The Chicken Yard

We begin with stories Billy has heard about events in his parent’s lives before he was born: His father Frank Grinnell, an aviation enthusiast in Topeka, Kansas, built and flew planes before marrying Marie MacConnell, Billy’s mother. He has both the first aircraft license and first pilot’s license in Kansas. They marry and go to Hollywood, where she works in a photographer’s studio and he works in a garage, repairing tires and rebuilding batteries. On weekends he barnstorms, flying a WWI Jennie. He also rides a motorcycle in the Motor Drome and acts in several movies as an extra. Returning to Topeka, Frank teaches tire repair and battery rebuilding and gives up flying when Dianna, Billy’s sister is born. Later when Billy is two, Frank and Marie agree he should start his own business in Tulsa Oklahoma. Later the family moves to Tulsa and build the house they will call home until Billy is in high school. An angry rooster chases Billy from the chicken yard when he is four, an event that haunts him through his youth. Failing the fourth grade in school while Dianna skips a grade also lowers his confidence. But he takes pride working in the Grinnell Tire And Battery Shop at age nine. Doing well after the seventh grade, Billy races in the Soapbox Derby and builds model airplanes. He writes the music for the school song and starts college on a band scholarship. During WWII in 1942 he joins the Army After infantry training and a year of army engineering school, he is sent to the 103rd Infantry Division as a rifleman. His Division lands in France in 1944 and joins the front line at Saulcy. After five months he is promoted to Staff Sergeant and sent on furlough to London. He meets Joy Crawford and wants to marry her but finds she is already married. The war is over and Bill is back in Tulsa, going to college; he buys a car, has a shotgun wedding and a divorce. While he is earning two bachelor’s degrees and a Master’s degree, he meets BB Danton, who sings soprano in the radio choir with him. He thinks she is the girl for him and against her mother’s wishes BB marries him. They go to Knoxville, Tennessee where he is in graduate school; his GI benefit is running out and BB stops sleeping with him. They return to Tulsa and he goes to work for Frank. Bill buys BB a new car and new house, and after six months she starts sleeping with Him again. He thinks things are looking up but a day or two later he discovers she is three months pregnant. Bill divorces her and vows to never marry again. He attends a couple of 103rd Dvision reunions and Mac, one of his Army buddies advises him to go back to college and get a Ph.D. Bill likes the idea, but first gets a position, teaching at SUCO (State University of New York, Campus at Oneonta). He loves teaching and wants to spend his life at it. So after a year, he takes a leave and earns a PH.D. in mathematics education. He signs a one year Contract to teach at Oklahoma City University but Marie wants him to teach