BluesPoetry

BluesPoetry

I loved growing up in my small town
Small world, small ideas, small escapes
My best friends were three Indian kids
that looked like me and I couldn't tell the difference
We ate the same bolognia sandwiches and drank the same
lemonade, same color blood when we scraped out knees
or got bloody noses.
Mary, David and I were always getting in trouble and
their Dad was swift to melt out the punishment
with that switch or belt.
Seems as if we went fishing nearly everyday in the summer
at the North Bridge. They were good fishers and good friends
I remember the time of the great "Flaming Harley" night
only too well as well as the great games of kick the can
on Christley Hill.
I never remember going to school when I knew these kids
but I must have sometime
The old Van Hock house where they lived was this three story
house built by on old sea Captain.It had an attic full of treasure
like an old "Admiral" hat with feathers.
I once shot my TV with a bb gun and did it explode in front of my eyes. Immediatly went into a state of shock. I thought I would never live down that episode of my childhood down.
It was such a hard life of getting up on a summers morning eating breakfast and out the door by 8:00. I didn't return home until around 6-7 for dinner then out the door again until 10-11PM. The while town was our playground and every parent was every kid's cop. No place to escape. The watching eyes were everywhere. Like the jungle telegraph. I probably kept us safe even when we tried to do something dangerious and stupid.
My folks had a small Ma-Pa resturant when I was real young. There were to other eating places in this small town also. One of them was in business for more than 40 years. My folks only tried this for 4-5 years or less. My favorite pie is still banana creme pie.
The end of summer meant the county fair and the thrill show with their loud, fast cars. They did "Dare Devil" tricks like jumping ramps or driving on two wheels. The climax was always the "Flaming Car" jump from ramp to ramp. Cheap thrills for a young boy like me in the 50's. My friends and Ialways tried to figure a way to sneak into the fair. The other things that this small town had was movie theater. For a dollar you could have popcorn, soda and a candy bar with change left over. Usually cowboy movies like Hopalong Cassidy,Roy Rogers or Gene Autry or Lash Larue. Sometimes Robin Hood or pirate movies or Tarzan . That was a Saturday regular event and then later we would play act the scenes we saw in the movie. We also liked having pea shooter fights or water gun fights. Fishing was still the best and the most fun. Mary,David and Richard were sure good fishers.
I never worked as a kid. My job was to have fun. I got an allowance of one dollar a week. Things were cheap then but still that dollar sure went fast.
One day my friends mother died. I didn't understand death yet. I didn't know anyone that had died. Every one on TV when they died they got up and walked away cause you would see them in other shows. TV was pretend and the same as movies. Not long after that my best friends moved away. Their dad put them in an orphanage. I didn't understand it. Why? They were my best friends and they were gone. Once they came back for a visit but it wasn't the same.The whole world had changed in front of my eyes. Quick as a wink I was in highschool then college, then the Peace Corps then Vietnam. Then lost again. Made new friends,marriage,kids,divorce,free time,marriage. Old age coming in like a 'Slow Train'.
The saga of my friends has reunited us once again. Older and perhaps wiser but Mary,David and Richard have had interesting and different lives. I have been in their present stages of life and I am still proud to call them my friends. They have grown like all of us. Fine human beings with kids of their own. I truly hope they have had as much fun as we did in that small town. Life did go on for all of us regardless of the different paths we all took.