Do you remember the song about The Muffin Man? Well, this next topic sort of reminds me of that song. Do you remember the Watkins Man?

He would always come when the weather was nice. He drove down our driveway and parked beside the house. I don’t recall what vehicle he drove, but it had to be spacious enough to carry his supplies and his kit that had a carry handle which he brought into the house.

He was always so happy when he greeted Auntie Kay at the door. He was a true farmer at heart because he never took his shoes off before coming into the house, of course none of us did. All the floors had linoleum so they were cold in sock feet.

Sometimes he set his kit on the floor and sometimes he put it on the kitchen table if there was room for it. I was fascinated with that kit. It held bottles with fluids of different colors; some dark green, some light green, some red, others yellow. There were the different sized cans of ointments too.

I don’t know what or how much Auntie Kay bought from him but it didn’t seem as though she bought much at all, for I don’t think there was much money to spare in our household.

The Watkins Man might spend half an hour at hour at our house then he would be on his way. I don’t recall how often he came, but it seems to me it was usually in the morning, so I had to be a pre-schooler during the time of his visits.

Eventually I left the Watkins Man behind when I went to school.
Once I learned to read, I began to enjoy comic books. Auntie Kay and Wally did not want me to read comic books for they thought it would damage my book reading desire.

Some of the comics I read were, Baby Huey, Chip N Dale, Porky Pig, Woody Woodpecker, Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, various army comics, Tweety and Sylvester, and Casper the Friendly Ghost. There were others too but their names escape me.

In our neighborhood we had a boy named Richard B. who was an acquaintance. He traded comics. Sometimes he would come to my place on his bike and sometimes I would go to his place on my bike. He always had tons of comics, many of which I had not read.

Richard’s trading policy was that he would take two of my comics in exchange for one of his. Sometimes, if I traded thirty comics for fifteen of his he would throw in an extra comic or two for good measure.

I grew out of reading comics and it didn’t foul up my interest in book reading as my parents had feared. The years of TV watching did more to waylay my book reading than comics ever did.

Today I read some, watch some TV, work and play on the computer, do some volunteering, work for a little pay, and enjoy it all. There is always a balance. When I fully retire, I’ll have to get serious about including honey-do’s.

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