August 1, 2017 • Page 2 Date Night By Daris Howard The local church leader, whom everyone called “the Bishop,” was coming to the church for his weekly Tuesday evening meeting. He saw the normal group of cars pulling into the parking lot. Tuesday was the evening the teenagers met together, too. The girls had activities, and the boys had scouts. Sometimes they would do fun things together such as volleyball, basketball, or things like wiener roasts in the church yard. But what the Bishop saw next surprised him. Walter was out mowing the lawn. Walter was almost ninety years old. He and his wife, Betty, had served in the community and the church all of their lives. They had especially loved the youth. Though they had always wanted children of their own, they had never been able to have any. So they seemed to adopt the youth of the community. Ma was a common nickname for Betty, and Walter was often called Pa. Walter and Betty had always been asked to serve in some capacity with the teenagers. Betty was either off with the girls to camp, or Walter was hiking with the boys into the wilderness. Often the two of them were organizing fund raisers for youth activities. Together they had served the youth every Tuesday night and many other nights for as long as The Bishop could remember. Even when Betty could no longer attend girls’ camp, and Walter couldn’t make the hikes with the boys, they would show up on Tuesdays with ice-cream or other treats. But in the last year, Betty had become so sick that Walter had to spend every free minute he had taking care of her. Lovingly, Walter, with great devotion, attended to every detail of Betty’s care. Kind people had suggested that it was too much of a burden for someone of his age, but he insisted that it was no burden at all. However, Walter had expressed the sentiment that the thing they missed most was the Tuesday night activities. The Bishop knew the teenagers missed Walter and Betty, too. But then a couple of months ago, Betty had passed away. Walter was lost without her. His grief was so intense that everyone thought it would kill him. No one expected him to last long without her. He didn’t come to church and was seldom seen outside of his home. That was why the Bishop was surprised to see Walter mowing the church lawns. The Bishop parked his car and walked over to where Walter was busily walking back and forth behind the selfpropelled mower. “Walter,” the Bishop said, “what are you doing?” “What?” Walter replied. Walter was quite deaf, and the noise from the mower didn’t help. “What are you doing?” the Bishop yelled. Walter let go of the mower throttle bar, and the mower went silent. “I’m mowing the lawn,” Walter replied. The Bishop nodded, feeling a little silly for asking an obvious question. “Yes, I can see that,” he said. “But why are you doing it?” “Because it needs mowing,” Walter replied. Again the Bishop felt sheepish having asked an obvious question, but Walter wasn’t catching the drift of the questions. “What I meant,” the Bishop said, “was, do you think you should be doing this now, at your age?” “I’m not sure what age you think I should do it at,” Walter replied. “And if I do it next week instead of now, I’ll just be that much older.” “So why did you come to do it at all?” the Bishop asked. “The youth wanted to have a cookout here tonight,” Walter replied, “and besides, it’s date night.” “Date night?” the Bishop asked. Walter nodded. “Betty and I always made Tuesday our date night working with the youth, and then we went out for a milkshake. I’ve really missed her, and I decided it was time for a date again.” He paused and smiled. “I’m not sure, but I can almost feel her here with me right now.” The Bishop only nodded, feeling too emotional to speak. And as the youth piled out of the church, many of them hugging Walter, the Bishop felt Walter was right. 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He said he was a ground pounder in ‘Nam and always envied those pilots who got to do their fighting with clean, dry boots.” www.missourivalleyshopper.com Harvey always was a kind of strange one around the valley here. Kept to himself, mostly. Worked down at the gas station gun shop until he hit retirement age. No one better at fixing a flat or doing an oil change. But he was always on the quiet side. He’d ask about you and your family, but didn’t really have anything to say about his own life. But now he’s up there every weekend, looking down on the rest of us from the driver’s seat of a Cessna. “Vietnam was a long time ago,” Doc said. “That’s what I told him too, Doc. But he just smiled at me and said, ‘Well, Herb, there’s always next time.’” Evidently dreams don’t come with calendars. (HURON, SD) - Local singers can make their voices heard this September at the Dakota Star Talent Competition sponsored by Dakotaland Federal Credit Union at the South Dakota State Fair. More than $2,000 in cash prizes will be awarded to Dakota Star division winners. The grand prize winner in the adult division wins the title of “2017 Dakota Star,” along with a cash prize of $1,000 and the opportunity to star in his/her own commercial promoting Dakota Star on KTTW Fox. New this year, the winner will be awarded a three-hour recording studio session with Cathouse Studio. The winner will also have the opportunity to perform on the NorthWestern Energy Freedom Stage during the 2018 South Dakota State Fair and emcee the 2018 Dakota Star talent competiwww.missourivalleyshopper.com tion. 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The talent competition is held on the NorthWestern Energy Freedom Stage. Sponsors of the 2017 Dakota Star are Dakotaland PIERRE, S.D. – Gov. Dennis Daugaard announced today Federal Credit Union and KTTW-FOX. Dakotaland Federal that Centerville has been chosen to be South Dakota’s Credit Union has locations in Huron, Volga, Brookings, Capital for a Day on Tuesday, Aug. 15. “I look forward to spending the day in Centerville and Madison, Redfield, DeSmet, Mitchell and Woonsocket, becoming better acquainted with those who call the area and is coming soon to Watertown. With 32,000 members home and the issues affecting them,” Gov. 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