California Joe   California Joe was a boy some knew. He worked on a Santa Fe railroad crew.   One day he said "I'm tired of hard work." He wanted to try his hand as a clerk.   So he went to Banning where a man ran a store living quite well, selling dry goods galore.   Joe got the job and was quick to learn how to sell things and wait on folks in turn.   Time went by and Joe forgot his past He figured to make this clerk job last.   But the local Sheriff liked looking at flyers one day he learned about Joe's priors   including one where he'd robbed a bank escaping on horseback with a pal named Frank.   The sheriff's work sent Joe to Folsom where he wished his youth had been more wholesome.

©Steve Dirksen