The Thin White Duke Ventures West

"Will you help me study for my test tomorrow?" Critter asked after I came home.

"In what?"

"Block. It's a history test."

Hmmm. Lewis and Clark. The Gold Rush. I think I can handle this. "Sure." She handed me her two study packets, her eighth grade scrawl filling in the worksheets. We covered the reasons pioneers died on the long trek West (starvation, disease, accidents, and overwork), when and where gold was discovered in California (Sutter's Mill, 1848 which lead to statehood in 1850), and the travels of Lewis Clark.

"What are the first names of Lewis and Clark?"

"Merriweather and...," she paused, thinking. "Pippin!"

I sighed internally at the mention of Frodo's friend. "William," I corrected.

We moved on to Conestoga wagons (21 feet long, by 11 feet tall, by 4 feet wide and holding 6 tons of provisions) to the Battle of the Alamo. "What famous people died at the Battle of the Alamo?"

"Davey Crocket and David Bowie!"