Burma Shave
Signs, a Brief History
You're riding along a back-country road towards Dunnsville Virginia. It's
mid-June, 1952. Peering out the side window from the right-hand back seat of
Dad's dusty green Buick, nose against glass, you're bored and itchy from the
long ride. Dreaming of the lazy Rappahannock, three miles wide at the summer
place. Lindan, named after you and your sister. She teases you that it has all
the letters of her name and just the last of yours. Anticipation is no longer
enough to make you forget car cramps and stir craziness that wind up an 8 year
old on the long ride from Richmond. You argue. It's three-letters each. You're
right.
Ahead in the tall grass along the roadside, you see a red sign with white
letters. The steel sign is about three feet long and eight inches high,
fastened to a steel fence post driven into the sandy roadside. You can't make
out the weathered lettering. As you get closer you read it.
DRIVERS WHO SPEED
That's all it says. You wonder, chin hard against door sill. It makes no sense.
The fields are filled with watermelons and sandy vines beaten bright by the
sun. The melons are almost black. Fat. Silent Buddas. Sometimes hand-lettered
signs offer them for sale. Five cents. Those signs you understand. This one ...
you are stopped in space and time. A mile of grass and hot watermelons pass you
by.
Suddenly ahead you spy a second red sign, the same shape as the first. This one
leans crazily towards the road. It's fainting in the heat. Interested now you
strain to make out the words before Linda reads it aloud.
TOO FAST DOWN THIS ROAD
Oh! It's a message, broken across miles of steaming summer road. Excited now
you watch carefully, anticipating, staring intently through the heat waves
shimmering up from country asphalt.
Another mile. There! Nailed to a huge old oak tree, always on your side of the
road, white letters on red:
WON'T GET WHAT THEY NEED
You're in the rhythm of the trip. Imagination compresses miles. Dust billows
up behind the Buick while you work out what might be the next rhyming line. A
mile. A minute to rhyme. Seed. Bead. Succeed. Bleed? Toad. Blow'ed. A
great game. Fantastic! There it is! The whole family is reading.
AND MIGHT WRECK THEIR LOAD!
Dad slows down a bit. It's an agreeable change since the kids are quiet for a
moment.
BURMA SHAVE
reads the last sign.
Forty years later, dust, heat, and watermelons in mind, you can see the red
and white signs. And you know about time compressed.
Daniel Friedman's Poetry & Short Stories
Daniel Friedman's bio
...
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
...
Ask a Question or Search InspectApedia
Use the search box below to ask a question or to search the InspectApedia.com website.
Ask a Question or Enter Search Terms in the InspectApedia search box just below.
Technical Reviewers & References
Related Topics, found near the top of this page suggest articles closely related to this one.
Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair
- Our recommended books about building & mechanical systems design, inspection, problem diagnosis, and repair, and about indoor environment and IAQ testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore. Also see our Book Reviews - InspectAPedia.
- ...
| 
