Back to Lacey Lake Again, and Again, and Again

    Sometimes I would go to the lake four or five days in a row, but when Dad needed me to cultivate corn, bale hay, fix fence, or combine wheat and oats, I was forced to stay and farm. Mom would tell me, "You don't need to be going to that lake every day when you're needed right here!"
     When I finally did get to go back to the lake, my Texas girl would say, "Roger, where've you been?"
And I always replied the same, "Oh, I've been around."
     I didn't know how to swim. In fact, no one in my family knew how to swim. The girls swam like fish in the water, and didn't hesitate to go into deeper water where it was over their heads. In the mean time I would only go out where the water was waste deep. One day another guy came swimming and was out in the deeper water with them. I couldn't stand it, so I made up my mind it was swim or drowned trying. Fortunately, I found it to be quite easy once I had gotten over the initial fear of it all.
    I spent every day I could at the lake, but  soon enough the summer days were over, and my Texas girl and her family had to return to Texas. This is how it was for the next few years. She would be gone all winter and I never knew for sure if she would ever return. I missed her dearly!
     It was my sixteenth year, and after much begging and teasing, plus, my parents figured I had earned it, they bought me a small motorcycle. I loved it! It was a Honda Super 90, It was 90 c.c., 8 h.p. and supposedly had a top speed of 65 miles per hour. I suppose riding my bicycle to the lake and all the swimming was better for strengthening my legs, and they were much stronger, but my Honda was much more fun!