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Can you remember when?
Can you remember when you got your first bicycle? When we lived in Tracy,prior to the war, we were always inventing new ways to utilize the toys at our disposal. This was during the depression but we still received some nice presents at Christmas and our birthdays.
During the course of our youth, Neal and I got only one bicycle, but it was a brand new 26 inch Wards Hawthorne. It had the works, a horn with batteries, also a headlight with the caution not to ride after dark. This just didn't make any sense at all. So this was just another way of inviting a spanking. I was constantly staying out after dark and Neal was sent to find me. He usually found my bike first, and would then-hide it before locating me and telling me to come home. He would act like he was going home, and then hide and watch me looking for my missing bicycle.
Normally after he let me twist in the wind for a while, he would then tell me where the bike was hidden and then all I had to worry about was my spanking for not coming home. On a few occasions I would have to suffer for a-day or so before he would tell me where my bike was hidden.
There came a time that Neal tied our little red wagon to the back of his bicycle, and then convinced me to ride in the wagon while he towed it behind his bike. This worked fine, until he decided to stop. The wagon, not having brakes continued to travel until it tried to pass Neals bike. This caused Neal to fall on the wagon, turning it over, and throwing me on the ground. The bicycles handlebars then fell on my left hand with Neal on the handlebars causing it to break my finger in three places.
Can you remember when your mother first lied to you? My first and only time my mother stretched the truth resulted in my one and only stay in the hospital. Not realizing my finger was broken, until the bone almost came through the skin. I then had to stay overnight and have the bones reset and put in a cast. Mom told me that I wouldn't have to stay overnight but the hospital said otherwise. Bummer, big bummer.
Neal was not through with me yet, later after my hand had a chance to heal, he convinced me it would be wise to jump from the top of a boxcar onto the ground. Tracy was a railroad town with several tracks, and many sidings where they kept many boxcars waiting to be loaded. Next to some of the parked boxcars were piles of sand, and Neal explained how soft this would be to land in when we jumped. I emphasize the word we, because we never happened. He said you jump first and I will be right behind you. When I jumped, my knees bent on landing driving them into my chin, and almost breaking my neck, When Neal witnessed this, his true colors came through loud and clear (yellow).
Can you remember when, with a cereal boxtop and a quarter, you could get a decoder ring? One time we sent a quarter along with a Wheaties boxtop for our secret decoder rings. We both ordered a ring, and after many weeks of waiting they arrived. After coding and decoding messages for about a week, I got tired of mine and sold it for a dollar to one of our friends. This really angered big brother, and he then fabricated this story about having free admission to the movies all summer by just showing your decoder on arrival. I was really upset until I got the truth.
Can you remember when you used to be chased home by some bullies? This happened almost daily when we first moved to Tracy, California. This was in the middle 1930ts. We had moved out to California during the depression from Oklahoma, and (Okies) as we were called were not exactly the pick of the litter. So when we arrived in town we rented on what was called, the wrong side of the track. Tracy was heavily populated with Mexicans, and they loved to pick on us little Okie boy's. These same bunch of guy's chased us for several days until our grandfather put a stop to it.
Hee Haw (grandfather) took Neal to the side and questioned him. After finding out what was happening, he picked out the biggest one of the bullies. He then told Neal to clean his clock. Neal was frightened to death, but his odds were better now than at any other time, with Hee Haw there to keep things even. So, he just jumped in boots and all. Started swinging like a mad man, and really beat the crap out of this bully. After that, we never had another problem. This seems to be a common mating dance between males all over the world. Call someone's bluff and they will usually leave you alone.
About living on the wrong side of the track. It was one of the safest places we ever lived. We had hobos stop to ask for food, but never without offering to work for their meal. Mom could always find some yard work or wood splitting chores to have them earn some food. I don't recall her ever turning anyone away. We used to sleep with our doors open wide during the hot weather, and while we were gone on vacation, the doors were never locked. It wouldn't have made any difference because all the locks used what was called a skeleton key. One key fits all locks. We eventually moved to the right side of the tracks but it didn't effect any drastic changes in our lifestyle.
Can you remember when you could buy a guesswhat for a penny? A guesswhat was something like a party favor. It was a round wrapped orange paper that was twisted on both ends, with a toy and a piece of candy inside. Something like a Cracker Jack only smaller. We would usually get ours at Divanas's market. This was a small local store much like the AM/PM markets today. Angelo Divanas was a guy that me and Neal ran with at times. Their house was attached to the store, and I recall one time that we went to get Angelo, and his teenage sister answered the door in her slip. So sinful, we covered our eyes and turned our heads until she covered herself properly.
Can you remember when you could get a haircut for 15 cents, or gas for 8 cents a gallon? The haircut came with a lollipop for the same price. My cousin Buddy Blagg was visiting us when I had to get a haircut. He came along riding on the handlebars of my bike. After the haircut, the barber gave us both a sucker, and with Buddy on the handlebars wiggling around and me taking the sucker in and out of my mouth. I didn't have very good control of the bicycle, and ran into the drivers side of a slow moving car just in front of the windshield. Smashing a perfectly good lollipop on his windshield. Buddy ended up on the hood, but none the worse for wear, and the bike came out unscathed. As for the cheap gasoline, the Mohawk station on the West End of town was selling gas for 8 cents for regular and 10 cents for ethyl per gallon. This was in 1940.
Can you remember when movies were 10 cents for a movie, serial, cartoon, and the Warner Pathe News. We used to go on Friday nights to see a western along with the serial that always had the good guy dying at the end (you thought) until next week you found out how they escaped. We would walk to and from the movies, and on the way home, after a scary movie the shadows made by moving trees in the wind, cast by the street lights made us pick up the pace to a very fast trot. Some wise guy would almost always hide behind a tree, jump out and scare the wits out of us. This was part of what made the experience enjoyable.
Do you remember when some of the older kids first explained the birds and bees? This happened for me in Richmond during WW2. Dad was working at the shipyards and there was a large group of kids that hung out in Atchison Village, a development of cheap housing to accommodate the ever growing horde of shipyard workers. We were out front on the huge common yards playing ball when one of the bigger boy's told us this ridiculous story that I know my parents wouldn't do. It made me so mad, when he kept saying oh yes they did. How do you think you got here? Not like that I said. Finally after much bickering back and forth, I jumped on top of him trying to make him take it back. He eventually kicked my butt real good but would not apologize. Oh for those day's of innocence. A postscript to this story. When the war first started, dad moved to Richmond to work in the shipyards. His day off was Thursday, and when he came home after dinner, he would give Neal and me 15 cents apiece to go to the movies. This was the most expensive night of the week because they played keno. We never understood why dad forked out the big money until many years later. That big guy in Richmond knew what he was talking about, and dad wanted to be home alone with mom. As for the keno, I won one night; but so did half the theatre. The keno cards had a misprint so all we got was a free pass to the movies.
Can you remember when they had loge seats and intermissions in theatres? As we grew older and wanted to impress our dates, we would spring for a loge seat at the theatre. The loge seat cost a little more and was much more comfortable. It was like a rocker with more padding. Also wider. There was always an intermission between films to allow you the opportunity to use the restrooms, or better yet for them, purchase some goodies. There was always a lot of chatter and activity during these intermissions. I recall during the start of one of these intermissions, just as the lights came on, a very loud noise as someone released excess gas from their system. This person was a guy named Jim Shelton, and right after he did this offensive act, he stood up, said to his beautiful date Janice Rice, if you are going to do that, I am going to sit elsewhere. He then walked away from her, as her face got redder and redder. This should have been the end of that romance, but they went on to marry, have lots of children and grandchildren. You just never know what it takes to end a romance.
Can you remember when you got your first BB gun? Mine was a Daisy, Red Ryder model. It was quite a bit like a Winchester saddle carbine. It had a large round ring on the side just above the cocking lever. In this ring, was a piece of leather looped through the ring. I, don't recall if there was any significance attached to this adornment, or if it was just for decoration purposes. They did seem to have more shooting power than todays models of air rifles. I was talking to my friend Wes just the other day about a situation with my BB gun that really had me scared. I had run out of BBs, so I was dropping wooden matches down the barrel of my Red Ryder not thinking I could hit anything I fired at, when I aimed it at the exposed lightbulb of a street light. After firing several matches towards the street light, with them veering off in all directions. One went straight to its mark, and exploded the bulb with a loud noise. I thought sure, that all of the people in the surrounding neighborhood, heard this explosion and my next residence would be in jail. I rapidly ran home, put my gun away, and never said a word about this activity for many weeks.
Oh, how I remember!