by fellow Medicine Park Marauders, outlaws and law, dressed in seedy looking outfits that fit the wild West era and some more dignified women and kids are dressed as c1900 townies. We all have our guns, pistols, rifles and the like. And here we go number 75 entry in the Armed Forces Day parade in Lawton/ Ft. Sill. In front of us are Polynesian dancers, Shriner Clowns and Vietnam Vets on motorcycles following were the Budweiser Clydesdales and Stripes life size dancing soft drinks and hotdogs. Most of the entries show their patriotism with lots of red, white and blue. Since Medicine Park has been a respite for soldiers since WWI and several of the Marauders are Vets we feel we belong in the parade as much if not more than the dancing soft drinks.

All’s good as we are allowed to shoot our guns (blanks) at random but with caution which is what the Marauders want to do anyway. Our token floozy, Miss Goodbody is atop the wagon dressed in sparkly purple complete with bustle and (real) feather boa. She sports a double barrel 12 gauge shot gun that she shoots off for special attention. Miss Idona Donotta, member of the Society for Sobriety acts indignant after each shot blast. Every other block or so we sing the chorus of “There’s Five Pound of Possum in My Headlight Tonight” led by Marshall Odie Bob. The parade spectators, to our amazement and delight sing and clap with us.

It is somewhere around the third or fourth singing of the “Possum Song” while I readying my gun for the next shoot out and adjusting the snake around my neck, that the thought occurs to me that before moving to the Park I was a corporate VP.