The Pettis County Court House Chronicles
Featuring
Ms Brown
Who lived across the street from
Pam
The Engineer
Jessie James
Buddha
And the Katy Shop Bear
On warm spring days
I had to as apart of my job
To the Pettis County Court House
Where Buddha
Spent most his days
On the old splintery oak planked pews that lined the halls
With condemned men who sat waiting on phone calls that never came
Naturally they made me nervous
I took care to quickly skate around them
Sometimes skidding on the polished marble floor
I was in a hurry
And on an important mission
To get my three foot long yellowed abstracts to Ms Brown
Ms Brown
Ms Brown
Gentle document hands,
Bright eyes and a girlish figure
Like the gray space of her open window
Had been there a thousand years
Guarding her paper cathedral
9 to 4
I loved to tap the old silver school bell
Drawing her attention away from her finger sandwiches
Then listen carefully for her backroom footsteps
As they came tiny like dimes
To the bared frosted glass
Where Jessie James had once stood
Waving his six guns
Thinking he was robbing a bank
Only to discover that
He hadnt paid his personal property taxes
Taxes
Taxes
Ms Brown chided with a long sigh
And with a roll of her eyes
Gathered up the heavy blue residents county tax form
Wrote
J
A
M
E
S
in bright red ink
At the top
Then with a thud
Plunked it down
Handing it over to Jessie
Pointed to the battleship gray folding chair
HIGH SCHOOL
Printed boldly
In thick black magic marker on its back
Like they could be long lost directions
Directions
Directions
So directed
Jessie went over and sat
Carefully unfolded the fragile blue pages
Laying each one in order on his lap
Carefully reading the directions
And filled them out one by one with the
Worried tooth bitten yellow number two pencil
That Ms Brown in all her grace had provided
It was the kind of ship she ran
She made no exceptions
Even for likes of Jessie James
Jessie James
Jessie James
After ten years, two hours and fifteen minutes
An a quarter of and inch of dust latter
Was finished
Nearly record time too
He had to erase once in 88 and again 95
And that disappointment cost him
Heavy handing the blue form
Back to Ms Brown
He thanking her
She told Jessie there was a nice plum bank
In Coffeeville Kansas
He could rob on the weekend
She was full of good advice like that
And best of all there was no extra charge for it
That was the kind of person she was
Jessie thanked her once again
Saying he would pass it on to some old friends
Of his the Daltons
He was just to busy
Busy
Busy
While Ms Brown was busy
I would wander off
And stared threw
The thickly burned cracked glass case
At the strange slave hair
Woven flowers
Black to gray to white
Youth to death
For intricate generations
It was here I learned
About ancient people
Long and bony
Full of labor
Hair collectors
One hair at a time
From the bathroom drain
Or a comb
Fighting off fleas and lice
Its hard to think about
Measuring each day
Each life
By a hair here
Or a hair there
Having so little
That misplacing
A single one
Would be a small tragedy
In an other wise tragic life
Tragic life
Tragic life
When I had lots of time,
Which was most of the time
I would sit and talk to Buddha
We would eat popcorn
And drink Ms Browns free coffee
Rich and Arabic
I made quick friends in those days
Sweet days
With friends like
Like
Like
The Katy Shop Bear
Almost 200 years old
Black, fierce and wild
Straight from the piney woods of Missouri
Full of purpose
Fixed in gaze and stiff in stance
Ready to charge
At a moment notice
Across the court house lobby
Up the Gone With the Wind staircase
To the third floor
Where he would spin around
And come sliding back down the winding banister
To the amazement of all
What a surprising bear
Bear
Bear
Buddha tells me
Bear
That is what he called him
Once up on a time
Had been a dancing bear
In a traveling carnival
Before he was won in a poker game
On a pair of 4s and a bluff
By a train engineer in pin stripes
Who decided to keep Bear
In a big black iron cage
Down in the Katy Shop yards
In time Bears eyesight went bad
And he got old and mean
The neighborhood kids loved
To tease Bear while he slept
Dreaming of his dancing days
Throwing rocks into his rusting cage
Just to hear his deep throaty growl
That would send them gleefully scattering
Across the train yard, one day
One day
One day
Till one day
Little Bobby Mc Cobb
Poked him in the butt
Bear spun around
With an amazing dance step out of the past
And got a hold on him
Tore him up pretty good too
For not having any claws
They along with his fangs
Had been removed long ago
By the Engineer
The Engineer
The Engineer
Without a word
Went over to the tool shed
Got out his 30 30
Shot Bear
Right between the eyes
Everyone said it wasnt right
But it was to late
They took Bear over to the taxidermist
And had him fixed up
Then they even put wheels
On bottoms his feet
Casters really
Kids would come by
Sit on his back and push him
Around the shop yard
It was a great time to be alive
Alive
Alive
Till death do we part
The engineer passed away
Left Bear to the railroad
In his last will and testament
Not knowing what else to do
They brought Bear to the courthouse
Where he has been ever since
Waiting for a last waltz
That will never come
You know
They had to take his wheels off
Because they scratched the floor
Featuring
Ms Brown
Who lived across the street from
Pam
The Engineer
Jessie James
Buddha
And the Katy Shop Bear
On warm spring days
I had to as apart of my job
To the Pettis County Court House
Where Buddha
Spent most his days
On the old splintery oak planked pews that lined the halls
With condemned men who sat waiting on phone calls that never came
Naturally they made me nervous
I took care to quickly skate around them
Sometimes skidding on the polished marble floor
I was in a hurry
And on an important mission
To get my three foot long yellowed abstracts to Ms Brown
Ms Brown
Ms Brown
Gentle document hands,
Bright eyes and a girlish figure
Like the gray space of her open window
Had been there a thousand years
Guarding her paper cathedral
9 to 4
I loved to tap the old silver school bell
Drawing her attention away from her finger sandwiches
Then listen carefully for her backroom footsteps
As they came tiny like dimes
To the bared frosted glass
Where Jessie James had once stood
Waving his six guns
Thinking he was robbing a bank
Only to discover that
He hadnt paid his personal property taxes
Taxes
Taxes
Ms Brown chided with a long sigh
And with a roll of her eyes
Gathered up the heavy blue residents county tax form
Wrote
J
A
M
E
S
in bright red ink
At the top
Then with a thud
Plunked it down
Handing it over to Jessie
Pointed to the battleship gray folding chair
HIGH SCHOOL
Printed boldly
In thick black magic marker on its back
Like they could be long lost directions
Directions
Directions
So directed
Jessie went over and sat
Carefully unfolded the fragile blue pages
Laying each one in order on his lap
Carefully reading the directions
And filled them out one by one with the
Worried tooth bitten yellow number two pencil
That Ms Brown in all her grace had provided
It was the kind of ship she ran
She made no exceptions
Even for likes of Jessie James
Jessie James
Jessie James
After ten years, two hours and fifteen minutes
An a quarter of and inch of dust latter
Was finished
Nearly record time too
He had to erase once in 88 and again 95
And that disappointment cost him
Heavy handing the blue form
Back to Ms Brown
He thanking her
She told Jessie there was a nice plum bank
In Coffeeville Kansas
He could rob on the weekend
She was full of good advice like that
And best of all there was no extra charge for it
That was the kind of person she was
Jessie thanked her once again
Saying he would pass it on to some old friends
Of his the Daltons
He was just to busy
Busy
Busy
While Ms Brown was busy
I would wander off
And stared threw
The thickly burned cracked glass case
At the strange slave hair
Woven flowers
Black to gray to white
Youth to death
For intricate generations
It was here I learned
About ancient people
Long and bony
Full of labor
Hair collectors
One hair at a time
From the bathroom drain
Or a comb
Fighting off fleas and lice
Its hard to think about
Measuring each day
Each life
By a hair here
Or a hair there
Having so little
That misplacing
A single one
Would be a small tragedy
In an other wise tragic life
Tragic life
Tragic life
When I had lots of time,
Which was most of the time
I would sit and talk to Buddha
We would eat popcorn
And drink Ms Browns free coffee
Rich and Arabic
I made quick friends in those days
Sweet days
With friends like
Like
Like
The Katy Shop Bear
Almost 200 years old
Black, fierce and wild
Straight from the piney woods of Missouri
Full of purpose
Fixed in gaze and stiff in stance
Ready to charge
At a moment notice
Across the court house lobby
Up the Gone With the Wind staircase
To the third floor
Where he would spin around
And come sliding back down the winding banister
To the amazement of all
What a surprising bear
Bear
Bear
Buddha tells me
Bear
That is what he called him
Once up on a time
Had been a dancing bear
In a traveling carnival
Before he was won in a poker game
On a pair of 4s and a bluff
By a train engineer in pin stripes
Who decided to keep Bear
In a big black iron cage
Down in the Katy Shop yards
In time Bears eyesight went bad
And he got old and mean
The neighborhood kids loved
To tease Bear while he slept
Dreaming of his dancing days
Throwing rocks into his rusting cage
Just to hear his deep throaty growl
That would send them gleefully scattering
Across the train yard, one day
One day
One day
Till one day
Little Bobby Mc Cobb
Poked him in the butt
Bear spun around
With an amazing dance step out of the past
And got a hold on him
Tore him up pretty good too
For not having any claws
They along with his fangs
Had been removed long ago
By the Engineer
The Engineer
The Engineer
Without a word
Went over to the tool shed
Got out his 30 30
Shot Bear
Right between the eyes
Everyone said it wasnt right
But it was to late
They took Bear over to the taxidermist
And had him fixed up
Then they even put wheels
On bottoms his feet
Casters really
Kids would come by
Sit on his back and push him
Around the shop yard
It was a great time to be alive
Alive
Alive
Till death do we part
The engineer passed away
Left Bear to the railroad
In his last will and testament
Not knowing what else to do
They brought Bear to the courthouse
Where he has been ever since
Waiting for a last waltz
That will never come
You know
They had to take his wheels off
Because they scratched the floor