We called it “the swinging
bridge”; and it remains in my mind, along with the tank tower and the
apple dryer, one of the icons of the Valley
This most improbable of
transports in the modern age is still there.
There is an auto bridge
at this point on the river, but once it is skidded out for winter, the
footbridge is the only access across the Navarro.
This relic has become
what an insurance company would call "an attractive nuisance". I'm sure
somebody is desperately trying to get rid of it for that reason. But it's
not gone yet.
For
years you could just walk out on the swaying bridge's rotted planking,
testing your nerves. Especially testing them, when your brother started
rocking the whole thing, once you had crept to the center.
The entrance is locked
now, but the footbridge still has some magic to it. We don't have our
tree houses to retreat to anymore and we can't build forts out of hay
bales in the barn, but we can still look out at that rickety old bridge
hanging precariously over the muddy Navarro, and see where we had lots
of scary fun.
