I remember when we bought this swing, Der Bingle and I; it was when we lived in West Chester, Ohio and I was in my mid-40’s. It hung from a tree in our backyard where we would swing our grandson. That was a long time ago. That yard was a huge hill in front, and a narrow level strip right behind the house which turned into a slope and woods. We played croquet out there in back on a modified course which included “Dead Man’s Wicket.” It was on the steepest part of the slope and was right at the woods’ edge. Getting through it could take more strokes than the whole rest of the game required.

The swing is now dirty and in a shed out back, one of my croquet buddies is all the way down in Texas and part of my heart is on that spot where Dead Man’s Wicket stood.