Fannie Flagg - Standing in the Rainbow

He repeated the word a lot all the way to California and also when he first saw the huge Alisal Ranch, where the Boy Scouts were staying. It was a real working ranch and they met a genuine bowlegged cowboy, who showed them where they would be sleeping. In a real bunkhouse, as it turned out. That night, after they'd walked back from the first Boy Scout ceremony, the dark blue sky was spangled with stars so close you could almost touch them. And they had thought the stars in Elmwood Springs were bright. Even though it was summer, the night was cold and Jake, the hired hand, made a fire in the big stone fireplace. What a day. They had met boys from all over the world who had also never seen a ranch before but none was more impressed than Bobby.

Later, when everyone else went to bed, he was too excited to sleep. He lay there watching the reflections of the orange and black flames dancing on the ceiling and listened to the sound of coyotes from a distant hill and he felt as if he had just stepped into a Zane Grey novel. As he fought to stay awake his mind began to wander… and dream.

The boy's father walked into his room with a letter in his hand and a solemn look on his face.

"Son, we never told you this before today… but you have an uncle out West who has just died and left you his entire ranch. Running a five-hundred-thousand-acre spread is a big responsibility but I know you can handle it."

The young stranger rode up to the Double R Ranch house and thought to himself, as he surveyed the thousand head of cattle mooing gently in the meadow and the cowpokes that stood around warily eyeing the slow but steady approach of the new young owner, "Yes… you may be a tenderfoot today, Bob Smith, but tomorrow…"

Just then the daughter of the ranch foreman, a shy, pretty girl, suddenly appeared on the vine-shaded veranda. "Howdy, ma'am," he said as he swung down from his horse. "And what is your name?"

"Margarita," she replied, her dark eyes flashing.

This was a trip he would never forget.

The fifties brought many profound changes both at home in Elmwood Springs and all over America. Everywhere you looked, hundreds of TV antennas seemed to pop up overnight, until every house on every block had one. Names like Philco, Sylvania, Motorola, Uncle Miltie, and Howdy Doody were now part of the language. But television sets and performers were not the only things multiplying. Babies were being born by the thousands every minute of the night and day.

Norma and Macky Warren now had a little girl named Linda, and Anna Lee had a child on the way, and this morning Dorothy had yet another birth to announce. On April 7 Dorothy came down the hall as usual, greeted her guests, and the show started.

"Good morning, everybody. it's another pretty day over here. Mother Smith as usual says hello and is feeling good today. Flash, as Walter Winchell would say. Attention, Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea. Last night our little friend Betty Raye over in Sedalia, Missouri, gave birth to a seven pound little Hamm Sparks, Junior… So a great big welcome to the world, baby boy! I know your parents are proud. It seems like only yesterday we were waving good-bye to your mother. Oh, how time flies. We have a lot of fun things lined up for you today. Our two special guests, Ruth and Dawn, the Bohemian harpists, are here all the way from Gaylord, Missouri, and they will be doing their famous rendition of "Sing Gypsy Sing' for us.

"But before we start the show, we have one more little cat that needs a home and I'll tell you he's the sweetest thing, just wants to sit in your lap all day and love on you. Dr. Stump says he's in good health and he will do his male operation for free… We really need to make sure that all our animals have their male and female operations… there are just too many precious dogs and cats out there with no home.

I look at Princess Mary Margaret and it almost breaks my heart to think she could be out in the world all alone without a family and I'm sure you feel the same way.

"Also we do want to thank Mrs. Lettie Nevior of Willow Creek who sent Princess Mary Margaret the loveliest little coat with her name embroidered right on it. And Mrs. Nevior, how I admire your tiny little stitches. You are just an artist, that's all I can say, just an artist."

Bess Goodnight, who worked at the Western Union office, walked up on the porch and handed Dorothy something that had just come in over the wire. "I thought you might want to see this," she said.

"Thank you, Bess," Dorothy said as she quickly scanned the news item.

"A fanfare, if you please, Mother Smith. An announcement has just come in and I am happy to report that our own wonderful sponsor, Mr. Cecil Figgs of Cecil Figgs Mortuaries and Floral Designs, has just been named Missouri Businessman of the Year for the second time in a row. So another great big congratulations to you! We always love it when our advertisers do well."

If there was ever a business that proved advertising paid off, it was Cecil Figgs Mortuaries and Floral Designs. What had started out as one small, pink concrete-block building was now thirty-six large, white columned affairs designed to resemble Tara in Gone with the Wind scattered across the state, two in Kansas City alone. By now Cecil Figgs was the biggest name in the funeral and floral business. He was advertised statewide, on the radio, on billboards, on bus stop benches, in newspapers and the Yellow Pages. Everywhere you looked or listened you would see or hear about Cecil Figgs.

"Open twenty-four hours a day to better serve you and will arrange pickup at any location. We treat your loved ones as one of our own."

Of course, he advertised layaway plans. After Cecil had been named Businessman of the Year for the second time, Helen Reid, a woman with the local newspaper, who was assigned to do a story on him, arranged an interview with his two aunts, who still lived in the small town of Eudora, Missouri, where he'd been born. Mrs. Mozelle Hemmit was sitting in her parlor recalling his childhood for the reporter.

"Cecil always loved a funeral. From the time he was six years old, you bring him a dead cat and you had yourself a funeral. Flowers, music, and headstone to boot."

His other elderly aunt, Mrs. Ethel Moss, agreed. "It's true. Whenever most boys were off playing ball he'd be down at Shims' Mortuary in his little blue suit attending somebody's funeral. It didn't matter whether he knew the family or not. Did it, Mozelle?"

"No," she agreed. "He just liked mingling with the crowd and sympathizing with the grieving relatives. By the time he was twelve Mr. Shims had already put him to work overseeing the visitors book and handing out fans. Remember, Ethel?"

Ethel nodded. "That's right and he made good money too and I'll tell you this, if there is such a thing as a born mortician, he's it. Cecil just loves the public, dead or alive, and he always did."

"And," said Mozelle, "he was just a natural florist right from the get go. Cecil was always a whiz with flowers, wasn't he, Ethel?"

"Oh yes, that boy could whip up an arrangement out of what most people threw away… and creative! Remember that spray of wheat and corn shucks he arranged for old Nannie Dotts's casket? He's just a miracle worker when it comes to arranging. You hand him five dandelions and a handful of weeds and by the time he gets done, you've got yourself a dining room table centerpiece."

"I remember when he first started out," Mozelle said. "He bought Mr. Shims's place. He was a one-man band as far as the funeral business. He did the flowers, embalmed the departed, greeted the mourners, sang the hymns, and preached the sermon… and if that wasn't enough, he drove the hearse. Now, if that's not service, I don't know what is. But he's come a long way from those days. I know Ursa is proud of him.