[Vision2020] Fonk's Goes Under

[Pat Kraut]

When I was in Hamilton Grade school in Spokane Wa I walked home past a place
called Hamilton drugs on Nevada. I took a pair of earrings that looked like
Chinese lanterns in pearls. They were in a box marked 10 cents. However, I
never got the courage to wear them because I just knew my sister and mother
would wonder where I got them and the series of lies was more than I could
come up with! I have not stolen anything else in my life. I'm  afraid I am
very boring!


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carl Westberg" <carlwestberg846 at hotmail.com>
To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2006 9:15 AM
Subject: RE: [Vision2020] Fonk's Goes Under


Fonk's is the store where I pulled off the one and only act of crime in my
life.  When I was about 10 years old, I was perusing the toy section, when I
suddenly decided I really, really needed a rubber knife.  So I stuck it in
my pocket and walked out, uncaught.  Jennifer, I trust the statute of
limitations allows me to confess without fear of legal retribution.



                              Carl Westberg Jr.


>From: "Jennifer McFarland" <jmcfarland at latah.id.us>
>To: "'Vision2020 Moscow'" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>Subject: [Vision2020] Fonk's Goes Under Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2006 08:50:49
>-0800
>
>  Visionaries:
>Dan's mention of Fonk's reminded me of a poem my father wrote, so I asked
>him for a copy of it to post here.  What follows is his response to me
>along
>with the poem.  I included his response because it mentioned where it had
>been published.  I hope you all enjoy the poem as much as I always have.
>
>--Jennifer
>
>
>PIO Jennifer L. McFarland
>Latah County Sheriff's Office
>Public Information Officer
>PO Box 8068
>Moscow, Idaho 83843
>(208) 882-2216
>Fax (208) 883-2281
>
>Truth is the summit of being; justice is the application of it to affairs.
>***Ralph Waldo Emerson
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Ron McFarlnd [mailto:ronmcf at uidaho.edu]
>Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2006 08:45
>To: 'Jennifer McFarland'
>Subject: RE:
>
>Wow--talk about a blast form the past! I'll have to dig this one up, all
>the
>way to "Eight Idaho Poets" (1979)--huh, first appeared in a very good
>literary magazine, "Quarterly West," back in 1978. Ahhh, the good ol' days!
>Amazing, too, how poorly the binding on 8IP is--the cover just comes right
>off!
>
>Okay--did it--I think it's all right--just altered one word (next-to-last
>line of penultimate stanza, changed "were" to "formed." I guess I could
>have
>made other alterations, but I thought it should stand pretty much in its
>original form. Of course some of it IS "made up" (like the new manager
>stuff), but most of it is accurate--as I recall, at any rate. It was
>interesting to go back to this one--not a bad poem, I'd say.
>
>Thanks for asking!
>
>Papa
>
>"Fonk's Goes Under"
>
>
>When the last dime store went under
>prices dived for days. Shoppers
>strange to the manager seeped
>in, then poured until
>he propped the doors open,
>fore and aft, and still they streamed
>in from the parking lot,
>in from the street,
>in from shopping centers outside town.
>
>At first the counters held,
>Duvella's luncheonette to port,
>men's sportshirts starboard,
>hardware, toys and tropical fish
>for ballast.
>But then the galley cooled.
>Duvella told the reporter
>about those young couples and the war,
>the mirror with Guadalcanal dead
>reflected when she turned
>from certain faces to her grill.
>
>Without Duvella the store listed badly,
>took on too much empty
>space. Slowly the salesgirls
>abandoned their posts
>slipping away after five not to return,
>replaced by the stern manager,
>facing hardening to his martyrdom.
>
>At last prices floundered and the store
>filled with the smell of dust
>and cold popcorn.
>Plastic firetrucks with missing wheels,
>tin boats without motors,
>unmatched socks and empty hangers,
>these formed the flotsam on a slick
>of memories and outdated profits.
>
>At Main Street's edge
>oldtimers gather reminiscing of oiled floors,
>propeller fans, Duvella, the old man whose son
>tried hard but didn't have it,
>the new manager, what was his name?
>went down with the last dime store.
>
> Ron McFarland
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Jennifer McFarland [mailto:jmcfarland at latah.id.us]
>Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2006 7:55 AM
>To: 'Ron McFarlnd'
>Subject:
>
>Dad,
>Could you email me a copy of the poem "Fonk's Goes Under"?  It has become a
>topic of discussion on Vision2020 and I thought it would be a neat thing to
>post (with due credit).
>--Jen
>
>PIO Jennifer L. McFarland
>Latah County Sheriff's Office
>Public Information Officer
>PO Box 8068
>Moscow, Idaho 83843
>(208) 882-2216
>Fax (208) 883-2281
>
>Truth is the summit of being; justice is the application of it to affairs.
>***Ralph Waldo Emerson
>
>
>
>
>_____________________________________________________
>  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>                http://www.fsr.net
>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯


_____________________________________________________
 List services made available by First Step Internet,
 serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
               http://www.fsr.net
          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯