Roping Junya (Junior)

Let me take you back to about 1955 and tell you about the worst whipping ever from my Mom. This is about my cousin "Junya" and Gerald "Texas Ranger" Cole and what happened on that fatefull winter day in 1955. Jullian Verret Jr. , known to me as Junya, was a delivery boy for Mrs. Gordy's grocery store which was in our neighborhood. Back in the day before Winn Dixie, Albertson, Wal Mart and Whole Foods there were the local grocery stores that used delivery boys on the old time big tire bicycles with huge baskets for the boxes of groceries that were to be delivered to your door. Yes, "boxes" not plastic bags and yes "delivered". I guess Junya was about a freshman at Franklin High School and dating the most beautiful girl at FHS and I was about 8 years old. At that time, before pro-sports mega stars, 8 year old boys aspired to being firemen, policemen, cowboys or Texas Rangers and with 25 cents and three Butterfinger candy bar wrappers sent to the candy company I received my offical Texas Ranger badge and ID card. Yes sir, I was sure enough a Texas Ranger. With my boots, badge and ID card I was out in the yard honing my cowboy skills with my lasso. I was roping posts and small shrubs and trying to rope my dog but who was I kidding, a moving target. No way. I look up and I see Junya coming down the gravel street that passes in front of my house. I was standing in the ditch on the side of the road when I yelled out "hey Jun, I'm going to rope you". Well Junya hollered back "go head" knowing full well there ain't no way. I let that rope fly and to both our disbelief the noose of the lasso circle above Junya's head like a halo before settling down around his neck. I was so in awe of my accomplishment that I forgot to just let go of the rope. The rope tightened, Junya came off the bike in a horizontal position with his legs straight out and the bike kept on rolling and fell in the loose gravel. I knew right then and there I had messed up big time. Not only was Junya gasping for air and hacking but the groceries that were in the basket were all over the road and in the ditch, the eggs were all broken and the glass bottle of milk was in pieces. I figure I was going to have to pay for the groceries, and pay I did. After we got everything picked up I saw that the rope burn on Junya's neck looked pretty bad but he could probably hide it if he wore turtle necks. The groceries were ours, and the rope was what my Mom used to beat me. Junya still remained my favorite cousin, he did not marry the most beautiful girl at FHS. He joined the Air Force, got married to a girl from Witchta Falls, Texas and settled in that town. I saw Junya only one time after he joined the Air Force. He came home on leave about the time I was a freshman at FHS and we sat on swings in the park across from my house and just talked about life in general and how things had changed in the neighborhood and in our lives. I never saw Junya again, he died several years ago. I never did get to meet his wife or his kids, don't know if they would enjoy the story or not, but I would like to tell them that Junya was a wonderful person to have as a cousin. And I really looked up to him. I suppose my decision to joined the Air Force in 1966 was due in some part to Julian Verret, Jr.