by Lou Bradshaw
What happened to me? Well, after I gave up all notions of becoming a teakettle I settled down to becoming a very good sign painter and a fair businessman. After graduation, Brick and I laid out some goals, and we were off and running. We went into billboards, neon, computer generated stuff, and etc. With the Branson boom, the business became rather large, and had to set up an office in Springfield. I sold out a few years ago and sort of retired. It just wasn’t fun anymore.
I married one of the local girls. She wasn’t a part of the story because in 1960 she was only 14, not quite ready for Mona’s, and didn’t interest me at all then. But about 7 or 8 years later, I was more than interested – she was what I had been waiting for all my life. We were going to have 20 or 30 kids, but only had one, and there were times when that was more than enough, but that’s another story and I’ll let him write his own book.
We added on to the cabin and lived in it until ’71, that’s when we had a house built in town. It’s still my cabin, and I use it as a retreat/studio. Oh, yes, that’s what I do these days; I’m a wildlife artist – an environmental freak. I don’t make as much money as I did in the sign business, but what the hell; I’m having a lot more fun.
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The Mafia round up went well, and they hauled a bunch of bad guys into the Federal Prison at Marion, Illinois. Matlock was sent into hiding, but he got stupid and went back to Memphis for some unknown reason, and… About 10 years ago, I found a gaudy gold Rolex watch down on that bluff. I cleaned it up, wound it, and have worn it ever since – thanks, you sociopathic lunatic.
Vince Simons? He’s still dead. If you happen to be a law enforcement type, a Webster County Prosecutor, or a member of the Simons clan – I just made all that stuff up. The rest of you can believe what you want.
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About the Author
Lou Bradshaw is a retired illustrator, cartoonist, and graphic designer who has spent more than 40 years in the graphic arts field. A life long storyteller he didn’t venture into serious writing until the age of 64. He now has two finished novels, an illustrated children’s book, and is working on his third novel. One of the more fascinating aspects of his writing is that until he was nearly forty years old he would have been considered a functional illiterate; he could barely read, and still struggles. He has no idea what the problem was, but he worked his way through it. He has since become an avid reader and a collector of old book with some 500 vintage titles in his personal library.
He lives in the Missouri Ozarks with his wife Avon, where they enjoy their grandchildren, golf, and the outdoors.
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