Who are you’ Dennis, pt2

Back fields as far as the eye could see, we all run around ducking in the tall grass till someone spotted us hiding we were being just country kids, sometimes all of us kids running around so much ending up at the end of the road, this was almost two miles from the house, making more a game to see who could run the fastest back to the house without fallen, most of us younger kids took our time getting back and always the older kids were standing by the wagon wheel at the end of the driveway waiting, after we rested heading for the tomato’s we could only pick the red ones no pink or green they had to wait a few more days, holding them in our shirts eating a few till we got home placing them in the straw basket, we had a dug out in the ground that stored a lot of vegetables that was one place you would never find me in that was more the older boys job to get what they needed.

We stayed with them for awhile till we moved into a small mobile home park, not many jobs around so we ended up moving again this time back to the north, finding a nice house apartment near the beach, living on the first floor wasn’t too bad, Our new dad found a job right off working in a gas station, things must have worked out good for him as he soon had his own station in town, going to school was to bad only walking one mile mostly up hill, now that hill was always fun riding in my wagon holding on all the way down feeling every bump in the road, staying in the center didn’t seem to bother me as long as I keep the handle straight , only one time it crashed into a car sending me flying, Mom came running out of the house checking over making sure I was ok, When dad got home he also asked not if I was ok if I broke the wagon, it was bent some but he took it to work and fixed it for me he wasn’t mad just concern.

Being just a small boy having only one big problem that was school in the first grade elementary class, not understanding what they wanted to teach after lunch at our desks and more talking, wanting more to go play outside at recess heading right for the monkey bars with the other boys, most of the girls went for the swings, all kinds of other things to dodge ball and sometime a group of us boys would shot marbles, everyone went back inside sitting at our desks sitting holding our hands on top of the desk while the teacher talked, back then we didn’t have classrooms to go back and forth to just one class room one teacher all day long and she mostly smelled like powder or some overwhelming perfume, teachers were females back then except the principal, why I seemed to be sent to him was unclear maybe tapping on my desk to much anyways sitting in that chair across from his desk looking down at you, he was tapping his pencil so why couldn’t I do it in class most of the time he just send me back to class telling me to stop tapping so much.

The following Year the same teacher all over again, us boys had our way of making the class start giggling before she turnaround from the blackboard, holding her ruler smacking it on her hand looking at all of us boys, mine you not the girls no not them they were young ladies, a little spit ball in their hair fix them good before we got caught, down to the principal office we go now in groups of five or six, having us sit and miss or recess, sometimes he would take our marbles till after school. Dad sometimes would take me to work with him, letting me play in the cars behind the garage, having lunch with the men giving me things to do staying out of there way for the most part, but I like asking why a lot till Dad would take me in the office letting me color in my books, till Mom pick me up taking me home.

Sometimes we go to the local flea market looking around sometimes they buy me something to play with at home a truck or baseball they even got me a war tank once, family would go out for sea food at one spot across town on the beach, eating hot dogs and fried clams, afterwards going swimming in the ocean, playing in the sand making sand castles getting all sandy having to run back in the water to get the sand off, with the sun heating the salt on our body’s making us get nice and red, getting changed on the beach before we got in the car making sure we didn’t have any sand on us, later mom would give us a bath putting lotion on the sun burns making it feel better, School was out for the summer, that was one time I should have stayed by the house, nothing was interesting so heading up to elementary school, along the backside it had theses huge rocks to climb on, little did I know it was the older kids rock, they grabbed me holding me down saying kids die on this rock they cut their hearts out and feed them to the rocks, talk about being a scared seven year old, after letting me go running home never returning to those rocks staying near the house.

We went on a vacation to visit my cousins in Ohio, it was like old times getting the water from the creek and playing in the fields, staying for a whole week before coming back home, soon after something happen at the station dad lost it having the property sold that the station was on, next thing I knew we were moving again this time without dad, Mom loaded up the car and moved back to New York with our Father maybe this will work out maybe not, enrolled in school only two blocks away that was better than walking up the hill every day, after school playing on the sidewalk or in the back yard wasn’t so bad it had only one tree too small to climb on, but plenty of sand to play in, out front was a busy road cars all the time back and forth sitting on the steps watching the different types going by counting the cars with chrome wheels, sometimes they let me walk up around the corner and get the Newspaper on Sunday.

As a youngster you didn’t ask a lot of question what was going on around you between Mom and Dad, all I knew was mom drove a car home pulling out the back seat leaving it on the sidewalk placing all our belonging inside it, having to crawl across the boxes to the back window as we drove away, waking up it was dark inside the car, Mom and my sister sleeping in the front seat; looking out seeing only a street light over us in some rest stop along the highway.

Dennis is a lost young boy having his world changing every time he turns around, now in another state waking up inside their car looking out in the middle of the night. Thank you blogger’s for following upon Dennis story part two. Will

Who are you’ what happen Dennis

Looking back one can only wonder who we were in the past growing up in a world of today, sometimes we have to stop and wonder if things could have been different, what if sometimes seems to always run into the big question what could have been, our dreams as a child of what we wanted to become as we got older it was our dream of things to come in our life’s, somewhere along the line these plans changed for Dennis.

 Life been just one of those times when it wasn’t even my life, School was always hard getting along with other kids around not able to understand the school work for that matter like reading was my worst subject more flipping thru the pages, always finding some reason not to read out loud with the other kids, sure in time reading more comic books seeing more what the words intended making it clear, the teachers would know just placing you in the rear seats away from the smart kids, bad grades on report cards only getting past along to the next grade, this thing of holding back a child in the late sixties was just unheard of pass the kid or you’ll get him next year, Math was my worst subject no way could I possibly understanding anything about those times tables even to this day, learning to count was done at home counting pennies during card games mostly learning poker’ Annie up who wins the pot, betting came easy sometimes it help in school calling a two a duce, or three a tray even if the math teachers did not like that at all.

Summer was a time you got out with your friends and play in the local park down the street, if you had a bike then you could go riding around with your friends seeing who could ride the fastest, we didn’t do all kinds of tricks on our bikes only thing we did was maybe cut off old bike forks to extend them outward like chopper motorcycles, a few kids even placed steering wheel on them, I stuck to the banana seat with high back chrome rails to rest on when you stopped with your friends talking and most important the tall handle bars tilled back, after all this time forgetting the name only it was a purple ten speed with white trim on the side, Sports cards making motor sounds were more for the little kids. Every kid on the block knew when dinner was rushing home it was time for Have Gun will Travel or the Real McCoy’s, Daniel Boone was on every afternoon around four but you could always find a great western Movie those days.

In the formative years of the sixties things happen around us everyone dancing wearing strange color clothes and always someone saying Peace man, Peace, Make Love not War, in the store’s handing out flowers to you as you walk your cart outside, one guy was all deck out in bright purple outfit even his hat match slow walking swaying side to side, about the only true hippie they called them without a full beard, Cut jeans and tie around blouses was quite the look for the woman, most of the guys still had long jeans with ripped knees patches sew on the front and back, a bit different back then compared to today’s generation , we didn’t dress like them till later in the early Seventies even then it wasn’t so much as maybe an army jacket and bell bottom jeans, only as the polyester came in with the disco everyone was cool learning moves having a grand time it was the thing to do just being yourself dancing with the music feeling it inside drifting you away, of course some had other ways of making them sway a little more to smoking wild weed, even that was ok but not allowed in our house nor did we want to try it knowing what would happen if our mother found out we even been around anybody smoking it.

Looking back into this childhood still remember the night it happen on Christmas eve nineteen sixty, laying on the couch watching the television tying not to fall asleep while Mom was wrapping presents, being woken by a crash opening my eyes Mom grabbing me and my sister rushing us out the door down stairs from our second floor apartment, stopping to get in the car turning looking over seeing my new tricycle laying on the sidewalk with broken glass all around it. Waking up in a strange place sitting up on the couch looking around Mom was sitting at the table with a man she knew as things happen we stayed with him moving to Ohio, Staying with Mom’s sister and her whole family living in the lower part of a house yet to be build, everyone of us kids had chores to do no matter the age, sometimes they let me help bring the water can over the hill to a creek filling it, not to many folks around here complaining about kids running around bare foot getting dirty digging up potatoes in the field for dinner, everyone line up before dinner at the table getting washed head to toe from the wash bucket, most of us kids had to stand on a chair with just underwear on but we didn’t mine getting into clean night clothes’ besides the wood stove made plenty of heat, that was the older boys job keeping the stove full of wood.

Sometimes we could watch the television that was only on the weekends if a good scary horror movie was on, during the weekdays before the sun even came up we rush down the driveway to get the school bus coming up our rutted dirt road, taken all us kids to school with the other kids he pickup on some other part around the hill.

Dennis is just another person that has cross a path, following his evens between everything else I’ve been doing with my main story’s; now finding time to let Dennis get his say in finding this one more little story needing a posting for my bloggers’ Thank you blogger’s following upon Dennis story in a few short parts. Will