The Fort

The backyard in the Mallory house was huge. The lot was a commerical acre, and the house was placed such that, in addition to the ramada and half-a-dozen navel orange trees, we could have a pool, a tennis court, and a fort, and still have enough grass to play football or host a reasonably large wedding reception.

The fort was probably the most used part of the back yard. My dad (Grandpa Bradshaw) built it, so it will probably last through the Millenium. Its design roughly corresponds to a tower on a fort in the old west. With four corner posts made of telephone poles, the fort featured a side staircase that led up to the walled platform shaded by a shake roof. A commercial-grade slide, complete with little waves in it, was the fastest way down, and was shaded by an orange tree so it could be used in the summer months (in Arizona, that's about nine months of the year.)

The kids played in the fort a lot. If I recall correctly, the boys played shoot-em-up type games, and the girls had tea parties and Barbie-type games. We threatened to tear it down when they started climbing on the roof, so they took to making sure we weren't looking when they did. (We learned all this later, of course.)

I had to rub down the slide with wax paper occasionally if it got too sticky. Not too much wax, though, or they'd fly down at a dangerous speed.

What are your chief memories of the fort, kids?