ROBIN HOOD OF TRAMP HOLLOW

Grumps loved holidays.  He loved the 4th of July and the big parades, he loved Halloween and Christmas, but one of his favorite holidays was Thanksgiving.

On Thanksgiving morning his grandparents, who lived a long way from his house, came and it was always fun when they arrived. He and his sister EA called them Papa and Nana. It seemed to Grumps that Thanksgiving was always cold and grey; he loved the smell from the kitchen as his Nana baked pumpkin pies, and then later for the grand finale, roasted the big turkey for the Thanksgiving dinner.

When Grumps was a little boy he loved playing with his friends and his sister but on Thanksgiving he liked to be alone. After enjoying the holiday’s aroma there in his parent’s kitchen and munching a tasty snack called Fritos that his grandparents always brought from Washington DC where they lived. Then Grumps would grab his bow, arrows and quiver and head off to one of his very favorite spots, a place called Tramp Hollow.

When Grumps was a little boy the book Harry Potter hadn’t been written but he had a favorite that he loved just the way Jack and Julia love Harry Potter. The story was about Robin Hood, an archer, who lived in a place called Sherwood Forest with his Merry Men. And what Robin Hood did was take things away from rich and stingy people and give these things like food to the poor people. And he also went after the Sheriff of Nottingham, a bad person. 

Robin was Grumps’ hero and so on Thanksgiving when he’d climbed the fence at the end of town and stepped into Tramp Hollow the Story of Robin Hood suddenly came to life. The open pasture and thick woodlands, at least to Grumps, who had a pretty big imagination, was like entering Sherwood Forest.  He played there often with his friends, but on Thanksgiving mornings always alone.

Well, on one Thanksgiving he was ALMOST alone.

Tramp Hollow, this imaginary Sherwood Forest of his, was a popular place where some rather sketchy old men hung out---they were called TRAMPS and they rode the freight trains for free by hopping aboard when the guards weren’t looking. And the tramps went from town to town and bummed food from people.  They were also called HOBOS and Grumps knew some of them so he wasn’t afraid of them. And they knew him and knew that if they wanted free food they’d better behave themselves.  So Tramp Hollow was a wooded lot on a little hillside---just a short walk across an open meadow from where the trains slowed for the crossing to stop at New Windsor’s milk depot---that looked down on the hollow. This was where the tramps hopped the trains for free rides and sometimes camped out at night where they cooked and camped.

But this Tramp Hollow was more than a camping ground for these crusty old men; it was Grumps’ outdoor playground. And he loved to play an imaginary game there called Robin Hood where he, with his bow and arrows, stalked and pretended to bring the evil Sheriff of Nottingham to justice. Grumps would fire his arrows at imaginary villains, like the Sheriff’s men, with his own gang who he called his Merry Men right there at his side---Little John, Friar Tuck, Will Scarlet, and Alan a Dale. Grumps, as Robin, would free and win the hand of Maid Marian.  Stopping only long enough to rob from the imaginary rich and give to the poor.

But on one Thanksgiving morning the poor of New Windsor’s well-known hobos, called Pete, Slim and Mullens (not Mulligan) were huddled by a fire up on the hillside. They spotted Grumps and landed on him like July flies. Pete wanted to shoot his bow, Slim began grabbing at the arrows in Grumps’ quiver and then Mr. Mullens wondered if Grumps might have any food on him “in that there backpack.”

Because the centerpiece of the Robin Hood story recreation was the archery contest, in an attempt to fool the tramps (Slim smelled as though he’d been drinking something awful), Grumps suggested that they might play roles in his target contest scene. Nodding they’d polished off Grumps’ cheese sandwiches and the can of Coke from his bag and having scoffed down the remnants of the Fritos, there was a sudden loss of interest. Grumps suggested that The Sheriff (Mr. Mullens) might try to trick Robin (Grumps) into coming out of the forest for capture.

Here Grumps would call up a Robin disguise, the one he wore at the archery contest by taking on the look of an old man and limp to a line he’d drawn in the meadows grass. Then---with Slim and Pete playing the contests--- other archers with imaginary bows and arrows---Robin/Grumps would shoot arrows at a telephone pole by the railroad tracks, a pole that served as the contests’ target. And on that day with the Tramps looking on, Grumps took the best shot of his life. He pulled the arrow back and fired it at a telephone pole so far away that there was no way he’d ever hit it. And then like a Thanksgiving Tramp Hollow miracle the arrow zoomed across the field and bam!  Stuck in the pole.  Grumps was so proud he could hardly wait to see the Tramps’ faces.

But as Grumps turned to take a bow for his shot and finish his directions for the play, he looked up to see three sets of very vacant eyes.  Then in a few seconds his Merry Men, the bums, were gone. They’d slithered back up to their camp fire for more drink.

Now Grumps’ stomach was growling.  But he recreated the shooting contest by himself and then finally, with the Sheriff shackled and chained safely behind bars in the tower of London, Robin or Grumps of Tramp Hollow tramped back to the his house for the finest meal of the year, one where he never missed an opportunity, after his sister had begged him to pass the food, to say, “Here, EA, you look like a poor person. So I Robin Hood, who is rich in spirit, I Robin of Tramp Hollow, shall now pass you the mashed potatoes and turkey!”  

And it was on this very Thanksgiving Day feast that Grumps’ father looked up from the table and said, “Who in the heck is that peeking in the kitchen window?”  Knowing that somewhere in town on Thanksgiving, a free meal waited, were Pete, Slim and Mr. Mullen. The tramps, Grump’s Merry Men, had followed him home, and were soon being served a turkey dinner there on our back porch. Robin of Tramp Hollow always took from the rich, and gave to the poor!