By Clyde

As the old joke goes; we live by the lake, drop in some time. Or, you could just drop me a line or better yet, drop by, drop anchor and drop in a fishing hook. Did you just drop out of the picture, lately? Don’t drop the paper while you go get a bucket to catch what you might drop and not have a drop cloth. Where did you put the drop cord? Enough already, drop me from your Facebook!

Little did those old English people know that we would be dropping out like flies when they used the word “dropa” before the 12th century. Even today, Salisbury seems to close or move around at the drop of a hat. Millinery shops were on every corner. Mrs. Barker’s the last one was where Milburn built the Peoples National Bank at Fisher Street. Across the way, V. Wallace and Sons were the most famous haberdasher for men. When did we drop wearing hats?

Drop back in time, every man covered his pate with the appropriate hat, beaver-skin or Panama. Women went to Guyes-Betty Lou or Oestreichers to get that drop-dead handmade creation Easter bonnet. Hat boxes still wait on the closet top shelf ready to drop on your head.  

Who knew that Chinese water torture started with one drip? Rain drops on the tin roof will put you to sleep. The dreaded eye-dropper brought instant tear drops. Ear drops didn’t hurt. You are never too old to cry about it, but somedays you just seem to drop things and you are too old to pick up trash dropped by litterers. They should be dropped on their heads, along with telemarketers. If you drop a fork on the kitchen on the kitchen floor, it means company is coming. We take lemon drops, cough drops and chocolate drops to feel better. Tiffany and John have been dropping eggs to make soup for 32 years.  

We have been eaves-dropping (standing under the eaves, listening to our neighbor) ever since the party-line was invented. Mr. Neave called on the first telephone in Salisbury was not until 1894. Drop to the floor and do 10 for punishment in the drop zone or Boy Scouts. How many times have kids been dropped-off at school only to drop-out later and you would like to drop-kick them out of the house. Bill Ragsdale would drop a line in the play but add it in later for the story. It was time to drop the curtain.

Drop-front secretaries and drop leaf tables had drop forged hinges. If it fell off, it dropped on your toes. Cowboys on the Saturday matinee at high noon would get the drop on you before you could say “drop it.” Movies were 10¢ with Hop-A-Long and Tonto, Roy Rodgers, Lassie, Old Yeller and Mr. Rogers all call us to drop back in time to a more quiet, simpler life. Departed faces, empty chairs, airports, cemeteries, lost or dead pets all can give us the dropsy until the next tear drop falls.

Other things don’t amount to a drop in a bucket or a hill of beans. A thing of beauty can also make you drop to your knees. So can the prie-dieu. Drop by later, we’ll drop out of this frightening world. One thing we all agree on: Cheerwine is good to the last drop.

Clyde is a Salisbury artist.