Behind the Lines: by David Heiller

David Heiller A bird flew out of a round cedar on the north side of the house about a month ago. That made me curious, so I pulled back some branches on the shrub and saw a tiny nest with four blue eggs. The cedar is only about three feet high. That seemed like an odd place for a bird to build a nest. But it was well hidden by the branches of the tree. The photo, of the nest and the  hungry chick,  copied from the paper. The nest became a wonderful little science project. I showed it to my grand-niece when she came for a visit from Texas, but I was just as fascinated. One day I discovered a baby bird had hatched. I expected the other three to quickly follow, but that didn’t happen, just one of the four made it. Life is cheap when you are a bird. It was amazing how fast that one bird grew. It went from a little blob the size of my fingernail to a thing that seemed to be all mouth, to a fledged out bird, all in about two weeks! My daughter and I checked the ...

David Heiller “You’re not throwing that Plexiglas away are you?” Cindy asked on Sunday evening. The thick piece of plastic had come from a hockey rink, where it had served as protection for fans from flying pucks. This one about 16 inches by 26 inches, give or take a few cracks and holes It had sat unused in the garage for about 10 years, and now it was leaning against the garbage can, waiting for a trip to the landfill. We moved our stuff, pick-up load at a time down to Brownsville. But hold on there, Cindy was saying. That could come in handy, couldn’t it? You never know when you can use a piece of Plexiglas from a hockey rink. The scary part was that I had been thinking the same thing. So with a mixture of guilt and relief, I carried it back to the garage. It illustrates what is going on in our lives these days as we pack up 22 years of belongings. My old Test of Time standard is itself being severely tested. It states that if I haven’t used something in a coupl...

David Heiller A stop at Bissen’s Tavern the other day made my old brain click into action. David never considered himself  the star. And he never  considered not playing. The Minnesota Twins had just lost another one-run game, and the answer, at least a partial one, sat right there in front of me. Gale Kletzke. If you grew up in Brownsville in the 1950s and 60s, you are starting to tremble right now. Gale was a softball force then, and I have no doubt he could still put wobble legs on a Major League pitcher. He batted let handed, which gave him an advantage on the Brownsville School softball field. For one thing, he could knock the ball into the maple trees that grew there. More often though, he just knocked them onto Main Street and past Erma Bissen’s pump. Gale would lumber around the bases, head down. No showboating in those days. Once in a while he would get that Kletzke look, a glint in the eye, a bit of a smile that tigers have when they ...

David Heiller The re are certain events that make you realize how precious your children are. You experience these milestones gradually, one at a time, which is good, because it helps your heart heal before it gets pounded again. I saw a couple last weekend, one from a distance and one up close and personal. The first came on Saturday, when Heidi Rossow and Josh Eschenbach were married. I hate to use the words “good kids” to describe Josh and Heidi. It doesn’t do them justice. Maybe words like hard working, responsible, friendly, fun-loving, and compassionate would fit better. And they aren’t kids either. But you know what I mean. They’re good kids. And I say that knowing full well that when I praise someone in the paper, they usually turn out to be axe murderers. Not this time. No way. Bet on it. Cindy shanghaied my handkerchief early in the service. She always cries at weddings. I never had, not even at my own. (That’s a joke!) But on Saturday, I felt goose bump...