Dog day afternoons in Hood County in the 1920s—running barefoot through the clover, fishing at the river with a cane pole and stealing watermelons.

Granbury native Pig Williams didn’t hesitate a minute when asked if he ever stole watermelons.

"Of course I’ve stolen watermelons—it was just something to do!"

Williams and his friends became "melon-marauders" at the Aiken farm, near the original Granbury bridge, which was near the city beach.

"We had been swimming—not a stitch on—and decided to walk up to Mr. Aiken’s place and get us a melon. We hadn’t been there too long before that old man came after us with a shotgun!"

Williams didn’t really have to go far to get a "five-finger-discount" on watermelons, his father grew and sold watermelons. In fact, the elder Williams was a member of the Hood County Watermelon Association.

"There used to be a lot of watermelons grown in Hood County," recalls Williams. "They’d truck them out of Granbury in boxcars and on wagons."

"I remember the first day, the wagons would be loaded with 30-pounders; the next day it would be 45-pounders."

Williams recalled eating the watermelons when they had barely ripened to a slight pink color. "We didn’t care, but the first good melon of the summer was always eaten on July 4^th."