"Within Reason"

[Joe21]

In the past I have written articles and short stories for a newspaper in Florida and for University of Florida publications. The following is a short story recenly submitted to a Univ. of Florida publication re "I Remember When...."

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On a very hot day in the spring of 1941, six of us young Gators decided we would venture to Ocala. There was no room to spare when the six of us got into that Willys. For you younger generations, the Willys was one of the automobiles of that era. Air conditioning was not yet a standard feature in automobiles. Rolling down all windows did provide some relief from the heat as we motored down US 441. We referred to the cooling system as a 4/50 --- four open windows at 50 MPH.

At that time, citrus groves were common in the McIntosh area. (McIntosh is a small town between Gainesville and Ocala) One grove, just south of the town, had a citrus shop with a sign out front offering all the juice one could drink for ten cents. We decided this was an excellent opportunity to quench our thirst. The lady attendant poured for each of us a glass of juice and then another. But these young Gators were still thirsty and the supply on hand had been exhausted.

The attendant retrieved a supply of oranges and began squeezing them with a hand press, Seeing that her arm was growing a bit weary, a couple of the fellows took over the squeezing operation. Eventually, each one of us had our fill of juice. We climbed back into the Willys and resumed our journey to Ocala, much to the delight of the attendant.

The next time I ventured south on US 441 and passed the citrus shop, the sign out front offering all the orange juice one could drink for ten cents was still there but with an added notation. In parenthesis were the words "Within Reason".

All six of those young Gators left the university to serve our country during WW2. All returned safely from the war and resumed their studies in the late '40's, Among those six hot and thirsty Gators, I am the only one remaining.