Naugahyde - Run and Hide!

Saturday mornings are my earliest recollection.  They were magical.  I would get up very early and creep silently down the hall to the TV room.  My sister, ever my sidekick, followed me like a shadow.  Together, we would snuggle down with our blankets on the brown,Naugahyde sofa and be mesmerized by our small, black-and-white treasured television.

It was a morning of good guys versus bad guys, and the good guys just had to win.  They just had to!  At three years old, I was too young to realize that Hollywood had a tried-and-true formula, and that my heroes would always win, no matter what.  I was sure that they were in real jeopardy, and with honest courage and wholesome justice they would conquer the evil, conniving, dangerous strangers.Whether it was Roy Rogers, The Lone Ranger, or Sky King, I ardently wanted right to prevail.

Roy Rogers, the King of the Cowboys, was my iconic champion.  He was strong, smart, and incredibly handsome,   And... he could sing!  He rode his beautiful Palomino, Trigger, and was in full command of his dog, Bullet.  He wasn't perfect - just nearly so.  And I was very concerned that the bad guys would take advantage of his gallant nature and try to hurt him.

Those darn bad guys!  They were always getting my hero into trouble.  They would try to shoot him, sneak up on him, jump on him, hit him with their fists or even with chairs!  All that rough and tumble fighting scared me to death.  I'd hold onto the Naugahyde and my blanket as long as I could stand to watch, but when the King of the Cowboys began to be beaten down, I couldn't take it anymore.  I ran.

I made a mad dash from the TV room straight down the hallway to the living room, with my sister-shadow on my heels.  Then, with my heart pounding, I would sneak back down the hallway while pressing my back to the wall as I had seen Roy, and the Lone Ranger, and Sky King do,

Stealthily, I'd peek around the corner, hoping that the fight was over.  Oh No!  It wasn't! Flee!  Streaking back down the hallway, I'd hide by the fireplace until I was nearly sure that my hero had won.  Then, I'd slither down the wall again, furtively look through my almost-too-tightly closed eyes, to see the bad guys gone or dead, and victoriously snuggle back down on the Naugahyde with my sister and my blanket, confident in the evidence that right would prevail.