Levittown: Through A Boy’s View 4x69e

Copyright © 2014 by LostLenny.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014910347 ISBN: Hardcover 978-1-4990-3324-3 Softcover 978-1-4990-3326-7 eBook 978-1-4990-3323-6

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only. Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 06/06/2014

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CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

I KINDERGARTEN

II GIRLS

III HEDGES

IV BULLIES

V STICKBALL

VI AN OLD HOUSE

VII AN ODD FRIENDSHIP?

VIII WHOOPS

IX THE NOSY NEIGHBOR

X A FATHER’S RIGHT

XI TRICK OR TREAT

XII THE FATHERS

XIII I HAVE TO KNOW!

XIV CHRISTMAS

XV THE RUBBER BOOT

XVI THE MUSEUM

XVII THE BICYCLE

XVIII SODA BOTTLES

XIX ANOTHER BREED OF CHILDREN

XX THE GREEN LANE THUMPERS

XXI CATECHISM AND THE CHIMPANZEE

XXII THE LIGHTER

XXIII SHOPLIFTING

XXIV ’THE GREEN LANE SLUGGERS’

XXV

XXVI THE BELLY FLOP

XXVII THE HANDBALL COURT

XXVIII THE GARAGE ROOF

XXIX THIN AIR

XXX ’THE STREET PARTY’

XXXI ’THE OLYMPICS’

XXXII ’THE RUSTY’

XXXIII ’THE ALMOST HARLEY’

XXXIV ’THE DENT’

XXXV ’BANG’

XXXVI

XXXVII BATTERY ACID!

XXXVIII THE OFFER

XXXIX

XL

Prologue

William Levitt is standing with his father, Abraham, and his younger brother, Alfred as they stare at a huge tract of land, sixty thousand acres that is known as the Hempstead Plains, the North East’s largest prairie. At one time these were fertile potato fields. But, the area was ravaged by the Golden Nematode, and in a short while, the fields became infested, and the crops were destroyed. But, the Levitts have another crop to sew—mass housing on a huge scale that no one has ever seen before.

The Levitts stare at the huge expanse of flat grassland that seems to extend for ever. Though, in the distance, they see that the flatlands reveal a large area of pine trees that seem to be an island in a sea of grass. This smaller area is known as ‘Island Trees’. It is here where they had purchased a large tract of land at a bargain price. For the Levitts have a vision, a revolution in construction.

It is the end of World War II, and sixteen million servicemen will be coming home, getting married, and raising families.

But, there is a serious shortage of housing. New construction techniques need to be developed and refined to meet the need. And so, the Levitts decided to build upon their construction experiences in Norfolk, Virginia and elsewhere’s.

In order to construct their houses faster and cheaper, local building codes were changed to meet the demand by omitting the basement. Lumber was milled and precut in a small factory over three thousand miles away in Blue Lake, California. Then, the lumber was shipped across the country to their Island Trees holdings.

In the beginning, the first 2,000 Levitt houses were rented out to the returning servicemen. But these small houses were in great demand, and 4,000 more houses were built and rented out, too. Then, in 1949, a larger ranch house was designed and constructed. It sold for $7,990.

The Levitts’ methods were so efficient, that buyers could select the house they wanted and sign a contract for it in a few minutes.

The purchase included a wall mounted York or GE oil furnace, a GE electric stove, a refrigerator, a stainless steel sink, metal cabinets, and a Bendix washing machine.

So massive was the project, that water removal from the streets during heavy rains was a serious concern. As a result, a network of miles of large underground concrete tunnels were built, each large enough for a small child to go through. These drainage tunnels lead to the many recharge basins or huge open pits used to return the precipitation back into the ground. As a safety measure, these open pits were surrounded by high galvanized steel fences. In Levittown, these tunnels and recharge basins would become havens for children to flock to, in addition to the many playgrounds, handball courts, basketball courts, and many Olympic sized swimming pools that were equally distributed throughout the village. This would truly become a child’s paradise.

* * *

A large box-like truck backs into a dirt area by a small house. Around the dwelling are thousands of other houses identical to it. Most have trucks, cars, or vans next to them, too. For some, this is moving day in Levittown.

The Nilssons have a large truck in front of their new home. The vehicle had been hired from a small trucking firm in ‘The City’ to move all of the Nilssons’ possessions into their new Levitt house. In back of the truck is the Nilsson’s 1937 Ford. Some men are getting out of the truck.

One trips, but another man grabs him in time. Burt Nilsson stares at them.

“You get what you pay for,” he muses, then wonders about the men that he had hired the previous day. “Bums and drunks, all of them. The pride of the ‘Bowery’.” Then, Burt sees two men grappling with a large Maple chest. He walks over to them and stops. A man asks, “Burt where do you want this?”

“Bring it upstairs.”

“But, I don’t like heights!” the man complains.

“Then, bring it down the hall, and there’s a large bedroom on your left. Just bring it in there and put it on the floor,” Burt Nilsson says, and he sees his wife and son, Lester, their two year old son.

Rosalyn Nilsson is holding their small boy’s hand while she watches the men unload the truck. Small piles of clothing, kitchenware, boxes of miscellaneous items begin to litter the inside of their new home. The larger pieces of furniture are being taken from the truck, too and are adding to the mess and confusion in the house. She becomes worried, but excited, too as she considers where she will put all of their possessions.

By 2:00 in the afternoon, the truck is unloaded, and the men wait outside to be paid. Burt Nilsson goes outside and gives each man a ten dollar bill and a few shots of whisky. The men jump in back of the truck with their money. Then, they happily wait to be driven back to the city.

The Nilssons are standing together by the front door to their new house, and watch their last link to the big city disappear as the truck lumbers down Green Lane and turns North onto Wantagh Avenue. Burt disappears into the living room and begins moving their dining room table into the kitchen. Rosalyn wanders over to the big chest in the large bedroom and begins to unpack her prized dishes and move them into the kitchen. Nearby, is their two year old son, Lester.

The small boy wanders to his mother in the kitchen and watches her. However, an inner pressure is building in him, and he calls out to his mother, “I gotta go potty!”

Soon, the boy feels better, and he s his parents in the living room. They are relaxing on their old couch and soon each parent becomes quiet as they think about their life here.

Burt’s job in the city, Rosalyn’s household duties, and their new neighbors are causing their minds to drift into the future. Rosalyn looks at her son and wonders about his new life in Levittown. “What will Lester do?”

I

KINDERGARTEN

Burt Nilsson watches his son, Lester put on his shoes. The boy is trying to pull the laces tight. Though, when Lester attempts to make a bow, there is only a common granny knot, and the loose ends still drag on the floor.

“Lester, you’re five years old and you should know how to tie your shoes. Let me show you how,” Burt Nilsson says.

The father kneels down and pulls the bow loose on one of his shoes. The boy looks on.

“OK, do as I do.”

Lester kneels down, too and begins to mimic his father as the man reties his shoe. At first, the boy’s attempts are clumsy, and his efforts result in a frustrating failure. Though, the father persists, and after a few more attempts, Lester finally catches on. The boy stands, looks down, and beams at the neat bows on his shoes. However, when he looks up, the boy sees his mother looking at him.

“Lester, eat your breakfast and get ready for school. I’ll walk you there when you’re ready.”

“That’s right!” the father says. “This is your first day of kindergarten.”

* * *

Sixteen children stand around their teacher, Mrs. Prentise as the woman tries to put her charges into some type of order. The youths though, are confused, and many quickly lose interest in their teacher as they wander about the room.

This is their first day of kindergarten with a new teacher. They are away from their homes, and everything around them is new and confusing. They’re not even in a real school. The large room that they’re in is part of an old Protestant church that is being used as a temporary classroom until the school officials find space to put them in. Their room is now being called the ‘Gardeners Avenue School Annex’.

Since this is Kindergarten and a transition from a child’s home into a long period of formal education, the State of New York encourages that a child be in attendance for only half the day. For most children, their mothers will be back at noon to bring them home. Lester’s mother, Rosalyn has only to walk down their small street to Wantagh Avenue, then turn right to the old Church.

The teacher makes another feeble attempt to control her class, but many become distracted again and begin to play with their neighbors. One boy is on his hands and knees and wanders over to Lester. Lester is watching the teacher and does not notice the other youngster until he feels a pressure against his foot. Nilsson looks down.

“Don’t do that!”

The boy pulls the other bow loose, too. Nilsson jumps on top of him, and the boys begin wrestling on the floor. The class loses all interest in their teacher again and watches the fray. A girl crawls over to the teacher and loosens one of her laces. But, Mrs. Prentise doesn’t notice, and she bends down and grabs a boy’s arm, then pulls him off the other boy. She steps on the loose lace, her foot is held back, and she trips. Mrs. Prentice falls on top of the fighting children. Some are looking on and think that she is wrestling, too. They decide to jump on the teacher. In a few minutes, the entire class is wrestling and fighting, some with Mrs. Prentise. In a few minutes, the commotion is over. As the Kindergarteners get off the heap of bodies, they wander to a secluded wall or chair and sit down. At last, their teacher gets up too, relieved that the class is off of her.

“What a way to begin the year,” she complains to herself.

The rest of the morning is consumed with a rudimentary lesson in arithmetic, a midmorning nap for the children, and recurring discipline problems. By 11:30, Mrs. Prentise is exhausted, and she is grateful when she sees parents in the hall outside her room.

The teacher collects the papers she had distributed earlier in the morning, looks at the door, and wonders who had opened it. But, she looks down and sees that each paper is folded in four parts and each part has a number on it. Today they got to the number 4.

One of the children looks outside and sees his mother in the hall. He stands up and runs to her. The other children follow him. The teacher watches her class run outside, though she does not call them back. Mrs.

Prentise is relieved to see them go.

Outside, in the hall, a girl rushes to her mother.

“Mommy, Mrs. Prentise showed us how to fight!”

“She what?”

“I beat up a boy!”

“So did I!” another girl shouts.

“She did not!” a boy blurts back.

In a few minutes, the class is standing in the hall with their parents, each relating their part in the fray. One parent looks at their child’s teacher is dismay. Other mothers do the same and looks of disappointment and concern are revealed on their faces. A few begin gossiping. Then, the mothers escort their children outside and take them home.

Mrs. Prentise goes to her desk, sits behind it, and puts the children’s papers in a neat pile before her. She looks at the papers and, in disgust, she picks them up and throws them into a nearby waste can. Then, she looks at the metal container,

reaches into it, and removes the papers. Again, the papers are put before her in a neat pile. The young woman begins to grade her class’s attempts at writing their numbers and tries to forget about the fight.

* * *

Mr. Nilsson is home from work. He repairs business machines in New York City and must drive his 1948 Chevy Sedan to the train station in Wantagh, then take the commuter train into the city. “Wouldn’t it be easier if Rosalyn could drive me,” he muses. Though, he is home now, and the man looks forward to a relaxing meal with his family.

* * *

Burt Nilsson and his son Lester are sitting at the dining room table. The father looks at its flat yellowish surface and the chrome legs. Four matching chairs complete the set. In the distance, Rosalyn is preparing spaghetti. Lester walks in and sits down across from his father.

“Morning Lester,” the father says.

“Morning Dad.”

“How was your first day of school?”

The son remains quiet and with a feeling of guilt looks down at the table. The father is waiting for him to answer.

“Well, how was school?”

“OK.”

“Lester what did you learn?”

Lester remains quiet as he searches for the right words. Finally, he just blurts out an answer.

“We learned how to fight!”

“What?” the mother says.

“Lester, what do you mean?” Mr. Nilsson asks.

The son launches into a long monologue as he tells his parents about what had transpired that day. Their concern turns into anger as they wonder why the teacher became involved. Mrs. Nilsson becomes mad and speaks.

“Burt, I better talk with Mrs. Prentise tomorrow.”

“That’s a good idea, Ros. Let’s find out what went on.”

Lester becomes worried and solemn as he wonders what will be said about him.

* * *

Mrs. Nilsson is standing in the hall waiting for her son to come out. Other mothers are waiting, too. At first, they’re quiet until someone speaks.

“My daughter said there was a fight yesterday,” a mother says.

“Oh?” one asks.

“But, my son said they were playing with the teacher,” another interrupts.

“My daughter said that they were playing, ‘King of the mountain’.”

The door leading into the classroom opens, and the class runs into the hall. The mothers quickly collect their children and take them home. Though, a few parents remain. Mrs. Prentise looks at them.

“Can I help you?”

Mrs. Nilsson speaks first.

“Lester told us that you taught them how to fight.”

“Not really, but their was a fight between Lester and another boy.”

“About what?”

“A boy untied Lester’s shoes.”

Mrs. Nilsson is quiet until she re the bows on her son’s shoes and how proud he was to have tied them. Lester’s mother begins to laugh.

“What’s so funny? The teacher asks.

“I think the fight was our fault.”

“Yours?”

“Burt showed Lester how to tie his shoes this morning. I guess that he was really proud of those bows.”

“OH, I see,” the teacher says. “And when another boy untied them, he got mad.”

“I guess that Lester has a lot to learn.”

“And Billy, too,” his mother says.

The mothers collect their children and lead them outside. Mrs. Nilsson turns to Billy’s mother and speaks.

“Hope tomorrow Mrs. Prentise controls our children better.”

“So do I

II

GIRLS

The children are sitting in their seats. Most of them want to play, but, Mrs. Prentise prefers to continue their last Math lesson. Today, they’re going to do four more numbers. The young woman begins to blank sheets of paper out to the class. When the children receive their papers, some begin to fold them into four parts as they had done the previous day. Others quietly wait for the teacher to speak. Though, some prefer to play with their neighbors. A girl leans forward and taps Lester on the shoulder. He turns around and faces her.

“What?” he asks.

“You play with me later?”

The question startles him. “She’s a girl!” he winces. Lester answers, “No.”

“Why?”

“You’re a girl,” he answers loudly.

Others in the class turn their attention from Mrs. Prentise to the pair who are

now arguing.

“So?”

“You’re a girl, that’s all!” Lester barks.

The outburst attracts the teacher’s attention, too, and she turns away from the blackboard.

“Children, pay attention!”

But, the two children ignore their teacher, and the girl’s tone is demanding when she asks, “So? Why can’t we play?”

“You’re a girl, so leave me alone!” Lester yells back again.

“Would you two be quiet!” Mrs. Prentise barks out.

Lester and the girl become quiet. Though, they have forgotten about the lesson. The class has too. Everyone begins to talk. Also, some get out of their seats.

“Children! Would you sit down and be quiet!”

Those that are standing return to their seats. The class settles down, too. Mrs. Prentise continues writing on the board. Slowly, the class shifts their attention to the blackboard and once more, they begin to copy the numbers on their papers.

The girl taps Lester on the shoulder again.

“Leave me alone!”

“You play with me or not?” she asks.

“Emily, what’s wrong?” Mrs. Prentise bellows.

“Lester doesn’t want to play with me!” she whines, and the girl begins to cry.

The class is quiet, though Mrs. Prentise tries to calm Emily down. Lester also remains quiet, too. Though, he feels that he should sit elsewhere. “Away from that girl!” he thinks. He raises his hand.

“Yes?”

“Mrs. Prentise, can I sit someplace else?”

“OK, take an empty seat by the windows.”

Emily watches Lester stand up and walk across the room. When he sits down, the teacher continues with the lesson. Though, Emily becomes quiet and pouts. In a few minutes, Emily raises her hand.

“Yes Emily.”

“Can I move next to Lester?”

“No, Emily. You stay in your seat.”

She begins to cry again. But Lester is relieved, and in a few moments, he looks at the blackboard and scribbles the number six. The rest of the morning goes by quickly and before he knows it, parents have opened the door and are looking into the room. A child gets out of his seat and runs to his mother.

“John, go back to your seat and finish your numbers!” the teacher says loudly.

But, he ignores her and hurries to his parent. The others get out of their seats, too and run to their mothers. Disgusted, Mrs. Prentise collects their papers from the empty tables, places them in a neat stack on her desk, and sits down. The day is done.

III

HEDGES

The years have come and gone, and the Nilsson’s neighborhood has changed. The simple, bare houses that were built on mostly treeless tiny lots are being changed into homes that cater to the needs, whims, and desires of their young owners.

Many homes now have attached garages that neatly blend into the form of the original structures. Others have built large porches that extend onto the backyards of their homes that provide the resident with needed seclusion and privacy from their neighbors.

The small lots have been bordered with fences and hedges that clearly define the boundaries of one’s ownership. Though often, a narrow space has been forced between the shrubbery where a young child can quickly go through the neighborhood. The small lots are being turned into an intricate network of trails and secrete ageways for the local youth to travel through. Though, parents often react very forcibly with a young intruder when he or she is caught tresing.

Many times a parent is seen taking a youngster to his father or mother to tell them of the youth’s offense. Often punishment is swift but, soon forgotten by the parent. Though, the child’s memory of the incursion lingers, and he refrains from doing it again. For this was the time and place where concerned and loving parents raised a child in a no-nonsense manner that left little doubt of the child’s place. And, where many children’s problems were resolved by talking with

another parent over a hedge or fence. However, there are times when an amiable discussion results into a heated argument.

* * *

Burt Nilsson is mowing his back yard. The orange Jacobson reel mower is leading him around the yard in neat rows. Burt is attentive, and he carefully watches the machine as it neatly shears the grass. Though, standing by the hedge that separates their back yards is his neighbor, George Ronas. Burt notices him gesturing to him. He stops mowing, turns off the machine, and goes to George.

“Hi George.”

“Burt, can we talk?”

“Sure, what about?”

“Your son.”

The mention of his boy causes a defensive note in his reply when Mr. Nilsson asks, “What about him?”

“Lester and his friends have made a hole in your hedge and are going into my back yard.”

“I see… . I’ll talk to Lester about it tonight.”

“Good,” George says, and he changes the subject. “How does the lawnmower work?”

“Good, been thinking of getting one of those new rotary machines.”

“Another Jacobson?”

“I don’t know?” Burt replies, “Have to look around, maybe one of those green two cycle lawnmowers.”

The men continue talking until they tire of conversing with each other. Then, they go back into their houses. In side, Burt sees his wife preparing supper.

“Hi, hon’”

“Hello Burt.”

“What are we havin.”

“Food!”

“Oh, what type of food?”

“The best!” Rosalyn answers and winks at her husband.

“In that case, I’ll have the best.”

Burt sits down and waits for his supper, though, he has his son on his mind. “Did George really see Lester and his friends go through my hedge?” Across the kitchen, he can hear his wife coming to the table with plates of food. He inhales deeply and smells, “Pot-roast!”

“Ros, we’re gonna’ have a feast!”

“Burt, can you call Lester? I think he’s upstairs.”

Burt stands and goes across the small house to the foot of the stairs and calls his son. Rosalyn brings the plates of food to the table and sits down. In the distance, she hears Burt and Lester coming into the room. Rosalyn waits until the others sit down.

Lester begins eating, but his mother clears her throat.

“Lester, let’s say grace first.”

The Nilssons bow their heads as Mr. Nilsson reverently says grace.

When done, his wife begins talking about a neighbor who had a couch delivered to her house. Though the conversation reveals a note of jealousy when Rosalyn asks, “Burt, when are we going to get a new couch?”

“What’s wrong with the one we got?”

“Its old,” the mother answers. “It was old when my parents gave it to us.”

“But its comfortable.”

“But it looks terrible,” the mother complains.

The conversation appears to be developing into an argument, and Burt wants to change the subject. He looks at his son.

“Lester, you been going through our hedge?”

The question has a warning to it, and Lester’s reply is guarded when he answers, “All the kids go through the hedges.”

“You, too?”

“Yes, Dad.”

“Well Lester, don’t do it anymore! And tell your friends not to do it either! Is that clear?”

The man’s tone has a note of closure to it, and the son’s answer is submissive when he answers. “Yes dad, we’ll keep away from our Hedge.

* * *

It is a beautiful early September day. Though it’s going to be hot, the neighborhood children are grateful that it’s Saturday. There is no school today, and they can play all day. Ed Gibbs looks at Lester.

“What you want to do today?”

“Play basketball?”

“Nah. Be too hot.”

“Stickball, It’s closer, we can play on our street;” Lester asks.

“Don’t have enough people for teams.” Gibbs says.

“I got it! Let’s get some bags and collect frogs in the recharge basin by the ‘Slate Lane Pool.”

“Great!” Ed says. “Let’s go. But, where we get the bags?”

“Go to the ‘A and P’ down the street.”

* * *

Lester and Ed see the huge pit dug into the ground. The sides of it slope down at a steep angle into a muddy and watery bottom. Large reeds and other plants have sprouted out of the shallow water. Occasionally a ripple is seen as a frog jumps into a stagnant pool. The boys stop at the galvanized fence and look up.

“We get caught on the top of the fence?” Ed asks.

“No, there’s a pipe at the top and no sharp edges,” Lester answers. “Let’s go.”

The pair pushes the paper bags under the fence and begins to climb. Lester easily

scales the fence and soon, he is standing on the other side. Ed, however is bigger, and when he gets to the top, he stops climbing.

“Ed, what’sa matter?”

“Nothin’, just restin’.”

After a few seconds, the larger boy regains his strength, swings his legs over the top, and climbs down. The boys walk down the steep grassy slope to the water where they begin to catch frogs and put them into the bags.

Lester is sitting on the grassy slope and carefully stalks a frog. “It’s a big one,” he muses. Slowly, the boy comes nearer until his hand shoots out and grabs it. He holds up the frog and puts it into his bag. He looks at his friend.

“Got one!”

Ed looks up, but loses his balance and his foot slips into the mud. Though, he sees another frog and cautiously stalks it. The frog is eyeing the boy, watching him carefully. Ed comes closer. The frog remains still until the youngster’s hand darts at the frog. It jumps. Gibbs catches it in mid air.

“Gotch ya!” the boy says.

“Get him?” Lester asks.

“Yey, big one, too.”

The boys continue their sport, each filling their bag. Ed hears a noise above them. He looks up and sees other youngsters above them looking at Ed and him from the other side of the fence. They scale the barrier, too. Ed and Lester watch them approach until they stop a few feet from where they are. One begins to talk.

“You catchin’ frogs?”

“Yey,” Ed answers.

“We help?”

“Sure,” Lester says, “Just put ’em in the bags.”

Soon five more boys are standing on the watery edge of the recharge basin hunting for frogs. The youngsters begin to spread out, each working a small area that he is claiming as his own. The bags are filling up. Ed looks at a bag and wonders if they can get the paper containers home.

“And, what do we do with them once they’re there?” Gibbs wonders.

After an hour, the bags are about half full. Ed lifts one of them.

“Heavy!” he thinks and looks at his friend.

“Lester!” he says, “How we gonna’ get these bags home?”

“I donno’. Have to get more bags, maybe. These are gettin’ wet.”

“Where?”

Ed climbs the side of the recharge basin and looks across a large field. He sees a small group of stores in the distance. The larger boy goes over the fence again and walks across the field. Lester and the other boys continue catching more frogs. Though, down the street, a few hundred yards away is a parked Nassau County Sherriff’s patrol car.

The policeman watches a chubby third grader walk away. He puts the patrol car into gear and creeps ahead towards the recharge basin. Finally, he stops by a large gate in the galvanized fence and sees five boys spread out playing by the water. “What are they doing?” he wonders. He drives down the street and turns right to the opposite side of the recharge basin. In the distance, the policeman can see the chubby third grader returning with more bags. In a short time, the boy climbs the fence and disappears into the recharge basin. The patrol car goes back to the gate, stops, and the man gets out.

Lester grabs another frog and climbs the slope to a paper bag that is above him. Carefully, he puts the frog in with the others. But, when he stands, he sees the police car by the other side of the recharge basin. Lester looks at Gibbs.

“Ed! There’s a cop over there!”

“Yeh and he’s walkin’ over here, too.”

Lester sees the man approaching, and the boy becomes nervous. He grabs one of the full bags and pours half the frogs into a newer, dryer bag. Ed does the same thing, then looks at Nilsson. The others hurry to the other side of the basin, climb the fence, and run away.

“Let’s get out of here!”

“How?”

“Through that tunnel there!” Ed says.

Each boy has a dry bag, half full of frogs, and disappears into the concrete discharge tunnel. Far ahead of them is a light coming from a street drain. Crouched over and carrying their frogs, the boys make their way to the light. Occasionally, they stop and regain their bearings, then go ahead again. The light is getting closer. Ahead of them is a street drain. They can see ladder rungs leading to a cast iron manhole cover in the street’s surface. Though, when they get to the rungs, they see that a pool of water about two feet deep is beneath them. Far in the distance, beyond the cover is more light. The boys leap over the water and move on until they come to another pool of water. The pair stop and gaze down. Shiny forms are seen.

“What are those things?” Ed asks.

Lester leans over the water and answers, “Looks like goldfish.”

“Where they come from?”

“Guess people threw them out.”

“Maybe, we’ll go fishing here, sometime?” Nilsson asks.

Gibbs is about to answer, but a thought occurs to him.

“Where are we?”

“I think we’re heading back to ‘Bohacks’.”

“You sure?” Gibbs asks.

“No.”

None the less, the boys continue on. They are straddling small pools of standing water in the pipe, and the boys are careful not to get the bags wet. They stop again at another street drain, though this one is different. Another large drain pipe is leading into the small area, converging at another angle. Lester gives his bag to Gibbs, stands on the rungs, and looks through the drain.

“Where are we?” Gibbs asks.

“I don’t know!”

“Let me look,” Gibbs says.

The larger boy climbs the rungs and looks outside through the drain. In the distance, he sees a familiar sign.

“I can see ‘Bohacks. Let’s take the other pipe.”

“Great!” Nilsson says, “We don’t have much farther to go.”

The pipe empties into a big ditch by the playground in back of the grocery store. In less than an hour, the boys leave the concrete pipe and go into a large drainage ditch where they climb another galvanized fence. At first, they must squint their eyes to acclimate their selves to the bright light. But, they are happy to be in the open. They take their bags of frogs and go home.

* * *

Ed Gibbs and Les Nilsson are in their neighborhood again. They have cut through a neighbor’s property and are now looking at the Nilsson’s hedge. Gibbs walks to the small opening in it. But, Lester holds him back.

“No!” Nilsson says. “My father don’t want us to go through there.”

“Why not?” Gibbs demands.

“He don’t like the hole we’re making in his hedge.”

The boys go into the next back yard and go through it to Nilsson’s street. They stand motionless on the sidewalk for a time until Lester feels the frogs moving in his bag. He looks at Ed.

“What you want to do with the frogs?”

“Can’t keep ’em, Gibbs says. “Let’s dump ’em on the ground.”

“Where?”

Gibbs looks around and sees a large bush in front of Lester’s next door

neighbor’s house. He points to it and says, “How ’bout there?”

The boys carry the bags to the neighbor’s bush and empty them. Frogs begin hopping all around. At first the boys can’t move, fearing that they will step on a slimy frog. Soon, they find areas that they can stand on and the boys begin to move away.

* * *

Mrs. Jonas carries the heavy clothes basket to her back door, opens it, and goes to her clothes line. There, she hangs up the wet garments. Nearby, is the Nilsson’s hedge. She stops and looks across her back yard at the Nilsson’s neatly trimmed hedge. The woman is content with what she sees, until her eyes look down and see the ugly gap in the shrubbery from where the neighborhood children have forced their way through it. “I must see Rosalyn about that,” she thinks and finishes hanging up her clothes. A short distance away, the woman notices many frogs jumping in the grass. Their dull green bodies revolt her as she finishes hanging up her clothes and hurries into her house.

* * *

It is now late afternoon, almost dinner time, and Lester is alone as he walks home. The frogs are no longer on his mind, and the urge to eat is driving him home faster. He begins to run when he sees his house. But, Lester suddenly stops short. Parked in his driveway is a black and white Nassau County police cruiser. A policeman is at the front door talking to his father.

“Is your son home?” the policeman asks.

“Why?”

“Another policeman saw your son and other kids in the recharge basin by the ‘Village Green’,” the cop answers.

“Oh. Is that against the law?”

“Well, he doesn’t belong there. But, that’s not why I’m here.”

The father becomes confused and gives the policeman a worried look, then asks, “So, what’s wrong?”

“Your son and another boy saw the policeman walking to them, and the youngsters disappeared into a large drainage pipe. No one has seen them since.”

“He should be home for dinner any time now.”

“Well, when you see him, give us a call, would you?”

Mr. Nilsson is grateful for his concern, and the men shake hands.

The policeman turns to leave. However, Lester is now standing behind the cop when the man turns around.

“Are you Lester?” the cop asks.

“Yes.”

The stress from his father’s worry about his son crests when Mr. Nilsson shouts, “Where the Hell you been?”

The son’s reply is vague. “Around.”

“I said where the Hell have you been?”

The father’s outburst startles the boy. His reply becomes timid when the third grader murmurs, “I was in the recharge basin with Ed Gibbs collecting frogs and took the pipes to the ‘Slate Lane Pool.”

“And you went underground from the pool to ‘Bo—hacks’? That’s over a mile!” The policeman says.

“Yes sir.”

The cop turns and looks at Lester’s father, then says, “Well, your son’s safe. I’ll leave you two alone.” The policeman turns and begins to leave, but he stops and looks at the father again. “Mr. Nilsson, I suppose that you will have a lot to say to you son, won’t you?”

“Yeh.”

Burt Nilsson and Lester watch the policeman leave. The father glares at his son and says, “Follow me.”

The father turns and walks to the kitchen. Lester follows, then stops when he sees his father pull out a chair from the dinner table and sits down on it.

“Come here!” the father orders.

Lester reluctantly obeys, and Mr. Nilsson puts Lester over his knee and spanks him.

IV

BULLIES

Mrs. Zerkowski labors to open her eyes as her hand pushes her cat off the bed. But the warm blankets are tempting the woman to stay, and she begins to drift back to sleep. Then, the cat jumps on the bed again and begins rubbing her face with his body. She pets her cat, gets up, and begins to prepare for another day of teaching third grade at the Gardeners Avenue elementary school.

Lester finishes breakfast, puts on his hat and coat, and grabs his book bag before going to the bus stop at the end of his street. He’s in third grade but, he is reluctant to go to school today. The teacher is showing the class ‘Division’. “I’d rather be in the recharge basin catching frogs,” he muses. His mother kisses him good-by, and the boy goes out the front door to the sidewalk, turns left, and goes to the bus stop at the end of the street. A short distance away there are other children waiting on the corner for the school bus, too. In the small group is a larger boy, Robert Wilkes, and he greedily watches Lester approaching.

Robert or ‘Robby’ as he prefers to be called is older than his classmates, having started kindergarten two years later than he should have. He uses his superior size to bully others to get what he wants. His parents are poor. Some of the neighbors say they drink. But, no one really knows since the Wilkes keep to their selves.

Mr. Wilkes is the janitor at the Gardeners Avenue elementary school. Often, Lester sees him pushing his broom around the corridors of the school. Though, the man prefers to keep to himself, and he often ignores the other children and

their teachers, too. He lives in a small Levitt house at the end of Lester’s street with his ailing wife and their two boys, Robby and an older son, Ralph.

Often, the two Wilkes boys are in trouble. The local candy stores have forbid the brothers from going into their establishments. At first, their offenses had only been petty thefts when they took candy from the shelves near the cash . Then, they were being caught leaving the store without paying for soda, French fries, hamburgers purchased at the lunch counter. Eventually, the youths became involved in minor robberies as they singled out other boys and robbed them of their pocket money.

Robby watches Lester approaching. Wilkes gets out of line and steps in back of the others. Lester steps in back of Robby and waits for the bus. Robby turns around and faces Lester.

“You got lunch money?”

“Why?”

“I want it!” Wilkes says.

“You get your own money!”

Wilkes punches Lester in the stomach. Nilsson drops his book bag and holds his stomach as he labors to breath. The other children stare at the pair. At last, Nilsson breaths normally again. He lunges at Wilkes and wrestles him to the

ground. The others begin to yell words of encouragement at Lester. Though, Wilkes is now sitting on top of Lester’s stomach pummeling the boy’s head and shoulders with his fists as the smaller boy covers himself the best he can. In the distance, the school bus is seen approaching while Wilkes continues to hit Lester. Then, Nilsson lifts is leg and hooks his foot around the larger boy’s head. Nilsson pulls Robby’s head back and Wilkes’s skull hit’s the ground hard. Stunned, the bully rolls on the ground and gets up. Lester stands too. The boys slowly begin to circle each other until Lester rushes Robby. Wilkes steps out of the way, and Lester rushes past him. Then, the smaller boy hears the school bus and distracted, looks at its large yellow form stop by them. But, Robby hits him in the face again. Lester begins to cry and a powerful rage floods him. The smaller boy rushes his opponent and tackles him. The pair falls to the ground. Nilsson grabs the other’s hair and hits his head on the hard dry earth. But, the bus driver has left his parked bus, and the man’s strong hands pull Lester off Robby and carry him onto the school bus.

Lester is sitting on a heater next to the driver as the bus slowly makes its way to the school. He rubs his bruised and aching body. On the other side of the bus, a few seats in back of them is Robby Wilkes. His hands are rubbing the back of his head. Though, he is already making plans to get even with Nilsson.

* * *

It is 11:30 in the morning and time for lunch. Mrs. Zerkowski’s third grade class has left her room, and they are in the school’s cafeteria. Lester reaches into his book bag and removes a small paper bag that has a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and an apple in it. Also, three pennies are there for a small carton of milk that he will buy. Other students around him have also taken their bag lunches out, too. Though, one boy in the large room has no lunch or lunch money to purchase his lunch with.

Robby Wilkes looks at the table and sees the empty space before him, then casts

an angry scowl at Nilsson. “Peanut butter and jelly,” he muses. “My favorite.” Wilkes gets out of his seat and approaches Lester who is sitting a few feet away from him. Nilsson looks up and sees the larger boy coming. Lester becomes worried and his body tenses.

Wilkes stares at the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and his tongue wets his lips in anticipation of eating it. He looks for the lunch monitor and sees her going into a storeroom at the far side of the room. He looks at Lester’s lunch again, then stands and goes to Nilsson.

Wilkes’s hand lunges for the sandwich. Lester pulls the food away.

“Leave my lunch alone!” Lester yells out.

“No, I’m hungry. I want it!”

The other students become quiet as they stare at the pair. The monitor, attracted by Lester’s outburst hurries out of the storeroom, then stops, and sees two boys fighting over a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. “What’s going on?” she bellows.

But, the students in the room ignore her as they watch the pair wrestling on the floor. Pieces of the sandwich are scattered about them as they roll on top of the smeared food. At last, the monitor grabs Robby Wilkes’s arm and pulls him off of Lester.

“What’s going on!” she demands.

“He’s trying to take my sandwich!” Lester yells.

“But, I’m hungry!” Robby complains.

“Robby, why didn’t you bring your own lunch?” The monitor asks. “Mom was too hung over to make it today.”

“Oh”, she replies, regretting having asked him the question.

A girl giggles and Robby glares at her. “That’s not funny!” he yells.

Lester eats his apple and watches a woman clean up the remnants of his sandwich off of the floor. In a few minutes, order is Restored. The students finish their lunches and return to their classes.

* * *

At last, Mrs. Zerkowski has quieted her class and is explaining the process of ‘division’ to her group. The students are quiet for the moment as they scribble symbols and numbers written on the black board for them to copy. Though, Robby Wilkes tears off a piece of paper from his notes and stuffs it into his mouth. He begins to chew it slowly until it becomes a masticated wet pulp of dirty gray slop. The math symbols on the board have been forgotten by him. But,

sitting on the other side of the room is Lester Nielson. Wilkes takes the wet mush from his mouth and prepares to throw it at Lester.

Nilsson has been sitting quietly at his desk copying the numbers and symbols on the black board. His teacher is trying to explain what she is doing, but Lester is in a quandary and does not understand her. He wants to raise his hand and ask her questions. But, he is hesitant to do so, fearing that he will be ridiculed by others in the class for not understanding. Then, his head is knocked sideways.

Plastered against the side of his head is a shapeless, masticated wet mush of what use to be Wilkes’s notes. Nilsson’s hand rises automatically and grabs the mess. He feels saliva dripping down his cheek, and Lester turns his head and sees Wilkes laughing at him. Others in the room are laughing, too. Lester bolts from his chair and rushes at Wilkes. Robby has his head turned and is joking with another boy. He does not notice Lester coming at him until Lester punches him in the side of the head. Robby falls off his chair and holds his throbbing head. Others watch him as he gets up and sits on his chair again. Lester is standing over him. Both of his fists are clenched.

“Lester!” Mrs. Zerkowski yells. “Go sit in your seat!”

The third grader slowly moves to his chair. Though, he is still upset and wants to get even with Wilkes. At last, Lester sits down and stares at the wood surface of his desk. Mrs. Zerkowski goes to Robby Wilkes.

“Robby, you OK?”

He rubs his head and looks at the teacher. “Yeh, I guess.”

The woman stares at Lester and speaks, “I want to see you and Robby at 3:00.”

The third graders become nervous. “If my father finds out!” Nilsson thinks. “And, what will Mom do?”

Though, Wilkes is not concerned with his parents. Lester is still on his mind. “But, Nilsson has never fought back before,” Robby thinks. “Maybe, I should forget it.

The trio is quiet as each considers what has happened. Though a thought occurs to the teacher. “How will they get home?” She clears her throat.

“Can you two walk home?”

The boys look at each other, their eyes conveying a mixture of fear, triumph, and rage towards each other. Lester has surmounted his fear of Wilkes, and the larger boy has been confronted with a smaller youth who no longer will tolerate his bullying. The larger boy is doubting his resolve and for the first time, he is nervous. He is learning that his mistreatment of Nilsson Is causing the smaller youth to fight back. Lester speaks first.

“I can walk home.”

“Me too.”

“But, do I dare leave those two alone?” The teacher thinks to herself. Then, a simple solution occurs to her. “I’ll drive one of them home.” She looks at Wilkes and says, “After school, I’ll drive you home”

Lester is quiet, but relieved. Though, he is jealous, too and wonders, “Why don’t she also drive me?” He walks to the door and goes outside. A short distance away is Gardeners Avenue. The buses have left, and the crossing guard is not there, either. Though, a few cars are seen traveling on the broad street. Lester stops, then his father’s words caution him.

“Walk, don’t run,” his father has said. Lester re his father taking him to a street and showing him how to cross it. Unlike his friends who often dash across a street or boulevard, heedless of who or what is coming. Lester waits for a space large enough in the traffic for him to cross Gardiners Avenue safely. He sees one coming, waits, and crosses the wide avenue. Lester walks home.

* * *

It is almost 4:00 in the afternoon when Lester walks into the entryway of his house. His mother is at the kitchen sink. A baking pan is soaking in the dish water. The boy takes his shoes off and places them by the door in the entryway, opens it, and enters the kitchen. Roselyn Nilsson turns around and sees her son.

“Mrs. Zerkowski was just here.”

The name of his teacher causes a knot to form in his stomach, and a strange

tightness is felt on his cheeks.

“Oh?”

“You been fighting today?”

“Yes Mom.”

“Lester, you want to turn into a juvenile delinquent?”

“No Mom.”

“If you keep fighting, you will.”

“Yes Mom.”

Lester becomes silent, and his mother turns to her sink, and cleans a baking pan. Her son interprets her actions as a dismissal, and he leaves the room.

* * *

The Nilssons are seated at the dinner table. Plates of speghetti and meatballs are before them. Though Lester has no appetite. He knows that he is in trouble as he waits for his father to speak.

“Lester, how was school today?”

“Not so good.”

“Why?”

“Got into a fight with Robby Wilkes.”

“What about?”

“He tried to steal my sandwich.”

“And, you stopped him?”

“Yeh.”

The father looks up from his plate and stares at his son until the man offers the boy a broad smile and says, “Good for you!”

“Burt!” the mother protests. “He got into a fight.”

“It’s about time he defended himself against that brat!” the proud father says.

“But, you don’t want a juvenile delinquent!’

“For defending himself!” the father protests and asks. “What’s he suppose to do?”.

“What are the neighbors going to say if Lester is always fighting?”

“Who the hell cares!” the father roars.

The mother becomes quiet, but her ive nature causes her to feel uneasy about the matter. She sits in a sultry silence.

V

STICKBALL

The boys have clustered their selves beneath the drooping branches of a Weeping Willow tree. Their summer is over, and school has begun. Though the summer still lingers in them; at a playground, by the pool, perhaps catching frogs in the recharge basin. Though now, most of them wish to play stickball in the street. Fred Custer looks at the flesh colored Spaldeen ball in his hand.

It is new, not scuffed up or soft from age. But, it is a fully inflated soft flesh colored rubber ball that is designed to fit in a youngster’s hand. Nearby, is a broomstick with it’s straw head cut off. The stick had been taken from a neighbor’s back porch a few days ago. Fred looks at his prizes and feels that he has risen in the neighborhood’s adolescent hierarchy. Custer speaks first.

“Let’s choose up teams.”

“We need captains first,” Lester says. “Fred, you be one of the captains, since we’re usin’ your ball and stick,”

“I’ll be the other captain,” Ed Gibbs calls out.

In a few minutes, the teams are chosen, and the boys leave the shelter of the Willow tree and go to where they have their stickball games.

Bilko Street is a small side street that leads to ‘Bohacks’. It is seldom used as a thoroughfare except by those families who live on it. As a matter of caution, the local residents park their cars in their driveways so the vehicles are not hit by a stray ball when their children play on the street. Ed Gibbs is leading the other boys as he crosses Green Lane and walks on to Bilko Street. Faint chalk marks used for bases are seen. Though, Fred removes a piece of chalk taken from his school out of his shirt pocket and goes to each base and darkens the worn chalk marks. When done, Fred goes to the other captain and flips a coin to see what team goes to bat first. Then, Fred’s team walks out onto the playing field and takes their positions. A thin youth has the broom stick, and he is taking practice swings over home base, then holds the bat above his head. Will Thomas hurls the ball, and it goes wild and hit’s a neighbor’s tree. Another player goes into a neighbor’s yard, grabs the ball, and throws it back to the pitcher.

“Ball one!” the catcher yells.

Will takes the ball, swings his arms, spits, holds it in back of his head, and hurls it again.

The thin youth swings the broom stick, but misses the ball.

“Strike one!” the catcher yells.

The pitcher throws the ball again. But, the batter allows the ball to go past him.

“Strike two!” the catcher yells.

“Was not!” the thin youth shouts. “That was a ball!”

“You callin’ me a liar,” The catcher yells back.

“That was a strike!” Will Thomas protests and hurries to home plate. The three youths begin to argue until the smaller, thinner youth relents, “Oh, OK, it was a strike.” The boys go back to their positions, and the thin boy gets ready for another pitch. Thomas winds up, spits, and throws the ball.

“Strike three, you’re out!”

Next at bat, Jeff Monroe takes his place at home plate.

Will Thomas swings his arms, spits, holds the ball in back of him, and throws it. Jeff drops his head down, and the ball flies over him. “Ball one,” the catcher yells.

A car’s horn is heard. The boys get out of the vehicle’s path, and it goes past them. The boys take their positions again. Will swings his arms, spits, and throws the ball again. “Ball!” the catcher yells.

“The hell it was!” Monroe shouts.

“Was too!”

Monroe throws the broom stick on the ground, turns around, and puts the catcher in a headlock. The boys begin to struggle until the pair is on the ground. The other boys hurry to the fight. Lester grabs one of them and drags him away. Somebody grabs Monroe and holds him in a bear hug until he has cooled down. Jeff finally relents, “Ok, OK, I give.”. The boys go back to where they were and resume their game.

The stickball game continues. Les’s team is behind, and the boys become very serious lest they lose the game. Someone takes out a cheap pocket watch and looks at the time.

“It’s almost dinner time, I’m going.”

“Oh, come on! We’re ahead,” a voice says;

“Alright, I’ll stay for one more innin’.”

Another car is seen coming. The boys go to the curbs of the street and wait for the car to . The car stops about fifty feet from them. Though, the youngsters have retaken their positions on the street.

The pitcher throws the ball. The batter swings. The ball explodes from home plate and hit’s the stopped car. The driver gets out and yells at the kids.

“What the hell you guys doing?”

“You’re on our street!” a boy protests.

The other children become still, amazed at their friend’s outburst. “To an adult, too!” some think. At last, the car moves away. Fred Custer begins to talk.

“I’m goin’ home. Hafta eat.”

“Me too,” another adds. “Here’s your bat.”

The children watch Custer leave with his ball and bat and one by one, they go home too.

VI

AN OLD HOUSE

The boys are huddled beneath their favorite Willow Tree. It is late afternoon the end of September. The days are becoming shorter and the morning’s cold chill was felt today as a moderate wind blew off the Atlantic Ocean and the Great South Bay. The children look at each other, searching their friends’ eyes for a clue for something to do. Stickball has no appeal for them, neither does basketball or softball. “But, there’s an old abandoned house across Wantagh Avenue on the other side of town,” Will Thomas muses. He looks at his friends and speaks.

“You guys know that old farm house across from Bohack’s ?”

“What house?” Ed Gibbs asks.

“You know, the old house on the edge of Levittown.”

“There’s an old house back there?” Jeff asks.

“Yeh, you got to go way back, but, on the other side of town.”

“Oh, I think I know where you mean,” Les says and continues. “There’s an old abandon farm way back there.”

“A couple,” someone adds.

“Les, you think anyone’s around there?”

“Don’t know, Ed, hafta’ see.”

“Think we have time today?” Jeff Monroe asks.

“Nah, this is a school day,” Thomas says. “We’ll need a whole day, maybe we can go this weekend.”

“OK,” Ed Gibbs says; “Let’s go this Saturday. Better bring a lunch, too.”

* * *

Four boys leave Green Lane and go onto Bilko street. They continue pedaling their bicycles towards Bohack’s. The day is clear, and the sun’s rays are warming the early morning chill. Already Fred Custer and Jeff Monroe have taken off their jackets and tied the sleeves about their bodies. In back of them is Bohack’s. Custer is leading and stops at Wantagh Avenue. His bike teeters as he balances it with one leg. The others are behind him waiting, too for a break in the traffic. A space is seen, and when it’s clear, the boys pedal their bikes across the four lane

highway. Will Thomas is the last to go and barely escapes being hit by a ing delivery van. Soon, Bohack’s is out of sight as they travel through another large tract of houses. Though, a few blocks away, up a slight incline, they can see a field of unworked land. On the edge of it is a large, run down three story house.

The windows have been boarded up, and the paint is peeling from the dwelling’s exterior. Trees have sprouted close to the foundation and they are creating an ominous presence as if the new growth are sentries warning all to keep away. But the four third graders are not deterred as they pedal their bicycles to the house and stop. Then, they hide their bikes in the trees and look for a way into the old structure.

Fred Custer is against the side of the house as he tries to move the windows. None, so far are budging. He continues on until he stops at a cellar window and kneels down next to it. He pushes it. Nothing! Then, he removes some of the glazing and digs his fingernails into the rotten wood at the bottom and pulls. The window begins moving. Custer continues working it until the window pulls out enough for him to squeeze through into the basement of the house. The others follow him.

In side, it is dark with barely enough light to move around through the cluttered area. The boys see a wonder of discarded old tools and relics from an old working dairy farm. Les stares at the old tools and other items and begins to covet one of them. His eyes linger on an oxen yoke.

It’s wood is dark from the deep patina formed on it through the years. Lester puts his fingers on the wood and feels a smooth, worn surface from where animals’ necks have rubbed against it. An iron chain with a ring on it is seen, too. Lester lifts the yoke and wonders if he can get it out of the cellar and bring it home. Then, he puts it down.

“Lester, what’s that?” Gibbs asks.

“For a horse or a cow to pull on, I think.”

“That’s neat,” another says, then asks. “What do you want to do with it?”

Nilsson stares at the other youngster and is about to speak. Though caution tempers his reply. “Nothin’, I guess. Thad’ be stealing.”

The boys continue exploring the cellar. Monroe stops at an old wood shelf with sealed canning jars on it. The others stop by him. Thomas speaks first. “They for storing food?”

“I donno’” Nilsson answers.

“Look!” Custer says, “This one’s full.”

“Open it up,” one says.

Fred grabs the jar and tries to turn it’s lid. It won’t budge. He looks at Ed Gibbs. “Grab the bottom while I turn the cover.” When the boys are ready, the top begins to turn, and Custer screws it off. But, there’s a flat piece of metal remaining on the jar. Ed grabs the disc and tries to pull it off with his fingernails. He tries again until air is sucked into the jar with a hissing sound. He removes the cover, then looks at the contents in the jar.

“What’s that stuff?” Lester asks.

“I donno’” Custer says. “Looks awful.”

“Taste it,” Jeff Monroe orders.

Fred dips his finger into the jar and brings it to his lips. “Apples!”

“Lemme’ taste,” Gibbs, says and dips his finger into the jar, too and brings a wet finger to his lips. “Heh, that’s good.”

“Lemme’ taste,” Lester orders and dips his finger in, also. “Heh, they’re real good.”

But, Fred Custer becomes worried and looks at Lester. “Think we’ll get sick?”

“Na, tastes too good,” Lester says. “I don’t think they’re bad. Better put the top back on.”

“OK.” Fred says.

The boys continue exploring and go up a flight of stairs to the structure’s first floor. There, the light is better and as they leave the stairway, the boys enter the kitchen. The kitchen table is surrounded by six spindle back chairs. A dusty checkered table cloth has been placed on the table’s top. A simple place setting is before each chair. Wood cabinets line the walls and clean, though dusty dishes are in a rack on the old porcelain sink. Ed Gibbs looks at the other side of the room and sees a door

“Where’s that go,” he asks.

Lester walks across the room and opens it. A long hallway is seen leading to the front door. A stairway by the door ascends to the second floor. Lester walks away and starts climbing it. The others follow until they come to a large flat landing surrounded by a banister. Five closed bedroom doors are also there. Lester opens a door and enters a bedroom. He sees a simple small room with a tiny bed, a small, plain dresser, and a tiny closet. Another spindle-backed chair is by a window. Ed Gibbs looks outside, then quickly crouches down.

“What’s wrong Ed?” Fred Custer asks.

“There’s a cop car outside.”

“What’s he doin’?” another asks.

“Just drivin’ around.”

“Does he see the bikes?” Thomas asks.

“Lemme’ look,” Ed says and lifts his head to peek out the window. When he lowers his head again he speaks, “No, I don’t think so.”

“You better take another look,” Lester says.

Ed Gibbs raises his head once more and sees the police car. It is stopped now. The cop is looking at the front door, then the door on the patrol car opens, and a big man gets out holding a big ring of keys.

“Oh—Oh,” Gibbs says.

“What’s wrong?” Monroe asks.

“The cop got out of his car.”

“What’s he doin’ ?” Custer asks.

“Can’t see. The porch roof’s in the way.”

“What’s that I hear?” Nilsson asks.

“He’s unlockin’ the front door and comin’ in!” Fred Custer says loudly as his emotions strain his voice.

“What do we do?” Monroe whines.

“Hide under the bed,” Nielson orders.

The boys rush to the bed and crawl under it. In the distance, they can hear the heavy man laboring up the stairs. The boys become still. Though, Jeff Monroe feels a nauseating pressure building up in him. He holds his breath. The others hold their breaths, too as their fear of the approaching cop silences them. The footsteps become louder. A door opens, then, another. At last, their door opens, too.

The policeman looks into the small room and fails to see the boys under the bed. He begins to close the door. But, the built up gases in Jeff’s body explode from him, and he groans. The policeman comes into the room again and looks under the bed.

“OK, guys, you can come out now.”

“Thank god!” a boy says. “It stinks in here.”

The youths squirm out from beneath the bed and stand in front of the cop. The big man begins talking.

“What are you boys doing up here?”

“Nothing,” Monroe says.

“You guys want me to bring you to Mrs. Prentergast?”

“Who?” Custer asks.

“Mrs. Prentergast,” The cop answers and continues. “We take guys like you to her! Especially, bad boys who sneak in houses they don’t belong in.”

The boys remain mute as some think that he’s kidding. “But, he’s a cop!” Nilsson ruminates. In a few tense seconds, Lester asks, “What’s she do with em’ ?”

“She eats them, and I don’t have to worry about them anymore.”]

“Really?” Custer pleads.

“Really, have you ever seen anyone who’s met her?”

“Nnnno!” one says, and the scared boys look at each other.

“See!”

The cop notices the worried looks on the boys’ faces and wants to laugh. But, he maintains an austere presence when he speaks again.

“You guys want to go home or see Mrs Prentergast?”

“Go Home!” they all shout at once.

“Then, get in my car, and I’ll take you guys to your parents.”

“But our bikes!” Les cries out.

“Where?”

“Behind the trees,” Will Thomas says.

“Well, put them in the trunk of my car. I’ll open it.”

The four boys run out of the room, hurry down the stairs, and rush outside to get their bicycles. When they leave the room, the policeman begins laughing and cheerfully goes downstairs, too.

* * *

A Nassau county police car has stopped on Green Lane. It’s back doors swing open and four third graders dash out, get their bicycles from the policeman, and hurry to their homes. They are excited and scared, but relieved, too. Each boy is glad that he is not going to be someone’s dinner. Lester hurries to his house. In the distance, he sees a woman talking to another mother on the sidewalk by his front yard. Lester runs past them, not realizing who they are.

“Lester!” his mother yells.

The boy stops and notices who she is. Worry is seen on his face. Mrs. Nilsson becomes concerned when she speaks. “Lester, what’s wrong?”

“Oh, mom, I love you!”

“What!”

The boy begins to cry and tears cascade down his cheeks. He is shaking, then he runs up to Mrs. Nilsson and begins to hug her. “Lester, what’s wrong?”

“Mrs. Prentergast was going to eat me!”

The name beckons a vision of a mythical woman living in a small round concrete house on Jones Beach that many mothers mention to control their children. Mrs. Nilsson continues the charade.

“Who told you about Mrs. Prentergast?”

“A cop.”

“Lester, you mean a policeman.”

“Yes, Mom, a policeman.”

“Why did he tell you about Mrs. Prentergast?”

“He caught us in an old house way on the other side of Bohacks. We’ll never go there again! Don’t tell Dad!” he pleads.

“If you promise not to go there again.” the woman forswears to her son, though she realizes that she must tell Burt.

“I promise.”

VII

AN ODD FRIENDSHIP?

It is nearly eight in the morning, and the weather is becoming slightly colder each day. Though, the six graders are still coming to school with their short sleeve shirts on and no coat or jacket. Lester looks at one of the six graders and yearns to be like him. But, his mother is adamant on the subject and will not relent. He must wear his coat now. Though, Lester has something to brag about. “I was taken home in a police car,” he muses. “Just like a ‘jail bird’.” The third grader gets off his bus and goes into school where he walks down a corridor, turns left into another hall, and goes to his class at the end. Outside of his classroom, a group of boys points at him. Then, they go inside.

The children are at their desks, some conversing with neighbors as others are quietly waiting for Mrs. Zerkowski to begin class. Lester walks to his chair and table, then sits down. As an afterthought, he takes off his coat and hangs it on the back of his chair. Other students are looking at him.

“Heh, Lester, heard you was arrested”, some one calls out.

“No, I wasn’t.”

“Then why’d you come home in a cop car?” another asks.

“Caught us in an old house on the other side of Bohack’s.”

“Us?” one asks.

“Yeh, Ed Gibbs, Will Thomas, Jeff Monroe and me,” Lester answers.

The class looks at the other boys and realizes that they are celebrities, too. The class also begins to chat with them. At last, their teacher stands in front of her students and continues her lesson on ‘Division’. Though many would rather talk to Lester and the others who were caught by the police for tresing. Emily turns around and looks at Jeff Monroe.

“You spend a night in jail?”

“No.”

“Lester said you did.”

“No, I didn’t!” Lester snaps back. “Your lying!”

“Am not!”

“Children, be quiet and take your notebooks out,” their teacher orders.

The students do as they are told and order is momentarily restored. Mrs. Zerkowski goes to the blackboard and continues her lesson on ‘Division”. Robby Wilkes es a note to Lester.

The tightly folded paper is slowly ed to him. The teacher’s back is towards the class as a girl puts the message onto Lester’s desk. He unfolds the paper and reads it.

“Yu in jaal”

In a few minutes Wilkes receives a reply. “No”.

Wilkes reads his answer and casts him an incredulous look. He writes another note and motions his neighbor to send it to Lester. In a few minutes Nilsson receives the reply. “Yer lyin.”

Lester tears a small piece of paper from his notes and writes,

“am not.” The note is sent back to Wilkes. As the paper is ed through the class, Mrs. Zerkowski notices the students’ behavior and levels a stern look at a boy sitting in the middle of the class.

“Ed, what’s that you have?”

“Nothin’”

She walks to him and stops. “Give it to me,” she orders.

The boy realizes that he has been caught, and that he is the weak link in the class’s chain of communication. Embarrassed, he slowly gives Mrs. Zerkowski the note. She looks at it. “What’s this?”

“I don’t know. Its from Robby.”

“Robby, what’s this?”

“Wanted to know if Lester was in jail.”

“Oh!” the woman says, regretting having asked the question, then the woman walks back to the blackboard.

At first Wilkes is mad. “Nilsson got me into trouble!” he thinks. Though the boy softens his anger towards Nilsson when he considers that the smaller boy has achieved a dubious distinction that he has not. “He was taken home in a ‘cop car’!” Suddenly Nilsson is being considered in a new light, as are the others who were caught for tresing. Wilkes writes a new note and es it to Lester.

At first the other students are reluctant to touch the paper. But when they consider its source, the vision of being beaten up by the busses after school

appears and carefully, they the paper on to Lester. When Nilsson gets it, he carefully looks at the teacher and sees that she is still writing on the blackboard. He unfolds the paper and reads it. “Way ta go.” Lester looks at Robby Wilkes and offers him a barely perceptible nod. A seed for a weak friendship has been sewn.

* * *

The school bus pulls up to the street corner and stops, then a door slides open, flashing lights come on, and Lester and four other children rush out of the vehicle and go to their homes. Robby is behind Lester, and when the two youths leave the bus, Robby calls out.

“Lester!”

The smaller boy turns around and looks at him. “Yeh,”.

“You gonna’ be outside, later?”

“Yeh, why?” Lester asks.

“Why don’t ya’ come over to my house?”

“OK,” Nilsson answers and walks home.

Lester has taken off his school clothes and puts on worn garments suitable to play in. In a few minutes, he’s downstairs and puts his school clothes into the hamper in the bathroom. He goes back to the kitchen and looks at a co-co clock mounted on the wall. “3:30,” it reads. “I have over an hour before supper,” he muses, “Think I’ll go over to Wilkes’s and play ’till 5:00. Lester goes out the front door and goes across the street to Robby Wilkes’s house.

* * *

Lester walks across the road and goes on a crude dirt driveway to Wilkes’s front door. The grass in the front yard is overgrown and littered with cans, discarded papers, and empty beer bottles. Lester walks up to the front door and raps it with his knuckles. The unlocked door opens from the slight pressure from his hand. Inside, Lester becomes alarmed at what he sees.

A short distance away, he can see that the kitchen is barely furnished with only a card table and three cheap stools by it. The sink is littered with dirty dishes soaking in a fowl smelling pool of stagnant water. Lester wants to leave, but he sees an emaciated woman approaching him.

Her hair is a greasy and matted, revealing a stringy dark mass of unkept strands of hair that appear to have never had a brush or comb go through them. Lester steps back from her as a vision of Mrs. Prentergast comes to him. “What you want?” the woman asks.

“Is Robby home?”

“Yeh, he’s upstairs. You go up there and see ’em”, Mrs. Wilkes orders.

Lester hesitates, then goes into the entryway of the house, through the filthy kitchen, and into the living room. A cheap stuffed sofa is seen with other filthy padded furniture around it. Against one wall is a battered television set. Empty beer cans are on top of it. By another wall is a stairway leading upstairs. Lester cllimbs the stairs and turns left. He sees Robby sitting on his bed looking at a magazine. “Hi, Robby.”

“Lester!” Wilkes replies and quickly closes the magazine and puts it under his pillow. Nilsson walks into the room.

“Robby, what you reading?”

“Girlie magazine, you want to see one?”

In Lester’s mind’s eye, a vision of his mother scolding him appears, and he hesitates, then answers, “Sure.”

Robby takes the magazine from under his pillow and hands it to Lester. Nilson reaches for it and looks at the cover. A semi nude woman is striking a provocative pose before him. Nilsson stares at it. “Open up the centerfold,” Robby offers.

Inside, Lester’s eyes widen as he stares at the large picture. Then, he glances at the room’s open door and quickly, his eyes go back to the centerfold. “I have

more under my bed,” Wilkes says.

“Oh, . . . . get ’em out!”

Robby reaches under his bed and pulls a large stack of magazines out. Lester reaches for the top one. He sees Robby’s father’s name on the address label on it’s front cover.

* * *

It is 6:35, and Lester opens the front door to his home. He steps into the foyer, closes the door behind him, and hesitates there. He has missed supper and Lester expects to be scolded by his mother. His father will her, and the father will probably send him to his room after he has eaten his meal. “I’d’ be worth it to see that centerfold,” Lester muses. The boy walks into the kitchen where his mother is washing dishes in the sink. She turns and sees Lester.

“Where have you been?”

“Robby Wilkes’s house.”

The mention of their neighbor’s house forms an image of a filthy and neglected home where rats, bedbugs, and lice have infested the living quarters. She squints her eyes at her son and speaks.

“Where?”

“The Wilkes’s house.”

“Go to the bathroom and take off all your clothes,” she orders and hands him a large paper bag, then continues speaking. “Put them in this, leave the bag outside in the hall, and I will wash your clothes. You, take a shower and scrub yourself with the brush on the tub.”

Lester walks past his mother and goes to the bathroom. But, his mother speaks again. “Lester.”

“What Mom?”

“Do a good job or ‘I’ll’ wash you. I want no bugs in my house!”

Mrs. Nilsson’s words have a belittling effect on the boy, and he wants to protest. Though, when he sees the fear and concern in her eyes, he relents and continues to the bathroom with the paper bag. Lester closes the door and takes off all of his clothes.

VIII

WHOOPS

It is late at night. But, the swelling pressure in the boy’s bladder is keeping him awake. “Should’nove had so much soda!” he thinks. The small boy gets out of bed and goes downstairs to the bathroom. Inside, he stands before the toilet and relaxes. “Oooooh,” he moans, and in a thankful minute, he is done. “At last, I can get some sleep,” Lester muses, tidies up his self, and leaves the bathroom.

In the hall, he turns left towards the kitchen, then stops. Strange noises are coming from his parent’s room across the hall. Lester listens. “Burt NO!” There is a commotion. A noise on the floor. Then silence until his mother begins to whimper. “Ros’ did I hurt you?” his father says. But, his mother does not answer. The boy becomes terrified. Lester runs down the hall through the kitchen, turns right into the living room, and grabs the phone’s receiver on a small round table by the stairs. Lester dials the operator and waits.

“May I help you?”

“My Dad is beating up my Mom!”

“You want the police, just a moment,” the operator says, and the frightened boy waits again until a man speaks.

“Hello, this is the Nassau County Police Department.”

“Please, it’s my Dad! He’s beating up Mom!”

“Son, where do you live

“42 Green Lane.”

“What town?”

“Levittown.”

“OK son, you just calm down,” the officer says and as an afterthought, he continues. “Did he get rough or hit you, too?”

“No sir, not yet!” Lester answers, and the terrified boy begins crying, then the phone slips out of the youth’s hand onto the floor. The policeman hears a loud banging sound and instinctively pulls the receiver away from his ear, then brings it back again and speaks. “You still there?” Lester reaches down and picks up the phone.

“Mister!” Lester cries out.

“Yes, son.”

“Please hurry, I think he’s killed her!”

* * *

Two black and white police cars speed to the Nilsson’s home, another is on the way. They turn off Wantaugh Avenue onto Green Lane. Their sirens are blaring, and the red lights are also on. At last, a patrol car turns into a gravel driveway and stops behind the Nilsson’s Chevy. Another sheriff’s car parks behind him. The third car parks on the street. All three vehicles have their red lights on, though their sirens are off now, and the area has a frightening pulsating glow to it. The doors to the police cars open, and three men rush to the Nilsson’s front entrance.

“The door’s locked!”

“Break it in!”

“Hurry!” the third cop orders.

A cracking sound is heard as the casing around the door splinters while the wood gives way. The policemen rush into the house. Lester is cowering in the entryway. A policeman goes to him.

“Son, where are they?”

“In their bedroom!”

The big men rush past Lester and hurry to his parent’s room. Burt is seen; dressed in only his boxer shorts, coming out of the bathroom.

“What the ‘Hell’!” Mr. Nilsson blurts out.

Though, two policemen grapple him and lock handcuffs onto his wrists. “Where’s your wife?” one demands.

“What the Hell are you doing in my house?”

“I said where’s your wife!”

“In the bedroom, I guess.”

A policeman runs down the hall and opens a door. Rosalyn is lying naked in bed. “What are you doing here!” she shrieks and covers herself up. Burt hears her loud voice and tries to go to her. But a policeman holds him back. “Let me go, damn it!” the father yells out. But, Mr. Nilsson is held firm.

“Lady, you OK?”

“Yes, why? And, why are you in our house?”

Startled, the cop closes the bedroom door and waits in the hall. In a few minutes, he knocks on the bedroom door.

“Yes.”

“Can I talk to you Mrs. Nilsson?”

The door opens, and Mrs. Nilsson has on a thick bathrobe. She seems distraught, but manages to answer, “What about?”

“We heard that there was a possible homicide here,” a policeman says.

“Who told you that?”

“I guess, your son.”

“Where is Lester?” she asks; her voice strained, not believing what has been said to her.

“Mrs. Nilsson, please calm down,” a policeman says.

The woman is quiet, though upset. She stares at him, incredulous about what has occurred. “Is this really happening to me!” she wonders, clears her throat, then speaks again.

“Ok, leave me alone so I can get dressed.”

The mother closes the bedroom door, then a policeman looks at the father and speaks. The other cops fade away into the kitchen.

“Mr. Nilsson, don’t be too hard on your son.”

“Why the hell not! Where the hell is that brat?” the father roars.

“Now calm down,” the policeman says, then continues. “I think the boy made a simple mistake. He thought his mother got hurt.”

“Oh, really?” Mr. Nilson says and pauses while he considers the man’s words, then continues. “Really?”

“Yes sir, I guess there’s things little boys don’t understand.”

The father’s eyes widen as the man begins to fathom what’s happened. “Oh hell!” Burt moans as he places his hand on his forehead.

The cop lets out a laugh and says, “Rough sex, was it?”

Burt Nilsson is surprised by his words, though he sees a grin on the cop’s face. The father’s anger towards the man fades, and as the bizarre events become clear to him, he smiles too.

“You OK now?”

“Yes officer.”

“Nothing will happen to your son?”

“No sir, nothing will happen to Lester.”

“Then, we’ll see you.”

IX

THE NOSY NEIGHBOR

The other night’s encounter with the Nassau county police has left the Nilsson family alienated from each other. The family has distanced their selves from the people who are the closest to them. Rosalyn sleeps on the edge of their bed as far away from her husband as she can go without falling off. Burt feels a bitter, cold chill at night as both parents wonder where their son is or who will be entering their home. But their greatest concern is their neighbors, and the cruel scrutiny they will be placing upon the mother and the father, too as they allow their imaginations and ignorance to control them.

The lights and sirens that woke them the other night have loosed an avalanche of rumors that are causing the Nilsson family to be the major topic of their neighbors’ conversations. The guarded looks, people turning their backs on them, and even the mailman’s hurried and strained greetings are distancing them from the community. But, Rosalyn is feeling it the most as she becomes the target of the other mothers’ intimate questions, sharp tongues, and their biting wit, too.

* * *

Phyllis Goldman hangs up her phone and goes to the entryway of her small Levitt house. She grabs her thin coat and hat from a nearby hanger and puts them on. A dog’s leash is nearby. She grabs that, too and calls her poodle, puts on his leash, and goes outside to walk her dog. Far down the street is the Nilsson’s house. She follows the curb as the dog guides her down Green Lane.

“Damn, why can’t Burt do this!” Rosalyn complains as she drags the garbage can out to the street. After a while, she tires and stops. In the distance, a neighbor is walking her dog. “Its Phyllis!” Rosalyn grabs the can and continues dragging it to the street’s curb before the other woman gets too close. However, Phyllis sees Rosalyn and urges her dog on faster. Mrs. Nilsson has only a few more feet to go. Then, she trips, and the can topples over. Garbage spills onto her driveway. The woman bends down, rights the can, and picks the mess up. Phyllis comes closer. When Mrs. Nilsson is finished picking the trash up, she continues dragging the metal container to the street. At last, she puts the can by the curb, turns, and hurries back to her house. But, she hears someone calling her. Rosalyn turns her head and looks down Green Lane.

“Oh, Hello,” Phyllis says.

“Damn!” Rosalyn thinks, but manages to say in a strained voice, “Nice day, isn’t it?” Though, Rosalyn Nilsson looks hard at the woman approaching her, and she wants to run away. “Too late!” she wonders and continues watching her neighbor. When Phyllis stops, she answers.

“Yes, Roselyn, it’s a beautiful day, and we so seldom get to talk to each other.”

“I know.”

“What are you doing this morning?”

The question hints a warning to her. Though, Rosalyn isn’t surprised at the

query. “Full-Ass, you nosy Bitch!” she thinks, then replies. “Today, Burt wants me to do an errand.”

“Oh?”

“Maybe some other day.”

Her reply causes Phyllis to feel frustrated, and she wants answers. Phyllis becomes more direct this time as she speaks again. “Is everything alright?”

“Everything is fine.”

“Why the police cars, then?”

“Oh that,” she says. “That was a simple misunderstanding.”

“Oh?”

Phyllis’ probing questions are beginning to annoy Rosalyn, and she feels her anger cresting. Her eye’s narrow. Though, she remains silent. The other woman speaks again. “I thought Lester or Burt got in trouble with the law or something like that.”

Mrs. Nilsson’s eyes widen and her voice becomes loud. “And, if something did happen, it’s none of your god damn business!”

“Well, I never!”

Mrs. Goldman turns away and pulls her poodle home.

Rosalyn watches her leave. She is upset, though her anger ebbs as she considers Phyllis’ comments. “The nerve of that woman asking me that!” Though, she is feeling better. Her angry words were so satisfying to say. She continues to glare at Phyllis as the other woman pulls her dog home. Rosalyn turns and goes back to her house.

* * *

“What did she say?”

“Not much, Ruth. She wasn’t very cooperative at all.”

“You want me to call her and see what I can find out?”

Phyllis is quiet as she considers her friend’s offer. Ruth Bosell is a close friend of hers, and often they talk on their phones to each other for hours as they gossip about their neighbors. Many times, one will aid the other creating a rigid bond between the two as they pry into the affairs of others. At last Ruth answers, “OK,

I’ll call her up. Good by.”

* * *

The phone begins to ring. Though, Mrs. Nilsson is reluctant to pick it up. “Another nosy neighbor,” she wonders. “But, it might be Burt, too.” She walks into the living room and picks up the phone’s receiver.

“Hello.”

“Rosalyn, how are you?”

The voice sounds all too familiar, and Mrs. Nilsson wants to hang up. But, she answers, instead. “Hello, who’s this?”

“Ruth Bosel.”

“Hi, Ruth, how are you?”

“Good. Was sitting here and I thought I’d give you a call.”

“Damn!” Rosalyn thinks. But, she forces herself to be composed when she speaks again, “That’s so nice of you. What’s new with you?”

“Heard you had some excitement last night.”

“Oh?”

“What happened?” Ruth asks.

“Just a misunderstanding,” Mrs. Nilson answers.

“Oh? What kind of misunderstanding?”

“Just a simple misunderstanding between Lester and us.”

“That’s not much of an answer,” Ruth prods, her tone appears demanding to the other woman.

“That’s the only one you’ll get! Now, good by!” Then, Mrs. Nilsson hangs up the phone.

“Well, I never!” Ruth exclaims, and she hangs her phone up, too.

X

A FATHER’S RIGHT

Though the Levittown building boom is over, the residents have begun a building boom of their own. Garages, new porches, dormers, as well as other additions to the once Spartan buildings are beginning to appear throughout the village. The local children have also begun a building boom of their own as they build club houses and other flimsy structures that mark the territories of local clubs and gangs, too. Their parents, though, are controlling their activities by isolating their children’s construction to a distant corner or secluded area of the original sixty by hundred foot lot. Sometimes a fence or barrier of some type has been erected by a father to isolate their children’s activities. Though, every once in a while, a father has taken over, and a club house has been erected on a grand scale. These buildings soon have become the pride of the children who play in them and of the parent or perhaps the parents who have aided and financed their construction. On a distant neighbor’s lot far away from Green Lane, one such club house has been constructed.

John Church looks at his back yard and marvels at it. It is huge, far larger than the standard Levitt building lot. Many think that Bill Levitt had meant these large open areas to buffer the noise coming from a large two lane highway close by. Though, his lot’s size has become a nightmare for him when he must mow and maintain his lawn. “In a few years Eddy can do it,” he wonders, then stares at 4 posts rising out of the ground.

Resting on them, three feet above the ground is a ten foot square, single story structure having a flat roof with a balcony going around it. A ladder leads to a door in the balcony so the children have more space to play on. The small club house is painted a bright white with black trim. Mr. Church smiles at his work,

though Eddy and his friends have helped to construct it, too. The man turns and walks back to his house. Mrs. Church is standing at the front door.

“How’s it going?”

“Good. It was a great idea of yours to put their clubhouse up off the ground enough to get the lawnmower under it,” he says

“If it makes things easier for you. It’ll be worth it.”

“Amen to that.”

* * *

Robby Wilkes is at his friend’s club house and is proud of what they have accomplished. Though small, everyone can fit inside. However, the roof could be a problem. Daylight is shining through it in a few places. “We’ll hafta’ fix that,” he muses. Another boy pushes the bed sheet aside that serves as their door and comes inside. “Hi Sean,” Wilkes says.

“Robby, you hear the latest?”

“What?”

“Somebody built a real big club house on the other side of our school.”

“So?”

“So, let’s go over and see it,” Sean says, pauses, then continues. “Maybe they got a door we can use.”

“When ya wanna go?”

“After school tomorrow.”

“OK.”

* * *

Four boys follow Robby Wilkes as they leave the school grounds and hurry to the edge of town. They belong to a gang and pride their selves as being the toughest group in the village. Students avoid them. Parents regard their presence as a hazard to their neighborhood, and many cast wary looks at them when the boys are around. Today, a parent looks through her kitchen window, and she becomes concerned when sees them.

“I know those kids,” she muses and continues watching the boys until they disappear. She goes to her telephone.

“Mrs. Morse hears her phone ring. She stops vacuuming and goes to the beckoning sound.

“Hello?”

“Beth, this is Judy Pierce.”

“Oh, hi.”

“Beth, you know those kids who were bullying our children last week?”

“Yeh.”

“They’re back and coming your way.”

“Damn!” she thinks, then answers. “I’ll call the other parents, and we’ll keep an eye on them. Thanks.”

“Great! See ya.”

* * *

The boys have crossed Gardeners Avenue, and they are in a new neighborhood. Though the houses seem similar, the people are different; more possessive of what they have, critical of strangers, willing to take care of matters their selves. A woman is sitting by her front door and stares at Robby and his friends as they walk past her. Then, she gets up and disappears into her house. They walk on and see another woman step out of her house, too and stares at the youths as they go past her home. When they her, she disappears into her home and closes the door behind her.

The youths are beginning to feel nervous. Tom Shanks looks at Wilkes and speaks. “You think there’s something’ goin’ on?”

“Don’t know,” Robby replies, then stops. “Look!”

“Where?” another asks.

“Jack, by the corner down there.”

The other youth looks down the street and sees two men standing on the sidewalk. “Robby, them guys waitin’ fer us?”

“Don’t know, keep walkin’,” Wilkes says, then turns his head to the sound of a slamming door in back of them. “Another guy is comin’ our way.”

“What should we do?” Shanks asks.

“Just keep walkin’. Be cool.”

Another father comes out of his house and walks to the sidewalk. The boys are nervous now and look for a place to run to. But, they are surrounded. The fathers move closer. Tom begins to run away. But, a man intercepts him, then grabs the boy. “Weren’t you here last week?”

“No!”

“Your lying!”

“I got two more here,” a distant voice says. The father looks down the street and sees that his neighbor has caught two more boys. “Dan, what do you have there?”

“Mike, I think these were the kids from last week.”

“I think this kid was with them, too. What do you want to do with them?”

“Anyone watching?” Dan asks.

“No. Let’s go behind that hedge, just in case.”

The fathers drag Wilkes and his friends behind a nearby hedge. “What are you doin’?” Shanks cries out.

“Shut up! You’ll see;” a father says and takes off his belt. “Let me have the big one, first!”

Robby is frightened, he begins to squirm and tries to pull away from the man, but he is held fast. The man grabs the boy by his collar and straps his rear end with his belt. When done, the father pushes the boy away and grabs Shanks. Another boy is strapped. Then the third gang member is punished, too. The fathers turn and walk away.

XI

TRICK OR TREAT

The Nilsson household is quiet this morning, though there is a strange feeling of expectation among them. It is October 31, 1956, and it is the morning of Halloween day. Lester is excited as he looks at his costume. “Today, I am a Bum,” he muses. Lester looks at the clothes that his mother has laid out for him. They are old and torn and in a very short time, his mother will cut the garments up and give them to her husband to use as rags in his small shop in the attic. Though, now, Lester will use them as he prepares for a very special time of the year for a child in Levittown—’Halloween’. When done dressing, he walks out of his room and goes to the dinner table to eat breakfast.

Lester sits in Mrs. Wixom’s fourth grade class and looks at the other students. They’re dressed up in Halloween costumes, too. Though many of the boys have dressed as bums, too. However, some are dressed as monsters, one is pretending to be the ‘Lone Ranger’, and there are two policemen and a fireman, complete with a father’s old and discarded official fire hat.

The girl’s have the most imaginative costumes. Though, ‘Tinkerbell’ appears to be the most popular. However, there are a nurse, a vampire, a few teachers, and even a deer. However, the deer is sitting alone because the other students are reluctant to be stuck by her antlers.

Lester looks at his costume, once more, then hears their teacher writing on the blackboard. He takes out his notebook and begins writing, too. Others do the same. Although, there is a small group of boys trying to get Ed Gibbs into his

seat.

Ed came to school dressed as a bull. His mother had woken him up at five in the morning and had spent over an hour getting his costume on in time for school. But now, an inevitable problem has happened. ‘He has to use the bathroom!’ So, Ed and his friends are dismantling his costume and putting all of the padding, the horns, and the fabric covering on the floor by his desk. In a few minutes, Ed rushes out of the classroom into the hall. Mrs. Wixom is about to protest, but doesn’t when she realizes what is happening. She stops preparing for a lesson and waits for Ed Gibbs and his friends to assemble his costume.

The day is a disaster. The children were more concerned with Halloween and ‘Trick or Treating’ after school than with anything she may say or want them to do. So, she has suspended all schoolwork after lunch and just allowed the youngsters to play and converse among their selves. At 3:00, she will be happy to see them leave.

Lester has crossed Gardeners Avenue, and the boy is walking home. He is carrying a grocery bag that he had taken from his mother’s pantry. Hopefully, he will have it filled by the time he gets home. Then, his mother will take his bag and give Lester an empty one to fill up an hour or two before supper. She will take Lester’s candy and hand it out to each ‘trick or treater’ coming to her house. Hopefully, Lester will collect more than she will give out.

Lester is ‘trick or treating’ again, though his bag is only half full. He turns from the sidewalk and goes to another house. Other children are already at the front door. He hurries to them and waits in back of a short line. The door opens and a dour man greets them. Every one holds their bags open, and the man puts his hand inside and appears to drop something in. Though when it is Les’ turn, the man puts his hand inside his bag but, there is no sound of something dropping into it. Lester is disappointed, turns, and walks back to the street. He goes to another house.

Another line of kids is there. Lester walks to them, stops, and waits his turn. Then, the door opens and the group yells, “Trick or Treat!” The woman who is greeting them is wearing a witch costume, and she greets the children in the most horrific manner that she can. A little boy becomes frightened and drops his bag. The others laugh at him. But, the witch gives him an extra handful of sweets. “Thank you,” the little boy says and runs away.

“Get away from my garbage can!” a man yells. Lester looks in back of him and sees the man who was pretending to put candy into the trick or treat bags. He is running after a boy. Then there is a loud ‘bang’. The garbage can cover flies high into the air. Children close by begin laughing. Lester goes to the next house.

He walks off the sidewalk and goes down a driveway. Lester goes directly to the front door and stops. His hand raps the barrier, and he waits. The door very slowly opens. Lester sees a huge man. He appears to have scars on his face and blood on his hands. He’s carrying a scull. Then, he speaks. “What do you want?”

“Trick or Treat,” Lester mumbles.

“What?”

“Trick or Treat!” The boy says louder.

“That’s better,” the man says and puts a candy bar in his bag.

Lester runs to the next house. In front of him is another man. He has his police uniform on. Other children are by him. They are holding bags before them. The cop is dropping candy and other treats into the bags. Les stands in line and waits his turn. Then, the cop sees him.

“I know you!”

“You do?”

“Caught you in an old house on the other side of ‘Bohacks’”

“I you,” Lester says.

“Have you been keeping out of trouble”

“Yes sir,” the boy answers.]

“Great, here’s some candy bars.”

“Thank You,” Lester says and goes to the next house.

Lester has been ‘Trick or Treating’ for the past hour, and it is getting close to supper time. He looks at his grocery bag and sees that it is almost full. “Might as

well go home,” he thinks. But, he hears loud noises. “Fire engine sirens!” he thinks and looks in the direction of the noises. He sees smoke! “By my house!” Lester hurries home.

The grocery bag is becoming heavy, and his hands strain to hold onto it. Though, he can see Green Lane, then smoke. He tries to hurry faster, but his tired body won’t let him. However, he continues on until he can see his house. “But, where’s the smoke?”

Across his street a garbage can had been put on the sidewalk in front of the Wilkes’ house. Papers, wood, any thing that burns has been placed into the container and lit on fire. Though now, a fire truck is there, too. Men are extinguishing the blaze as the Nilsson’s neighbors watch. Lester takes his bag into the Nilsson’s house.

When Lester enters, his mother is waiting for him. “Lester, I’ll take that.” The bag is emptied into a large ceramic bowl by the front door. He takes back the bag and moves towards the door. But, his mother stops him.

“Not so fast!”

“Why?”

“You have to eat, and we have enough candy.”

“Ah mom!”

“That’s it for tonight!”

XII

THE FATHERS

It is November, and the falling rain is creating a penetrating, damp, and cold environment that is keeping most people inside their homes. Many children are sitting on the black linoleum tiles in their Levitt homes. Beneath them, a few inches into the concrete floor are copper pipes with hot water circulating through them. Often, the floor is the most comfortable part of the house on these cold days. Lester is playing with his ‘erector set’ on the living room rug. Mrs. Nilsson is in the kitchen cooking a hot stew for supper. She looks at her son through the open fireplace that separates the two rooms and marvels at his youthful innocence as he plays unbothered by life’s dilemmas. Though, on the far side of town, other parents had converged on acquaintances of her son’s: Robby Wilkes, Tom Shanks, Jack Withers, Wilbur Ronas, and Howard Clutch.

They have been scared. Fathers forced upon them the fear of what parents can do when their children are threatened. Though, Lester Nielson is not aware of what had happened. And, his own difficulties have been forgotten as the floor’s warmth surrounds Lester as the floor’s warmth creates an unseen barrier against the likes of Robby Wilkes and his gang. In the kitchen, his mother is heard.

“Lester! Put your ‘Erector Set’ away and come to the table for supper!” Rosalyn calls out.

The boy looks up and stares through the fireplace and sees his mother moving food to the kitchen table. He gathers up the screws, nuts, stamped metal pieces, and other parts to the set and puts them away in the set’s folding case. Then, the

boy brings everything to his room, and Lester Nilsson goes to the dinner table for supper. He sees his father there waiting to be served. At last, Rosalyn sits down, and the Nilssons are ready to eat.

“ the salt, please,” says Burt.

Rosalyn hands him a shaker, then clears her throat. “Burt, you hear the latest?”

“About what?”

“Some parents, way on the other side of town, beyond Lester’s school beat up some kids.”

“Oh? Anyone we know?”

“Robby Wilkes and his gang.”

“Good! Who told you?”

“Ruth Bosell.”

“That nosy Bitch!” Burt thinks. Then, he looks at his wife again and speaks, “You think there’s any truth to it?”

“You know, Burt, she has her ways of finding things out, and I believe her. It was just a matter of time before that boy, and his friends got someone mad.”

“What did they do to them?”

“The kids say that a father strapped them with a leather belt!”

“Ros, you think Robby and his friends will take it out on Lester?”

Rosalyn shakes her head in bewilderment and says; “hope not, think you should talk to Mr. Wilkes? some time soon, soon.”

“If I see him outside and he’s not too drunk.”

While the parents are talking, Lester is quiet as he listens to them. He is becoming worried, too and wonders about school tomorrow.

“Maybe, I should talk to Ed Gibbs and the other guys and see what they got to say.” Lester remains sullen and finishes his meal. When done, he goes to his room, takes out his ‘erector set’, and assembles a bridge on his warm bedroom floor.

* * *

It is Saturday, and the November day is sunny. Though, Burt wishes that it is warmer. He goes to the back of his house and walks to a tarpaulin. Beneath it is his new lawnmower. It is a bright green machine made by OMC. As he looks at its simple and rugged construction, his eyes wander to the hedge in back of his house. “Look at all those leaves!” He turns on the gas, then the ignition, pulls up the choke knob, and starts the engine. In a few minutes, he is chopping up the dead leaves under the hedge. When done, Burt stops the machine and ires his work. “Beats raking,” he muses and pushes the mower to the large bushes on the side of his house. Beneath them are more dead leaves. Burt chops them up, too. Across the street, a neighbor sees Burt and goes to him. An angry scowl is on the man’s face.

Burt is enjoying himself as he turns the leaves into small pieces that seem to disappear into the dormant grass. He pushes the lawnmower again into the bushes and pulls the mower back. But, an image of a man standing nearby is noticed. Burt turns off the lawnmower and walks to him.

“Mr. Wilkes, is it?”

“Yes, I saw you mowing your lawn and I thought we could talk.”

“Sure, what about?”

“My son got beat up a few days ago. You know anything about that?”

“Not really. Who did it?”

“Don’t know,” Mr. Wilkes answers.

“Was he beat up around here?”

“Don’t know that either. Robby won’t tell me.”

“Well you’re the father,” Burt says. “Make him tell you.”

“What! . . . . How?”

“Spank him, take away something he likes, anything; Burt shoots back.

“But, Robby is a tough kid!”

“Doesn’t matter! You’re the father. You have the right to know!” Burt snaps back, pauses briefly, then continues, “You have to be tougher than him.”

Mr. Wilkes is silent and embarrassed, too. “He’s right!” he thinks. “But how?” The janitor stares at Burt for a few long seconds, then speaks again. “How?”

“You said he got beat up?”

“Yeh.”

“They or him leave any marks?”

“Not that I can see.”

“No marks!” Burt says loudly.

“Not that I can see,” Mr. Wilkes repeats and as an afterthought, he continues, “But, he has a hard time sitting.”

“In that case, make him drop his pants.”

“Well, Robby would never do that.”

“Oh, cripes, we’ve been through all that! So far, you have no proof that he was in a fight, other than what he’s told you.

Robby would never lie to me.”

“Bull shit!” Nilsson exclaims. “I bet he’s lying like a rug!”

Suddenly Mr. Wilkes becomes mad, and his face flushes pink. He turns his back on Burt and storms to his house.

* * *

The small house is dreary, damp, and cold as the weather outside continues its persistent grip on the Wilkes’ dwelling. Their furnace has not been used yet, bowing to the high cost of fuel oil at 14 cents a gallon and his limited income as a janitor in the local school. Mr. Wilkes is mad. “That kid lied to me again!” He opens the front door, enters the foyer, then goes into the kitchen and yells, “Robby!”

However, there is no answer.

He yells again, “Robby!”

“Yeh.”

“Get down here!”

There is an ominous warning to his father’s summons that he seldom hears. The boy becomes uncomfortable as an imperious feeling consumes him. He gets off his bed and goes to the kitchen. Then, he stops. His father is waiting for him in the hall. “Hi Dad.”

“Where were you hit?”

“Huh?”

“I said, where were you hit?”

“I can’t show you, my pants are covering it up.”

“Then drop em’!” the man orders.

“No, I will not!”

The father begins to take off his belt, and Robby freezes. A vision of him and his friends being confronted by the angry parents appears. The boy quickly loosens his belt and drops his pants. The boy turns, bends over and the father is stunned when he sees welts on his son’s skin. In a low controlled voice Mr. Wilkes growls, “Who did this to you?”

“Men on the other side of town.”

“Pull up your pants and let’s go over there!”

The father and son leave the house, get into their old Ford, and drive away. A thick cloud of oily smoke follows them.

* * *

The fathers are playing stickball with their sons in the middle of the street. Their cars have been moved off the road and are parked on driveways by their houses. In the distance, an old ’48’ Ford turns a corner and goes onto their street. The fathers and their sons move to the curbs and wait for the car to them. But, the Ford stops, instead. Mr. Wilkes rolls down his window.

“Robby, you recognize any one?”

“Yeh, some.”

“Who, then?” Mr. Wilkes asks.

As they are talking, a father approaches the Ford, bends down, and speaks through the open window. “Can I help you?”

“Yeh, who beat up my son?”

“Your son?” the man asks and looks beyond Mr. Wilkes at Robby. “That Brat!” the father thinks, then narrows his eyes at Mr. Wilkes. “So you’re the father of this kid. Get out!”

Mr. Wilkes realizes the fury in the man’s eyes and sees other men approaching him, too. He wants to drive away. But, his door is jerked open. Slowly, Mr. Wilkes moves out of his car and looks at the men that are gathering by him. “Who strapped my son?”

“We all did,” a voice calls out.

“Won’t tell me, huh.”

“OK, it was me. What’s it to you?” a father says.

“I ought ta’ smack you!”

“Go ahead,” the father says, his words are a challenge, spurning Wilkes on. Mr. Wilkes takes a step closer. The father raises two fists and stands his ground.

The other men come closer. But, when Wilkes stares at them, he knows that he’s outnumbered and lowers his arms and talks. “What happened?”

“Your kid and his friends came into our neighborhood and started beating up our kids.”

Mr. Wilkes looks at Robby. “That true?”

“We were just having some fun.”

“Some fun!” a father yells, “My kid has a black eye!”

“OK dad! But, he tried ta’ fight back!”

“So, you keep your damn mitts off my kid!” a father snaps back.

Robby and his father stare at the men. The fathers are glaring back at them. Mr. Wilkes continues to look at the irate fathers, then becomes fearful of them and concedes; “OK. My son was wrong. You won’t see him here anymore, alright?”

“OK,” a voice says, “Then take that kid away and we don’t want to see him or you in our neighborhood.” In a few moments, the car’s engine spins into life, the transmission is put into gear, and the car moves down the street followed by a cloud of oily smoke.

XIII

I HAVE TO KNOW!

“Snow!” Mrs. Nilsson thinks. “Makes sense though. It’s the week before Christmas.” She continues to look out her kitchen’s thermo-pane window and wonders when Burt will be home. They are doing more Christmas Shopping today. “Guess we’ll be picking up more tracks after supper for Lester’s ‘Lionel’ train set. Will he be surprised!” she thinks.

For the last month, Burt has been constructing a large train set in their unfinished attic. A door at the top of the stairs has been kept closed and locked so Lester wouldn’t know. “Won’t he be surprised!” she thinks. Rosalyn is pleased with her son’s gift and looks forward to watching him play with it.

* * *

It is the middle of the week, Wednesday, and his books and other school supplies in his book bag weigh heavily on him as he gets out of his seat. The bus is stopped at a street corner, and he must leave the vehicle and walk a short distance home. However, today he has a nagging curiosity.

His father is at work in New York City, and his mother is doing her Wednesday grocery shopping at the ‘A & P’ down the street. He will be alone. “Great,” he thinks. “Maybe, I can finally get that door open.” He walks home with a purpose.

* * *

Lester has changed into his worn clothes and is now upstairs looking at a locked door leading to the other part of the attic. For the past few weeks, he has been hearing strange noises from this end of the house. “Is it the train set that I asked for?” he wonders. Lester grabs the knob and twists it. But, it won’t turn. He takes out his pocket knife, unfolds the blade, and slides it between the door’s jam and the door’s casing. When the blade is through, he begins to work the knife and move the thin strip of wood away from the casing. Eventually, a small gap is opening up until there is a quarter inch space being exposed. Then, the blade edge is put under the bolt of the lock assembly, the knife is twisted, and the bolt is moved slightly aside. Though, when the pressure from the knife blade is released, the bolt snaps back into the casing. Lester puts the knife blade under the bolt again and moves the bolt once more. When done, he puts pressure on the door, jams the bolt, repositions the knife blade, releases the pressure on the door, then moves the bolt aside again. He repeats the process until the door opens. Lester turns on a light and looks into the attic. He sees a partially assembled train set.

“Wow,” he thinks. The small boy stares at the train, the partially assembled tracts, and wants to play with them. “No,” his subconscious warns him. Lester steps back, closes the door, and checks if he has made any marks in the wood around the lock assembly. “Its clean!” Then he hits the jam against the casing with his fist.

* * *

Bored, the boy gets off the couch and goes into the foyer. Hanging on a nearby hook is his hat and coat. He puts them on, then his shoes and rubbers. “But, where are my gloves?” he wonders, then looks down at the floor. “They were in

my coat sleeves, and I pushed them out,” he re. Lester picks up his gloves and puts them on, too. Then, the boy goes outside.

Its in the mid forties, and the temperature is perfect for making snowballs. He goes to the corner of his street where there is a thick hedge, though it’s leaves have fallen off. The boy goes behind it and begins making snowballs. In a short time, he has about twenty of them.

Lester crouches behind the hedge and waits. Shortly, an old car is seen. It is Mr. Goldman’s 1951 Desoto. Lester picks up a snowball. The Desoto comes closer. The boy is ready when the vehicle is just ing him. Then, Lester stands, throws the snowball, and hit’s it’s back fender. The car continues down the street.

The boy watches the car disappear and waits once more. Soon, another car is seen coming. Lester crouches behind the hedge with another snowball in his hand. The car is closer, and Lester’s body tenses. When the vehicle es him, he stands and throws the snow ball. A mass of soft snow strikes the car’s rear window. “This is fun!” he thinks as the boy watches the car disappear down the street.

He grabs another ball of compacted snow and waits for another car. But, when he sees one, it’s coming too fast, and as the driver tries to stop for the stop sign, he skids past it. Then, the car continues down the street. Though Lester stands and throws another snow ball after it, but the snow falls short and misses. However, he sees another car coming, but from the other direction.

The driver has his window rolled down as he smokes a cigarete. He seems to be in another world, oblivious to all that is around him. Though, Lester waits for his chance. Then, the youth stands and throws the snow ball. However, the youth

notices too late that the driver’s window is rolled down. The snow follows a slight arc towards the man until the he is hit in the side of the head. “Shit!” the man bellows and stops the car. “Oops,” Lester moans. The driver’s door suddenly swings open, and the man jumps out. Lester crouches down and remains still. The man is looking around him. Then, he sees the hedge and a vague image of a small boy behind it. The angry driver moves to him. Suddenly, Lester stands and flees the man.

Our boy is seen running away with a man in hot pursuit of the youth. Lester looks over his shoulder and sees the adult running on the sidewalk parallel to him. Lester tries to run faster. But, his loose fitting goulashes and the thick wet snowfall are impeding him, causing the man to gain on the frightened boy. Lester runs across the front lawn, along the side of the house, into the back yard. The man goes into the back yard, too. Then, Lester sees another row of bushes lining the yard. He sprints to them. In back of him, he can hear the man’s heavy breathing. Lester dives through the naked foliage. So does the man. He is almost touching the boy. However, the man becomes stuck in the bushes as Lester runs away.

The boy is on the next street, now and decides to use the shoveled sidewalk instead. He looks in back of him and sees that he is leaving no foot prints for that man to follow. Carefully, he takes the long way home.

* * *

Lester is smug with himself as he deludes his ego with a feeling of having an immunity against the minor infractions that he has been doing. His stash of snow balls has disappeared, and he is bored with throwing any more. He begins to think of other things that he can do; race his sleigh down a hill, even slide behind a moving car.

He has seen other kids being dragged this way many times, mostly by the sixth graders. Though, a vision appears of his mother scolding him for being so reckless. “But, what she doesn’t know won’t bother her or me,” he muses. “I know, I’ll go to another street!” Lester leaves the security of the hedge and walks over to Rock Lane.

Rock Lane is in back of the Wilkes’ house, and it runs parallel with Green Lane. “But, I won’t cut through Robby’s yard,” he cautions himself. Lester walks on the cleared sidewalks to ‘Rock Lane’.

The street, at first, appears to be just like his own road; the same type of houses, bushes, hedges, even parked cars on the side of the road to hide behind. Lester walks behind two cars parked very near to each other and waits for a ing car.

At first, he is excited with the prospects of doing something new. “Being just like a ‘sixth grader,” he muses. However, his inactivity and the cold are beginning to cause him discomfort. He starts to chivver. Lester stands up and moves to the sidewalk. He walks further down the street. At the end, by the corner of the street is a mailbox. The boy walks to it and sees there is a stop sign there, too. In a few minutes, he is standing by the mail box. He looks in back of him. At the other end of the street, a car is coming. Lester stands on the other side of the mailbox, crouches down, and waits.

The black vehicle quietly accelerates to a comfortable speed until the driver notices another corner. “Another stop sign, too,” he muses and begins to slow down again. When he stops, he checks for traffic on either side of him. When it’s clear, he continues on.

Lester has snuck behind the sedan and is holding on to it’s rear bumper. His feet are sliding on the snow and ice covering the street. Though, he begins

accelerating far faster than he wants to go. He lets go of the car’s bumper and coasts to a stop. The boy stands up and walks back to the mail box. A few hundred feet away, another car is coming. Lester walks back and waits behind the mailbox again.

The car is old, and it’s exhaust is emitting a dense cloud of oily, noxious smoke. Though, at first, the boy does not notice. The car stops by the mailbox and Lester sneaks in back of the vehicle and grabs it’s bumper. He begins to slide away. But, its exhaust is surrounding him with a choking cloud that irritates his eyes and lungs. He begins to cough, and his eyes tear, too. He rubs his eyes with a hand and is pulled unevenly. His body twists, and Lester loses his balance, releases the bumper with the other hand, collapses, and slides on his back along the icy pavement. The car moves away, then stops. The driver gets out and yells, “You alright?” Lester is dazzed, but he finally gets up and answers, “Yey, I’m OK.”

“You want me to take you home?”

The man’s query appears sincere, and Lester is about to accept the offer. But, the image of his parents appears, and he can almost hear his mother’s protests; “Ride with a stranger, he could have stolen you, I wish you had thought of me!” Finally, he answers the man.

“No sir.”

The man gets back into is car and drives away. Lester rubs a sore shoulder and also feels the damp chill seeping into his body. He longs for his warm home, and the snug feeling that he has when he plays on the living room rug. Lester goes back on the sidewalk and walks home.

XIV

CHRISTMAS

Our boy is at home, warm, and Lester has a secure feeling as he looks at the large box-like object before him. It is their new television set. New to the Nilssons, that is, though, it was bought used as a curiosity and to be in step with their neighbors. For this is the infancy of such a device. Though, it’s strong appeal to everybody is creating a powerful industry capable of molding it’s viewers’ thinking and habits towards a predetermined design, often monetary in scope. Though, Lester and others his age are beginning to feel the effects of this new invention that, too frequently, is becoming their surrogate parent and unfortunately, their surrogate teacher, as well.

Now, he is being conditioned like a programmed robot to watch ‘Howdy Doody’, ‘Aesop’s Fables, and other programs that seem to glue their young viewers to the rug or a couch that is before the set. Their youthful energy is now being channeled in subtle, yet persuasive ways that seem to be misdirecting the neighborhood’s youth toward a slothful and unproductive existence. Though, in reality, another social phase is occurring as people become acquainted and adapt to a new changing technology.

It is Saturday, a day of rest and Lester is watching cartoons once more. Christmas is in a few days, and his meager presents to his parents, grandparents and an uncle have been purchased and hidden away. Though now, he looks at a wall clock and sees that it is 10:00. His morning’s TV time is over. Lester reaches for a knob and turns off the television. He goes to his room and takes out a piece of paper and a pair of scissors and sits on his floor. Then, the boy cuts out paper figures that he imagines to be characters from Aesops fables. Though, Lester hears a noise in the hall and looks towards the door. His father is quietly

watching him.

“How was Aesop’s Fables?

“Good, Dad.”

“Lester?”

“What, dad?”

“Let’s go over to ‘Higgin’s’ Marina’ this morning.

“OK, what for?” Lester asks.

“Check the canvas covering on your uncle’s boat.”

* * *

A 1948 Chevy sedan has turned off a main road in Massapequa onto a smaller street that is leading them to a small marina on an inlet to the ‘Great South Bay’. It is a few days before Christmas, and the December air has a penetrating and damp chill to it. Unconsciously, Lester puts his hands into his coat pocket. The car stops by a gate. A tall wood fence surrounds rows of small boats that are

being stored for the winter. In the center of them is a railroad track leading into the salt water. Lester and his father get out of the warm car, walk through a gate in the fence, and disappear among the boats. Most are covered. Though some are exposed to the elements and have snow lying in them. Mr. Nilsson is leading as he labors through the snow to their uncle’s small cabin cruiser. In the distance, Lester sees a dark canvas covering his uncles boat.

It is an old wood vessel of about twenty four feet in length. It has a large tarpaulin draped over it, and most of the canvas has been tied securely to the hull. The pair continues walking. In front of them, Lester sees a small section of canvas that the wind has worked loose. Mr. Nilsson goes to it and sees that a knot has been undone. He pulls the canvas tight and reties the knot. Burt walks around the ‘Rusty” for one last check. When satisfied, he leads his son out of the boatyard through the fence. A short distance away, they see a small restaurant with an attached bar. Mr. Nilsson leads his son into the building where a small group of men are sitting at the bar. The men have hot cups of coffee in front of them. Mr. Nilsson and his son the group. One of the men looks at Burt, then at Lester.

“Hi, Burt, Lester.”

“Hi Ralph,” Burt answers.

“Hi,” Lester says.

The other men nod their greetings, too and continue conversing with their neighbors. Though, one man leans forward and looks at the boy. “Burt, I see you brought your son.”

“Yeh’, It’s cold out there. Thought he could use a hot chocolate,” Burt answers and looks at his son. “Lester, what do you say? You want a hot chocolate?”

“Yeh, dad.”

The bar tender approaches the pair. Lester is feeling like an adult now and looks at the man. Lester sits up on his bar stool and casts a serious look at the bartender. However, another man sits next to him. He casts the boy a friendly look and speaks.

“You having coffee, too?”

“Oh no,” Lester answers, then continues. “Dad would get mad.”

“I see. Well, hot chocolate is just the thing for today,” the man says.

Burt gives the bartender his order, and the man disappears into the kitchen. Shortly, he returns with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate and puts them on the bar’s top. Burt grabs a mug. Lester follows his father’s lead and takes the other mug and begins to drink from it. In the distance, another enters the bar. The men look toward the door.

A huge Sherriff’s deputy enters the room. He is on his coffee break and often comes here. The bar tender hands him a mug of coffee.

“Thanks Will.” The cop says and sits on an empty stool at the end of the counter. The big man levels a serious look at Lester, then at Burt Nilsson and speaks, “You think he should be sitting here?”

Why not? The bar isn’t officially open.”

“Yeh, but a bar is no place for a child.”

“True, though, but, it’s a good place to learn how to act in public,” Burt counters and is quiet. The other men have stopped talking and are waiting for Burt or the policeman to continue speaking again. Finally, the cop clears his throat. “So, I can think of better places.?”

Burt has often considered the wisdom of bringing his son into bars. “The right bar is important, too,” he muses. Burt turns and stares at the policeman. “Look, I think you’re making a bad assumption.”

“About what?”

“That I’m going to make a fool out of myself and make a sceen.”

“How ’bout someone else acting up?”

“Huh? I’ve been coming here for years and we’ve never had trouble in here,” Burt snaps back and continues. “I think this is a great place to teach a youngster

how to act in public and how to have a beer, too.”

The policeman has been challenged. Though the cop is bigger, the other man has not been cowered by him. He is standing his ground as he makes his point. Burt continues talking. “Not only that, but I’m the father and I have a duty to teach Lester how to act in public, even in bars.” The cop begins speaking again.

“What do you mean, have a beer?”

“You know,” Burt says, “How to act when he’s in a bar.”

“So, he’s not drinking any beer,” the cop says.

“No, of course not, just learning how to act when he becomes old enough,” Burt says.

“Well, just be careful,” the cop warns.

“Careful? You know what I have to be really careful of?” Burt asks.

“What?”

“Some liberal politician or misguided, zealous news commentator on TV getting

on a bandwagon and using semantics to further his own political or professional ambitions.

“Semantics?” The cop asks.

“Play on words.”

“Oh, I see,” he says, and the policeman is quiet as he considers Burt’s words and thinks. “But, I’m a cop! I know what booze can do.

The men stare at each other until Burt grabs his cup and drinks more hot chocolate. Lester raises his mug and drinks, too.

* * *

Lester is on his hands and knees playing on the living room rug. Small paper figures are before him, each representing a character that he has seen on Aesop’s Fables. A few feet from him are large thermopane windows isolating him from the snow and ice the are outside, just a few feet away. He looks up and stares at a young apple tree that had been planted last summer. It appears to be naked and Lester wonders if it will ever sprout leaves again. He looks down at the paper figures once more and continues playing with them.

* * *

It is the day before Christmas, though tonight is Christmas Eve, and the time when the Nilssons exchange some of their presents. “I can’t wait,” Lester muses, and he thinks about the train set in the attic. “When will they let me play with it?” Then, the boy becomes filled with the joy of getting Christmas presents as little boys do. Though for now, he must wait. Lester goes to his room to get the presents that he has hidden under his bed. He takes them out and brings each one into the living room and places the brightly wrapped objects beneath the Christmas tree. Lester walks to the stairs and stops. Close by, is their tree. He stares at it and sees the bright lights, the tinsel, the other decorations hanging from the branches, and a bright foil star at the top. “Do my friends have trees as nice as this one?” he wonders. “My Jewish friends, their Chanukah Bushes the same as this?” Lester takes his presents and lays them down neatly at the base. He returns to his room and goes to a nearby wall shelf. A neatly stacked pile of comic books is on it. Lester grabs a handful of them and sits on his bed. Soon, he imagines himself and Superman flying above Levittown, impervious to the wind, the cold and gravity, too.

* * *

Mrs. Nilsson goes to the hall and calls out, “Lester, you there?”

“Supper ready?”

“Yes, come to the table.”

Lester puts away his ‘Superman’ comic book and goes to the dinner table and sees that his father is waiting to be served. In a few minutes, bowls of soup are brought to the table and soon, the Nilssons are eating. Rhonda clears her throat.

‘Burt.”

“What?”

“Have you thought of teaching me how to drive our car?”

The man sips another spoonful of soup and ruminates her request, “Damn, I’m no teacher.” Though he looks at his wife and sees that she is eager for his reply. “When do you want to learn?”

“After supper.”

“Oh, Ok,” Burt answers, but he becomes silent as he dwells on his lack of patience and inexperience as a teacher. But finally, he muses, “Oh, hell, how hard can it be?”

* * *

All of the Nilssons are in their 1948 Chevrolet sedan. Rhonda is behind the steering wheel, Burt is sitting next to her and Lester is sitting on the large rear seat behind them. The boy takes out a ‘Bugs Bunny’ comic book and begins to look at the pictures. Burt is looking at his wife. “OK, start the car.”

Though, she is confused and asks, “How?”

“Put the key in the ignition and turn it,” Burt explains, then he re to hand his wife a large ring of keys.

The woman stares at the cluster of silvery metal objects and is bewildered. She stares at him and asks, “What key? What’s a ignition?”

He takes the keys out of her hand, selects one, and holds it in front of her. “That one!” Then Burt points to a shiny metal object by the steering column. “That’s the ignition.”

“Oh, I see,” she says, takes the key and tries to push it into the lock. But, the key will not go in. Rhonda looks at her husband. “It doesn’t fit.”

“Turn it over.”

“Oh, that’s better,” she says, turns the key, and the engine starts up. But, there is a terrible grinding noise.

“Let go of the key!” Burt yells.

Rhonda becomes nervous and overreacts, turning the key back to the ‘off’ position. The engine stops running. Scared that she has broken the car, she looks at her husband. “Burt, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong. Let me show you,” he says, reaches over, turns the key, waits for the engine to start, and releases it. The motor is running. Rhonda looks at her husband. “What now?”

“Put the car into gear.”

“Huh?” she wonders and stares at her husband. “How?”

“Push in the clutch,” he says.

“What’s a clutch?”

“Rhonda, let’s switch places, and I better show you.”

The Nilssons remain in the car as Burt explains what a clutch is and demonstrates it’s proper operation. He even tries to explain the use of the column shift. Though Rosalyn is becoming overwhelmed with the vehicle’s technical details and looks at her wristwatch. “Burt, lets continue tomorrow. It’s Christmas Eve tonight.” However, the Nilssons are relieved that the learning session is over, and the couple quickly leaves the 1948 Chevrolet sedan and hurries into their house.

* * *

Supper has been over for quite some time, and Rosalyn is finally finishing the

dishes. Lester is helping, too as he dries the plates, silverware, and places them in neat piles on the end of the stainless steel drain. When done, they go into the living room.

Mr. Nilsson is there watching television. Nearby, is a Christmas Tree. It’s lights are giving the room a cheerful, warm glow. Lester sits on the rug by the television. His parents sit on the couch, their shoulders gently touching each other. Though, the boy shifts his weight and looks at his mother.

“When we opening the presents?”

“After the news,” his father says. “You’ll have to wait ’til then.”

However, Lester is impatient and doesn’t want to wait at all. “But I have to do something, anything,” he thinks. He goes into the foyer and puts on his hat, coat, and gloves, then walks outside. As he goes down the smooth driveway, he sees that it is dark now. Though, most of the houses have brightly colored lights beneath their eves and inside the windows, too. A neighbor has placed a small sleigh and reindeer on his roof. Lights are giving the street a festive aura to it. Lester steps into the road to get a better view of his street. Then, he sees that a few houses have no lights at all. “Our Jewish neighbors,” he wonders. “But, why should they?” In a few minutes, Lester becomes cold and bored, then he goes back into his house.

In side, he hangs up his winter clothes on a hook in the foyer and goes to the living room. His parents are calmly sitting there watching television. “How can they wait?” Lester wonders. He sits down and tries to watch television, too.

As he sits in his chair, Lester becomes overwhelmed with the spirit of Christmas and the wonder of the ‘Birth of Christ’ as he watches the programming on TV. Even the commercials have religious and festive themes to them. Then, Lester becomes excited when he sees a commercial for a Lionel Train set. “It looks so real!” he thinks and wonders about the train set in the attic. “But, I hafta’ wait ’til tomorrow!” At last, his father clears his throat. Mrs. Nilsson and Lester look at him. “Let’s exchange some of our presents now.” he says, and they get up and go to the tree.

In a few minutes, some of the presents have been distributed, and Lester is now on the floor again. A small pile a presents is on one side of him and a pile of ripped wrapping paper is on his other side.

Most of his presents are clothes, some from his mother; another pair of mittens, a wool shirt, a tie from an aunt whose name he doesn’t recognize. Though he is somewhat disappointed, he realizes that he must keep his feelings to himself, lest he offends his mother. He looks up and sees his father staring at him. “Lester, why don’t you fold up some of the wrapping paper and throw the little pieces away, too. Reluctantly, Lester goes into the pantry, gets a paper bag, and does what he is told.

Christmas Eve has developed into an anticlimactic event as the long anticipated prospects of the night are quickly evaporated after a few hurried minutes of unwrapping the presents. Though now, Mrs. Nilsson notices another package under the tree. It is buried under a large white bed sheet used to simulate snow. She takes out a long slender package, looks at the tag, and gives it to Lester. “Here, this is from your uncle Ralph.

“Uncle Ralph?”

“Lester, he’s my brother!” she says.

Lester takes the package from his mother, unwraps it, then, opens the box. He slides a long slender object out. As the object reveals itself to the boy, his face becomes animated with joy. “A Daisy BB Pump Rifle” he calls out. However, Mr. Nilsson’s eyes widen, too.

“We’ll have to watch the windows now,” Burt muses.

“But, that’s a ‘GUN’ ! Mrs. Nilsson protests.

“I know,” the father says. “But it’s only a BB Gun.”

“So?”

“So Rhonda, it’s not very powerful, and it’s a ‘Right of age’ for every little boy. Though, he must be careful.”

Mrs. Nilsson looks at the wall clock. “8:30,” she muses and speaks. “Lester clean up your mess and go to bed.”

Lester folds up the large pieces of wrapping paper and throws the small bits into a paper bag. Then, he grabs his new BB gun and takes it into his room. In a few minutes, he is in bed, his Daisey BB Gun is snug in bed with him, too.

* * *

The morning is cold, and the wall mounted GE Furnace has kept Lester up all night, so did the prospects of Christmas day. He is wide awake now and hears his mother making breakfast in the kitchen. He quickly gets up, puts on his bathrobe, and goes into the bathroom. In a few minutes, he is finished and goes to the living room. But, his mother calls him back to the kitchen for breakfast. However, he goes past her and hurries back to his bedroom. Lester grabs his BB gun and goes to the dinner table with it.

Breakfast is quickly over as the boy seems to inhale his food. Then, he rushes to the Christmas tree and checks if he has anymore presents there. To his disappointment, only a small tube of Bee bees and an envelope are beneath the tree for him. He opens it up and reads the card inside.

‘Go into the attic”

Santa

Lester drops the card and bounds up the stairway. However, he hesitates when he re the locked door leading to the attic. Then, Lester hears a noise behind him. He looks down the stairs and sees his father. “It’s open, Lester, go right in.” Lester opens the door and sees the train set.

The bare plywood underlayment is now covered with metal tracks, wires, switch tracts, a transformer with two control handles, and of course, the train. Part of

the sub floor is painted green to give the floor an appearance of grass.

The train has a big locomotive in front with an exhaust stack on top of it. A cattle car, two box cars, a flat car, a tank car, and a bright red caboose are lined up on the tracks behind the locomotive. They seem to beg the little boy to play with them. Lester goes to the set and sits before the transformer. “But, what do I do?” he wonders. He sees his father coming into the attic.

“Lester, plug the transformer in.”

The son gives the father a querulous look, then asks, “How?”

Burt goes over to Lester and grabs the transformer’s power chord and plugs it into a nearby wall socket. Lights instantly go on. Burt pushes a handle on the transformer forward, and the train begins moving. “Wow”, the boy mutters and watches it glide along the tracks in a wide oval. The father reaches for the transformer again and pulls another lever. A horn is heard, and a puff of smoke escapes from the exhaust stack. Lester is awed by the toy and pulls a lever on the transformer. He hears the horn once more and sees another puff of smoke. Burt Nilsson moves next to his son.

“Lester, how do you like it?”

“It’s keen!” Lester answers loudly.

“What?”

“I mean great, Dad.”

“Oh,” the father says, “Well, let me show you how the set works.”

The rest of the morning is a delight to Lester as they play with his new ‘Lionel’ train set. Burt Nilsson is content, too as he watches his son. Then, Burt goes downstairs to eat breakfast.

As his fascination with his train set grows, so does his child-like need to experiment and find new ways to play with the new toy. He begins taking the tracks apart and rearranging the placement of them, the placement of the transformer, the various switches, and other accessories that came with the train set. In a short time, he is content with the new layout and continues playing with it. Though a short distance away, he sees another box. Lester goes to it.

At first, the little boy thinks that the box is his father’s and not part of his train set. But, he is curious and Lester pulls the cover off. Inside are more tracks. “I’ll make a bigger train set!” he thinks, and the boy begins putting the sections of new tracks together. He expands his train layout towards the attic door.

The morning goes by quickly, and soon, he has laid tracks past the attic door onto the top landing of the stairway, where there is another door. But, Lester becomes fascinated with the stairway and the steep angle that it makes as it goes downstairs. He goes to the box of tracks and removes curved sections, then begins to connect them so there is a sharp left turn leading down the stairs. Heedless of the basic laws of physics or common sense, Lester places straight tracks down the stairs, too until he comes to the bottom where there is the home’s back door. Lester looks through the door’s glass window panes and sees

the snowy back yard. “I need more curved track,” he thinks. He goes up the stairs for more sections. Behind him, he hears someone entering the living room.

Lester is in a hurry. His youthful energy, lack of forethought, and disregard for unpleasant consequences are spurning him on. He dashes to the cardboard box of track sections and grabs another armful of tracks and hurries downstairs. At the bottom step, he connects the curved sections into a sharp left turn leading into the living room. Uned tracks have books under them taken from a nearby book shelf. When done, Lester goes upstairs again for more straight sections of track that will take his train to the kitchen past the Christmas tree. In a few minutes, he is back again and lays down more tracks. When he gets to the tree, he places a bumper on the end of the tracks and goes into the attic, once more, for more accessories. Then, he goes down stairs, though slower. Now, he is carrying the heavy transformer and an electrical clip.

Beneath the stairs, by the back door, Lester connects the transformer to the tracks and plugs the transformer into a wall socket. The boy goes upstairs once again and switches the track so the train will come downstairs. Lester goes to the back door once more and sits next to the transformer. “Finally! I am ready,” he thinks. But, he hears a noise behind him. Lester turns around and sees his mother leaving the living room and hurrying to the kitchen. In a few moments, she speaks.

“Burt!”

“What?”

“Lester is going to do something terrible! You have to see this!”

“Rhonda, can it wait until I’m done eating?”

“No, damn it!” she shrieks. “Now, before he puts his train through the back door. “What?” the father says and hurries out of the kitchen to the living room. Then, he stops suddenly. He sees tracks going to the Christmas Tree. Across the room, he sees his son sitting on the floor by the transformer to his train set. “Tracks are going up the stairs, too,” he thinks, then sees his son. “Lester! What the hell are you doing?”

The son becomes startled and looks up. But, the boy’s hand unknowingly hit’s a lever on the transformer, and the train moves towards the stairs. Though, the train is in the far end of the attic, and the boy doesn’t notice it moving. Then, his father speaks again.

“Come here!”

“Now?” the son asks. “I’m just playin’”. However, Lester is nervous and unconsciously he pushes the other lever on the transformer. The train’s horn is heard. The father looks up and hurries to the second floor. The train is getting louder as it comes closer to him. Though, Burt is now halfway up the stairway. Then, he sees the locomotive as it makes the turn to go down the stairs and towards him. He has only a few steps to go. However the heavy locomotive and the rest of the train rush down the stairs at him. He puts a hand up and grabs the locomotive. It stops suddenly. But, the other cars buckle and fly over the locomotive into the father. “Damn it!” he yells, and his foot slips on the tracks. The man slides down the stairs and hit’s the back door. “Oh hell!” he moans

Lester is still, too scared and confused to move. His father is dazed and not moving. Though, Lester hears the man moaning.

“Dad, you OK?”

“Huh?”

“Dad, you OK?”

Mr. Nilsson is starting to move now as he tries to fathom what has happened to him. He notices his son by him. Confused, the father begins speaking. “What’s going on here? And, why are there tracks on the stairs?”

“I put them there.”

“Why?” the father asks.

“Dad, I found another box of tracks, and I thought I’d make the train layout bigger.”

“Down the stairs, too.?”

“Dad, I thought it would be a keen thing to do.”

“Lester, you’re using that ‘damn’ word again.”

“Keen?”

“Yes.”

“I thought it would be a neat thing to do.”

“Well buster, your train set nearly killed me,” the father roars.

“Sorry, dad.”

“Well, let’s get dressed and visit the relatives.

* * *

Christmas is over, the presents have been put away, but Lester is still in the ‘doghouse’. The entire train set is now confined to a small section in the attic. The tracks have been nailed to the floor and strict rules have been given to Lester regarding how he should use the set.

The Nilssons’ scrutiny towards the boy is constantly causing him to be cautious and on guard, too. Lester’s Christmas morning’s escapade has caused his parents

to pay stricter attention to him now. Burt is constantly reminded of the stairway incident when he looks into the bathroom mirror every morning. A scab has formed over an eye from where a train car had hit him. Though, he thinks of his injury now.

The man’s hand lightly touches the scab. Though he feels that he should still be mad at his son, but Burt can’t help realizing the humor in the incident, too. “I got hit in the head with my son’s ‘Lionel Train Set’,” he muses. “How can I ever explain my way out of that one?” Burt goes into the foyer and puts on his hat and coat, then goes outside.

XV

THE RUBBER BOOT

It has been a long, dreary, and uncomfortable winter. Everyone is looking forward to Spring, Easter, and the long awaited escape from the confining enclosure of their homes that is Summer. Lester is in fifth grade now, and he has risen up in the school’s hierarchy. Most days, he walks alone to school, his coat is thinner, and he has a certain swagger to his gait that accents his individuality. Though, now ten years old, he still retains his boyish ways; playing in the nearby playground by ‘Bohacks, tresing through the neighbors’ back yards, the joy of splashing through a puddle by the curb still hold the boy’s attention. Lester is now in his room as he sits on the floor. He looks up at the window and sees that it is raining again. Water is dripping off the roof just beyond the house onto the ground. Lester stands up and moves to a nearby chair by the window. He stands on it and looks outside.

Green Lane is being drenched as water runs over the street. On the roads, sheets of precipitation are drifting to the curbs and small streams of water course their way along the curbs and flow into the drains where the water is fed into one of the many recharge basins throughout Levittown. Lester longs to be outside, now. He jumps off the chair and goes to the foyer.

* * *

Lester Nilsson is outside. He is warm, too. A thick coat, a heavy, full length rain coat, and thick rubber goulashes are creating a snug barrier against the effects of the cold and wet rain. He goes to the soggy grass and steps on it. Water surges

from beneath his feet with a squishing sound. He begins to jump up and down. Though, when he looks at his feet, he sees mud. “Better watch the lawn,” The boy thinks. Lester walks into the street and goes down the curb to the street drain. Though, he stops when he feels that his goulashes are loose again and tightens the buckles, then he goes to the drain.

The rain’s downpour is becoming less, and the small boy is feeling warmer and more secure beneath his clothing. A short distance away, water is heard as it falls down into a small pool beneath the street. A large concrete pipe is carrying the water away towards a recharge basin in Levittown. Lester stops and looks down. The water is deeper than normal. A small dam of small rocks, leaves, grass clippings, and wood scraps have accumulated by the drain. Lester picks up a piece of wood and begins to play with it. Though, his foot feels uncomfortable. He looks down and sees that the buckles on one of his goulashes have sprung open. He bends over and presses the levers down. He continues to play with the debris in the water. Carefully, he begins to place the flotsam on the small dam, making it higher and the water deeper. Water is extending into the street. Though, Lester does not notice and sees a large piece of wood coming towards him. It appears to be another toy, and the boy waits for it to approach him. Though now, one of his goulashes is feeling loose again. He reaches down to press the levers. “Too late, the wood is here!” he thinks and kicks the wood out of the water onto the sidewalk. But, his rubbber boot flies off his foot and goes down the drain. He stares at his wet foot immersing itself in the flowing water. Lester goes home for a dry sock and another rubber boot.

* * *

“Lester, what’s wrong?”

“Mom, my boot came off and a sock got soaked.”

“Where’s your boot now?”

Lester hesitates, then answers, “Down the drain!”

“Oh? Is it still there?”

“Yeh, if it hasn’t washed into a recharge basin.”

* * *

Lester and his mother are walking to the end of the street. She has an old broom in her hand to pry the heavy cast iron cover off. Then, she must go beneath the street and find her son’s rubber boot. At last, Lester and Mrs. Nilsson stop. She takes the end of the broomstick and puts it into a small circular opening on the edge of the cover. Rhonda pries the heavy cover up and says, “Lester, hold the broomstick down.” As her son holds the broom stick, the woman places her fingers under the edge of the cover and lifts. The cast iron cover comes up, and Mrs. Nilsson slowly slides it away from the hole. She sees metal rungs going down under the street. However, a car’s door is heard, too. She looks in back of her.

Parked by them is a Nassau County Sherriff’s police cruiser. It’s door is opening, and she sees a huge policeman slowly getting out. When he is standing on the street, the cop speaks. “Miss, what are you doing?”

“Getting my son’s rubber boot.”

“Let me see.”

The man walks to the woman and looks down into the opening and sees a rubber boot laying on top of the end of a concrete pipe. He kneels down and reaches for it. “Lady, I can’t reach it.”

“Officer, let me climb down and get it.”

But, his manly pride and good manners force him to protest, “No, I can do it!” He lumbers to the opening then, strains into it. Though his hips fit in, his bulbous stomach hits the metal rim surrounding the opening. He stops, then, he begins wiggling his body.

Slowly, with the aid of gravity, his stomach squeezes into the man-hole until his head disappears. Moments later, her son’s rubber boot appears. “Thank you officer,” she says.

“You’re very welcome,” the man replies.

Again, the policeman’s head appears, then he works his shoulders clear of the opening. But, he stops. He begins to move his body, but his stomach will not go through the opening this time. “Damn, too many doughnuts!” he thinks. In the distance, he sees more mothers coming. They stop when they’re by the opening to the drain.

“Rosayln, what’s wrong?”

“This cop is stuck!”

“Too big?” Ruth Bosell asks.

“Yes.”

“I bet, he ate too many doughnuts,” another mother says, sarcasm lacing her voice.

“Ah come on ladies, get me out of here!”

“How?” one asks.

“Let’s all of us grab the cop and pull him out together,” Phyllis Goldman says.

The mothers come closer to the cop and grab him. Some are holding onto an arm. Some have his coat. Even children are helping, too untill everybody is holding onto some part of the cop and are ready. The policeman places his hands on the street and begins to push against the pavement as his legs strain against the rungs. Everyone is straining, too. His body starts to rise. Then, the policeman hears a loud voice.

“Say, cheese!”

Astonished, the policeman looks up and sees a woman taking his picture.

“Ah lady, please, don’t do that!” the policeman whines.

* * *

Burt Nilsson is eating supper. He is tired from repairing business machines in New York City and having spent over two hours commuting on the Long Island Railroad. He leans across the dinner table to turn on the television set. But, he notices the local newspaper lying on the table, then a minor headline on the front page;

‘Cop stuck in street drain!’

He begins reading the article, then sees a picture of five women and a few children pulling the policeman out of a man-hole. Then, he sees his wife’s face and Lester’s, too. “Rosalyn, what’s this I see in the paper?”

“We had some excitement today.”

“Yey, a big cop got stuck in the drain down the street,” Lester blurts out.

“He must have been pretty big,” Burt says.

“He was real big!” Lester blurts out.

“How did the cop get into the drain?” Burt asks.

“Dad, I dropped my rubber boot into it.”

“Oh! Playing in the water, huh?”

“Yeh, dad. But it was worth it, just to see that cop get stuck!”

XVI

THE MUSEUM

Mrs. Wixom’s fourth grade class is copying this week’s spelling words into their notebooks. Most students are using black and white hard bound composition books. Though, a few students are recording the new words into the more popular loose leaf notebooks. Each student has two rows of words before him. One row has this week’s words neatly printed out. On the other side of each student’s paper are the same words, but in a different writing style, the cursive style.

“Why?” Lester ruminates. “My comic books ain’t in ‘cursive’, newspapers ain’t in cursive, real books ain’t in cursive!” The fourth graders continue copying their new words until the teacher speaks. “OK, put your notebooks inside your desks. I have some papers to hand out to you.”

Lester grabs his notebook and places it in a shelf in his desk. Then, the teacher es out forms to the class. “What’s this?” he wonders, then waits for Mrs. Wixom to explain.

“These are forms that your parents need to fill out.”

A hand goes up. “Rudy?”

“What are the forms for?”

“The fourth, fifth, and sixth graders are going to the ‘Museum of Natural History’ in New York City, and we need your parents’ permission,” the teacher answers.

A slight murmur begins in the class as the students become excited. Many have heard of the museum, but none of them have ever gone there. Heads turn as the youngsters look at their neighbors. Some of the more daring students even talk. Finally, the teacher clears her throat, and the class becomes quiet.

“Take these forms home, have your parents fill them out, and return them by this Friday.”

A hand goes up. “When are we goin’?”

“Robby, in two weeks.”

“We, bring our own lunch?” another asks.

“No, the school will provide one for you.”

* * *

Two busloads of grade-schoolers are packed inside their vehicles. Scattered about each bus are mothers who are there to chaperone the youngsters. The children are excited as they nervously look outside and see that they are stopped by ‘Central Park’. Rosalyn Nilsson is in a bus, too, sitting with another mother as they listen to the children’s excited chatter. The parents appear calm, though beneath their serene exteriors, many wonder why they had agreed to go. “Guilt, maybe?” some wonder. “For something to do?” Then, the bi-fold doors to the school buses open. The drivers stand and tell their groups that they have arrived and to go outside.

A short distance away is a large stone building. Steps lead to it’s entrance, and some students are being lead inside the structure, though some see a man next to a cart selling roasted chestnuts. A girl runs to the vender and gives him a dime. “Miss, it’s a quarter.”

She hands him fifteen cents more, grabs the bag and hurries back to her class. A chaperone finally approaches the girl and speaks.

“Stay with the group!” Though, the youngster is confused and darts her teacher a surprised look

Then, everyone looks at the entrance doors. Mrs. Wixom is talking to a distinguished looking man dressed in a business suit. Finally, the entrance doors open, and the group goes inside.

The youngsters are awestruck by what they see. A huge Viking Ship greets them. It’s long, curved form almost appears to be a sinister sea monster that has been freed from a watery prison. Lester imagines men dressed in animal skins and armed with axes and swords about to jump out of the vessel and attack him. The fourth grader wanders away from the group and goes to the boat. Lester hesitates

behind a rope barrier, then begins to go under it. But, a chaperone hurries to him and holds the youngster back. “Stay with the group!” she says, and Lester takes his place in line.

The children are led about the building as they go from one exhibit to another. Dioramas are constantly fascinating the youngsters. Some think that they are real, and the children are constantly drawn to the scenes. But, the mothers lead the students back to the group. Then, they go into another part of the building. Lester flinches again, so do the others. Robby wants to run away. A mother grabs his arm. Greeting them is a real skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. It’s sinister bones seem to threaten everything else in the room. Again, Lester leaves the group and goes under another rope barrier. He stares at the creature’s six inch long teeth. However, a museum guard holds him back. Another mother grabs his hand and leads him back to the group.

A constant chatter of excited voices is heard as they wander about the dinosaur exhibits; Ancient Triceratops, small angry Raptors, and other beasts. A mother becomes scared, steps back, and then, composes herself. The group moves on to another floor. Though, some children look back at the Tyrranousurs Rex and wonder if the creature is following them.

Smaller exhibits in glass cases are here. Arrowheads, bone clubs, cooking utensils, and other ancient relics fascinate them. Lester lingers by a large spearhead. A stranger approaches and stops by him. The man looks at the exhibit, too. Lester turns and speaks to him.

“Mister, what’s that rock?”

“That’s a spearhead.”

“Oh,” the boy answers, then asks. “What’s it used for?”

“Hunting,” the man says. Then, a mother walks between Lester and the stranger. “Lester, stay with the group,” she says.

The group walks into another room. A huge Mammoth greets them. Many in the class stare at the hairy animal and it’s long curved tusks. Some wonder if such a beast had really existed. Though a boy becomes nervous and goes to his mother.

“Mommy, I have to use the boy’s room!”

“OK, come with me.”

The pair goes to a distant corner, and the boy disappears into a small room. Then, the rest of the class sees a Saber-Toothed Tiger, and the children are drawn to it’s diorama. They stare at the beast as it guards a small deer that it has appeared to have just killed. A girl hurries to her mother.

“Mommy, I have to use the girl’s room!” “Alright, follow me,” the woman says, and she leads her daughter to another distant door on the other side of the room.

Lester sees the group lingering by a nearby exhibit. The boy goes to them. They are staring at another diorama. A sign beneath it reads,

“Ancient man.”

The display has created the scene of an ancient father with his son fishing in a stream. Sharp sticks extend from their hands. Dead fish are nearby them. But, Lester thinks, “Why no fishing poles?” Then, he wonders if the fish are real. He reaches for one of them, but a pane of glass stops him. A man dressed in a neatly pressed uniform looks at him and smiles.

* * *

It has been a long day, and Lester’s class is standing outside the Museum as they wait for their buses to come and pick them up. The day, though sunny, is cold and damp. But, the children do not appear to notice. Their thoughts are still in the halls and exhibits inside the ‘Museum of Natural History’. Even the mothers are excited, though some have grown up in the great city and have seen these exhibits before. Lester is talking to Fred Custer and casually sees two young teen age boys approaching their group. The boys appear to have a purpose, and their intense stares at the group alert Lester.

The teenagers are walking toward the grade-schoolers, each boy seems to be searching for something or someone in their crowd. “What?” the fourth grader wonders.

“What you lookin’ at?” Fred asks.

“Huh?”

“Lester, I said, what are you lookin’ at?” he repeats.

“Those guys, there.”

“The teenagers?”

“Yeh,” Lester answers, then says. “Don’t look at ’em. You might make ’em mad.”

The older youths stop by a girl, and one grabs the youngster by the arm. Her eyes widen in terror, then she narrows her eyes in anger. “What you want?”

“Your money or your life!” the larger of the two boys says.

Frightened, the girl begins to struggle, then she re what her father had told her to do when threatened. She yells, “Fire, fire… .!” again and again.

The other grade schoolers look at her, then at the teenagers. Lester also begins to yell, “Fire”. Others begin to in until all three grades are yelling, “Fire, fire, fire… .!” The two teenagers quickly run away.

Down the street, a patrolman walking his beat has been attracted by the noise and excitement. Then, he sees two youths running towards him. He ducks into a doorway and waits. When the youths are by him, the cop steps out and grabs them. One takes out a switchblade. The officer punches him in the face as the

other youth runs away. The stunned boy goes limp and collapses on the side walk. Lester hears sirens and sees a Police car racing towards them. Vehicles in front of the vehical pull over to let the police car . Some, must jump the curb rather than risk an expensive fine for not yielding the right of way to an emergency vehicle. In a few seconds, the spectacle is over. Lester turns towards Fred and speaks.

“That was quick.”

Yeh, Lester. What was that all about?”

“Linda was getting’ robbed!”

“Really!” Lester says. “That’s keen!”

* * *

Burt Nilsson is home from his job in New York City. Today, he was called into a bank and had to repair one of their business machines. Though, his muscles are aching now, and he quietly curses the confining area that he was forced to work in, he is glad that the job is done. “It’s over!” he thinks and walks down the hall to the kitchen. A short distance away is their dining table where he sits down and waits to be served. He leans forward and turns on the TV.

At last, the television’s black and white screen reveals clear images. Though, they are only of a commercial. “A necessary nuissance,” he muses, then waits for

the news.

The news commentator begins his broadcast with the world news, then the national, and finally, the local news. When he speaks of the local news, Burt becomes attentive. “Maybe something happened in Levittown!” he wonders. Then, Burt pays attention to the commentary.

“Today, one of the elementary schools on Long Island had some excitement,” the commentator begins, and the man launches into a long narrative about what had transpired on a school’s field trip that day. Lester’s school, his teacher, and even a description of the girl are mentioned, as well as the two teen age thiefs. However, Lester’s coat is recognized in the news clip. A dish drops on the floor by the sink and breaks. “That’s Lester’s coat!” the mother says loudly.

“Yeh Ros, our son has made the news again!”

XVII

THE BICYCLE

The days are becoming longer, the weather is more pleasant, and the lure to use his dormant bicycle in the back of the house is becoming almost impossible for our boy to bare. Lester walks to a surplus Army tent that has been set up the back yard and opens a canvas flap. Beneath the heavy canvas is his bright red 26” ‘Roaster’ Bicycle.

Lester pushes it outside, puts down the kickstand, and leans it over slightly. The machine is standing on it’s two wheels as Lester takes a small can of oil and begins to lubricate it’s moving parts. When done, his hand moves to a switch on it’s front light and moves it. He puts his hand in front of the glass and sees a very faint glow. He turns off the switch and pushes a button on the side of a heavy sheet metal cover in the frame behind the handlebars. An anemic sound is barely heard from the horn, then the sound fades to a silence. “Need new batteries,” he thinks. At last, a hand moves to the rear tire, and Lester squeezes the rubber. Then, he squeezes the front tire, too. “They’re both soft,” he muses. He goes into the house to get a tire pump from his father’s shop in the attic. In a few minutes, Lester is back and inflates the soft tires. He is ready to go for a ride. But first, he goes in the house to return his father’s tire pump.

Lester pushes the bicycle to the front yard, down the Nilsson’s driveway, and stops at the curb by the road. Down the street is a neighbor’s car parked by the curb. Though, the boy ignores it. He hesitates, then swings his leg over the seat, places a foot on a pedal, and pushes forward down the street with his free foot. At first, he feels unsure of himself as the ‘Roaster’ Bicycle weaves a serpentine route down Green Lane. But, carefully, he pedals on as he pays close attention to the front wheel and the handlebars. Then, Lester stops and rests.

Again, he sits on the seat and continues pedaling to the end of the street. He’s going straighter now, and he’s becoming smug with himself as he becomes acclimated to the bike after months of storage.

The handlebars are not moving as much, and the small boy is having greater control over them. He sits straighter on his seat, though he sees that his foot is sliding off a pedal. Lester looks down and moves the foot more evenly on the pedal. But, he notices his bicycle is going into the center of the road. He pedals to the curb again. He feels better now and stands up on the pedals to gain more speed. The bike seems more stable the faster he goes. “This is great!” he thinks until he stops suddenly with a loud thud.

Lester does not appear to be hurt, just disoriented as he watches clouds slowly drifting over him in a blue sky. “But, where am I?” He wonders. Then, the fourth grader realizes his awkward position. “I’m laying on that car’s back trunk!” Lester rolls towards the side of the car, off the trunk cover, and hit’s the pavement with his feet. Somehow, he manages to stand erect. The youth goes to his bicycle, picks it up, and looks at it carefully. “Didn’t hurt it any.” Then, he looks at the car.

A black mark is seen on the vehicle’s rear chrome bumper. He looks around him and sees that no one is around. The boy swings his leg over the bicycle’s seat, hurries away, turns around the corner, and he takes the long way home.

* * *

The telephone is ringing, shattering the quiet, secure feeling that Rosalyn is having in her kitchen. She leaves the table and goes to the phone in the living room, picks it up, then speaks, “Hello, who’s this?”

“Rosalyn, this Phylis Goldman.”

“Hello Phyllis, what’s up?”

“Did you know that your son is on his bike?”

“Yes, so?”

“He just hit a neighbor’s car at the end of Green Lane.”

Rosalyn Nilsson is quiet, though surprised to hear about her son. In a few moments, she speaks again. “Is he hurt?”

“I don’t think so,” Phylis answers, then continues. “Lester is pedaling back to your house right now.”

“Thank you for telling me,” Rosalyn says and hangs up. Mrs.Nilsson walks into her kitchen and looks out of the thermo pane window. She sees Lester pedaling his bicycle down the street. She waits anxiously for her boy to come into the house. In a few minutes, Lester appears.

“Hi, mom.”

“Lester,” she says, pauses, then continues speaking. “Mrs. Goldman said that you hit someone’s car.”

Lester becomes startled and wonders how Mrs. Goldman knew. “Probably saw me out of her window, nosy creep;” he thinks, then sees the worried look on his mother’s face. She begins speaking again. “Why did you hit the car?”

“Wasn’t payin’ much attention to where I was going. Was lookin’ at the front tire too much.”

“Well, just be careful.”

“I will, mom.”

* * *

It has been over a week since Lester hit the neighbor’s car, and he wonders if it’s safe to ask his parents for permission to ride his red bicycle to school. “Won’t hurt to ask,” he muses.

* * *

Burt Nilsson is home from work, and the man is sitting at the kitchen table. By

the stove, his wife is preparing their supper. Lester comes into the dining area and sits at the table, too. The boy looks at his father.

“Dad?”

“What, Lester?”

“Can I ride my bike to school tomorrow?”

The father remains silent. He thinks of his wife and how they had discussed this very subject a few weeks ago. The father had argued that it was the ‘right of age’ for boys to do such things. Though, Rosalyn felt that her son was too young, and that he should take the school bus. But, now the subject is out in the open for the entire family to discuss. Mrs Nilsson speaks first.

“I think Lester is too young.”

“Why?” Lester asks.

“Gardeners Avenue is just too dangerous for you to cross.”

“But, Mom, there’s a crossing guard, there.”

“Oh?”

Mr. Nilsson is quiet and reluctant to speak against his wife’s opinions in front of their son. “But, Lester is old enough,” he thinks, and Burt speaks again. “You’ll push your bike across Gardeners Avenue?”

“Yes, Dad.”

You won’t run across the road with your bike?”

“No, Dad.”

“Why?”

“You told me, half the time you’re feet aren’t touching the street when you’re running, and it’s harder to stop.”

“Right, Lester!”

“Can I ride my bike, tomorrow?”

“It’s alright with me,” The father says.

“I still think our boy is still too young,” Rosalyn protests.

“But, Mom,” Lester counters. “Dad says it’s OK!”

The family is quiet for a long time as the mother watches the pendlum on their co-co clock. Though, the silence ends when the clock strikes the half hour. The mother speaks again. “Alright Lester, you can go.”

* * *

It is morning, though overcast, and the Nilssons wonder if it is going to rain later this morning. But, Lester is determined to ride his ‘Roaster’ bicycle to Gardeners Avenue School today. He puts on his thin jacket and goes to the back yard.

* * *

Lester is sitting behind his desk as he copies the sentences written on the blackboard before the class. It is a slow process for Lester, and the boy wonders if he will ever learn how to write on his own. Lester looks at his paper again and writes down another word. But, he is restless and looks at the wall clock. “2:30,” it reads. Lester puts his papers and pencils into his book bag and places the bulky simulated leather container on his desk. Others in the room do the same, then wait by the door for 3:00. Soon, Lester is outside and goes to where the bicycles are.

Outside the school are sturdy galvanized steel racks for the students to place their bicycles into. Lester goes to one of them, then freezes. Another boy has taken his red bicycle and is using it to batter another’s bicycle. The two youths are oblivious to Lester and the other owner as they continue their mischief. Lester runs up to them and stops.

“What are you doin’ with my bike?”

“We’re playin’,” the youth says.

Lester pushes the other away from his bicycle, and the student hits the rack. The boy charges Lester and pushes him back. Lester grabs the boy and holds him in a headlock. A crowd is forming around the pair. In the distance, a teacher is seen approaching. The two boys fall to the ground and begin punching each other.

“What are you guys doing?”

The boys continue fighting until Lester is lifted off the other youth.

“What’s this all about?” the teacher demands.

“He was ramming my bike into that other kid’s bike!”

“So, we were just havin’ fun,” the youth protests.

“Well, you use your own bike!” Lester counters.

“I don’t have one! So, I grabbed yours.”

“Why don’t you guys come with me. Tell your stories to the principal,” the teacher orders, and the two boys are lead to the principal’s office.

* * *

Lester is pedaling home, then stops his bicycle and stares at the front fender. “Another dent!” he thinks and pushes the bicycle down the street, hops onto the seat, and continues pedaling home. As he follows the street, he thinks of the skirmish that he had that day.

The two boys were interrogated by the principal, Mrs Crowell. A small, solidly built woman who many consider to have the attributes of a miniature football player. Though the features of her person that command the most attention are her eyes.

Her intense black eyes appear to have a disarming quality to them that causes children to cower and answer any question that she asks them. Even the teachers regard her with respect whenever they enter her domain. Lester wonders if Mrs. Crowell has called his mother and has used her influence on her as well. He turns off of Green Lane into his parents’ driveway. Soon, he is inside their

immaculate home and sees his mother waiting for him.

“Lester, did you put your bicycle in the tent out back?”

“Yeh, Mom.”

“Yes, Mother!” she corrects him.

“Yes, Mother.”

“Good, go upstairs and put on old clothes before you go outside to play. When you come back, your father and I want to talk to you.”

“Oh, oh!” Lester thinks.

* * *

The Nilsson family is sitting at the dining room table as they inhale the aromas of another delicious meal. Soon, the room is filled with the sounds of subtle dinner noises as they consume their supper. Though, Lester is nervous. His mother’s words have bothered him. “What will Dad say?” he wonders. “Will I ever be allowed to ride my bike to school again?” The boy takes another forkful of food and puts it into his mouth. Slowly, he chews until the food becomes a masticated mush, and he swallows it. The mother clears her throat. “Burt, Lester’s principal called to day.”

“Oh, what about?”

“Your son got into another fight today.”

“What about?” the father asks.

“A boy was ramming his bike into another bike.”

“So?”

“Burt, so Lester was fighting.”

“Sounds like he was protecting what’s his,” the father shoots back.

“Yes, but Lester got into a fight. You want him to turn into a ‘Juvenile Delinquent’?”

“Over that!” the father bellows, then continues talking in a normal tone. “Lester has the right to protect what’s his.”

“He should never have brought his bicycle to school in the first place.” She says.

“Ros, we going into that again?”

“I had a bad feeling about Lester bringing his bike to school today.”

“Why, because some bullies tried to beat on his bike?”

The mother is quiet. Though, her cloistered world has no room in it for violence, and when her son is caught fighting, she is hard pressed to understand ‘Why’. She looks at her husband and asks, “Shouldn’t he have gone to his teacher or the principal and tell her what had happened?”

“No, he should not have,” Mr. Nilsson shoots back, then continues. “Lester did the right thing and took care of the matter himself!”

The son has been listening to his parents argue, and their words have left him confused. The mother does not want her beliefs or life challenged, and she is content to let matters be settled by the school’s officials. But, the father’s position is more pragmatic and realistic in scope. Burt has lived the life of a small boy growing up with the same type of boys that Lester must deal with in public school. Though, the father agrees with his son, and the man seems to be defending the boy’s behavior. But, Lester realizes that he can only remain mute as the two adults argue.

At last, the day’s confinement in the bank, and the altercation with his wife at the dinner table have caused the father to tire and to escape the topic of their conversation. He reaches over and turns up the volume on the TV. Mrs Nilsson is

relieved, too as they listen to the news.

XVIII

SODA BOTTLES

All of the snow is gone, and the latent designs deep within the plants, trees, and other shrubbery urge their hidden mechanisms to trigger complex sequences deep in their DNA to begin their resurgence from their winter’s slumber. Buds have formed everywhere as the once naked branches become pregnant with new life. Burt Nilsson feels this change, too, though in another way, as he stares at the stakes by the side of his house.

He has been anxious to expand his Levitt home so the dwelling can accommodate his automobile and all of his tools, too. Today, is Saturday, and a backhoe is coming to dig the trench for the foundation so that he has a firm base to build his garage on. Then, the man hears a subtle noise behind him. The father looks around and sees his son.

“Dad, is that gonna’ be our new garage?”

“Yes, Lester.”

“When ya’ gonna’ start?” the boy asks.

“The man looks down the street and allows a quiet sigh to escape, then looks at Lester. “This morning, if the backhoe ever gets here.”

The thought of his parents putting up a garage causes Lester to muse about the new construction a few blocks in back of ‘Bohacks”. “A new school,” he thinks. “I think I’ll check it out.” Outside, the boy walks down Green Lane, past Bohacks, and on towards the new construction.

* * *

Piles of dirt are everywhere, so are construction materials and tools. Long lengths of reinforcement rod, small mortar mixers, piles of concrete block, as well as a multitude of other items needed to construct a new school with. Though, Lester stares at the site as if it was a giant toy. He walks to a pile of dirty lumber used for concrete forms and begins to climb it.

The neat stack of wood is like a dirty playground to him as the dry cement on the wood begins to flake off onto the youngster’s hands and clothes. Though, Lester is too concerned about maintaining his balance and not falling off the lumber to notice. At last, he is on top of the pile. The boy is sitting now and surveys the site around him.

At first, he only notices the piles of dirt, the pits, and other holes dug into the ground. But, with further consideration, he notices something else, “BOTTLES”, dozens of them. Some are laying on the ground, some have been put into open fifty-five gallon barrels, and more are lying on top of any convenient flat surface. He climbs off the lumber and looks around for a box. In a few minutes, he has found a small wood crate and quickly fills it up. Lester carries the filled crate back to ‘Bohacks’ to get the deposit on the bottles.

Lester walks out of the grocery store, then stops, and looks at his open hand. “43

cents,” he muses and carries his empty crate back again to the site of the new school.

Once more, Lester begins to wander about the area as he picks up more empty soda bottles. Though, he notices a vile, brownish liquid inside one of them. He sniffs it and smells a disgusting sweet odor. Lester tosses the bottle away and looks for others. In an hour, the crate is filled again. Lester goes back to ‘Bohack’s’ to claim another deposit.

Lester is pleased. He has earned 46 cents this time. His front pants pocket seems heavy with change. Now, the urge to spend the money becomes too great for the small boy to endure. He walks to the candy store a short distance away.

Inside, by the entrance is a cash on the end of a long counter that seems to extend almost to the end of the store. Though, Lester can see a door at a far wall. “Probably it opens up into a storage room,” he thinks and looks beneath the . Shelves filled with neat rows of candy are on them. Lester reaches out and grabs two ‘Snickers’ bars and a bag of ‘M&Ms’. A man walks up to the boy and says, “That’s 15 cents, please.” Lester hands him the money and walks out of the candy store. Then, the boy freezes. Staring at him are Robby Wilkes and two of his friends.

Lester becomes nervous and looks for a clear path to run away from them. But, the other youths have surrounded him and are blocking his way. Robby approaches him.

“Give me the candy!”

“No! Get your own candy!”

But, Wilkes reaches out, grabs his hand, and takes the ‘Snickers’ bars and the bag of ‘M & Ms away from him. Then, one of Robby’s friends also approaches Lester.

“Your money or your life!”

“Go to hell!”

Robby’s friends suddenly wrestle the smaller youth to the ground and firmly pin him to the concrete. Nearby, a man walks out of a hardware store, stares at the skirmish, and walks back inside. Lester’s pockets are emptied as he tries to fight them. However, Lester is struck in the eye, too. His hands cover his face Then, the villainous trio runs away. The smaller youth gets up and looks at them as they fade away across a nearby field. He feels helpless and defeated. “But, what could I do?” he thinks. Then, the owner of the candy store comes outside and walks to Lester.

“If you want, I’ll call the cops?”

“No, sir. That’s OK.”

“You sure?” the owner asks, then the man is silent for a short time, and continues; “Your getting a black eye, go home, it’s almost supper.”

* * *

Lester is in the bathroom. In front of him is the medicine cabinet, and on it’s door, is a small mirror that Lester is looking into. The boy is horrified at what he sees.

A deep purplish bruise has appeared beneath a swollen eye. “Look at that shiner!” he thinks. “What will my mother say?” The boy leaves the bathroom and continues to the kitchen. His mother is boiling potatoes on the stove, and she doesn’t notice Lester ing her. Though, Lester’s father is home now, and the father watches his son walk to the dinner table. Then, the father sees his son’s black eye.

“What happened to your eye?”

The question does not startle the boy, for he has been expecting it, and Lester is more at ease now. “My parents should know,” he muses, and the son’s answer has a note of relief to it. “Robby Wilkes and two of his friends robbed me by ‘Bohacks’”

“Of what?”

“Money that I got from cashing in two crates of bottles.”

“Where did the bottles come from?”

“Dad, they’re building a school on the other side of ‘Bohacks’.”

“I see,” the father says and re reading about the proposed ‘Jonas Salk High School’. “Where did they stop you?”

“Candy store by Bohacks.”

“So, they mugged you, right ?”

“Yeh, I guess,” the son says, and Burt Nilsson storms out of the house.

Mr. Nilsson is angry and tired. However, he would like to relax, too. “But, I better talk to Mr. Wilkes first and get Lester’s money back,” he thinks. Burt goes to the Wilkes’s front door, knocks, and waits. In a few minutes, the door opens and Robby’s older brother, George is standing in front of him. The man begins speaking.

“Your father home?”

“Yeh, why?”

“I want to talk to him!”

“About what?” the youth demands

“None of your business!” Burt says. “Just get him here, now!”

The man’s voice is low and menacing. George becomes less sure of himself. Though, he re that his father is on the couch.

“Drunk!” he thinks, then they boy speaks. “He’s asleep on the couch, and I don’t want to wake him.”

“So what, wake him!” The man orders.

The youngster closes the front door, and Mr. Nilsson waits. Though, the interim time does not temper the man’s mood any, and Burt Nilsson becomes more angry and more impatient, too. Another minute goes by, then another. At last, the door opens. But, Mr. Nilsson is not prepared for what he sees.

Standing before him is a shorter man, though much fatter and heavier. His rheumy eyes are blood shot, his hair is uncombed, and the odor of stale beer is emanating from his body and filthy clothes. At last, Mr. Wilkes mutters, “What do you want?”

“It’s about your son.”

“Which one?” Mr. Wilkes asks. “I have two.”

“Robby.”

Mr. Wilkes blinks his eyes, then grabs the front door to maintain his balance, and asks, “What’s he done now?”

“He stole money from my son.”

“Anyone else see him do it?”

“Not that I know of,” Mr Nilsson answers.

“In that case,” Mr. Wilkes says. “Robby didn’t do it.”

“That’s a lot of crap! I’ll go to the cops!”

“You do that!” Wilkes shoots back and tries to close the front door. But, before it hit’s the jam, Burt pushes it open again.

“What are you doin’ ?”

“I’m going to give you a black eye, like your brat did to my kid !” Burt threatens

and reaches out to grab the man.

Mr. Wilkes steps back, but trips and falls backwards. Burt watches the other man as he wallows on the filthy floor. Finally, the janitor gets on his hands and knees and puts his hands on the door’s frame. Slowly, he stands up. Mr. Wilkes reaches into his pants pocket, takes out a roll of bills, and looks at Burt. “OK, how much did he take?”

“About a dollar.”

“Here!” he says and peels off a dollar bill and gives it to Lester’s father.

Burt Nilsson takes the money, turns away from Mr. Wilkes, and goes home.

XIX

ANOTHER BREED OF CHILDREN

The Winter is over, and the April days are becoming much warmer. Today, Lester had tied his thin coat around his waist and pedaled his bicycle home. His mother’s apprehension regarding the boy bringing his bicycle to school has lessened. Though, she seems to be putting Lester under more careful scrutiny lately. However, the bullies at school are leaving Lester’s bicycle alone since the small boy is locking the old ‘Roaster’ to the school’s bicycle rack.

Lester now pedals into his driveway and stops. His father’s car isn’t home, yet. “Though it wouldn’t be,” he muses. “It’s only around 4:00.” Then, Lester looks across the street at the Wilkes’ home. ‘It’s neat!”

Robby and George had been arrested for burglary a few weeks ago, and the judge had ‘thrown the book’ at the entire family. Their sons’ mischief, the family’s filthy ways, and their neighbors’ constant complaints about them had angered the judge. Now, a representative of the court visits them once a week, and she has been the driving force for making them lead a more presentable life. Robby even leaves Lester alone, and the two brothers have not appeared to be in trouble for some time. Though, in reality, the Wilkes’ boys are more secretive and careful now. They just have not been caught lately. A lifetime of bad habits is hard to change, and their habits have been carefully groomed, too.

George Wilkes stares at his younger brother and sees a strong resemblance to himself; the same dirty blond hair, the same thick boned frame, a criminal look to his eyes that causes others to walk away from him and go elsewhere’s.

Though George is three years older, his brother is nearly the same size. This resemblance has often led their neighbors to mistake one for the other. There are times when Mr. and Mrs. Wilkes are confused as to which of their sons a neighbor is complaining about. In this confusion, the sons’ bonds towards each other have become stronger. Often, they will share the booty of their nefarious deeds, too. Robby looks at his brother and speaks.

“What part of town you want to go to, tonight?”

“Village Green.”

“Houses or store?” Robby asks.

“Let’s do a house or a car,” George answers. “I hear the stores have dogs guarding them, now.”

“What type?”

“Dobermans.”

The name sounds a note of dread to the older brother’s words as a vision of a large, sleek, black animal with large white teeth appears to him. Then, Robby speaks. “I was over to the ‘Green’ last week, and they got two dogs locked up in a cage in back of one of the stores,” Robby says, then continues. “They started to show their teeth and jumped against the cage when they saw me!”

“I don’t want to tangle with mutts like that! George says.

“Me either.”

“OK, we’ll do a house or a car near the ‘Green.”

* * *

The night is clear, and the warm temperature is making the dark comfortable, too. Though, the boys are still nervous. Both are dressed in dark clothes, and they appear to be shadows as they approach a dark house by the ‘Green’. Nearby, a car is parked in the driveway. They carefully approach it. But, a neighbor’s dog senses their presence and begins to bark. Other neighbors’ dogs bark too. Frightened, the pair moves away. In a few minutes, they are on another block. They see cars parked on the side of the road. The boys approach the closest vehicle. It’s an almost new l956 Volkswagen.

The vehicle is small and in the dark, they wonder what part of it is the front and what part of it is the back. Robby puts a hand on a door handle and tries to move it. “Won’t budge,” he thinks. George grabs the other door’s handle and tries to move it, too. But, that handle won’t move either. The boys move to another car a short distance away.

This vehicle is a larger American made car. “Studebaker,” Robby thinks. He grabs the door’s handle and pushes it down. The door is unlocked, and the boy swings it open. But, it’s dry hinges protest, and the door squeaks. A dog close by begins to bark. Another neighbor’s dog does, too. The youths move off the street and hide behind a nearby bush and wait until the pets stop barking. When the

street is quiet, they go down the road once more. Another car is seen in a driveway. George leaves the street and goes to it.

The vehicle is a smaller Chevy. George approaches the driver’s side door and attempts to move it’s handle. It moves easily, though, and he unlatches the door. The door swings open, and George gets inside. Then, he sits on the front seat and moves his hand to the ignition switch on the dashboard. “The keys are still in the ignition!” he happily thinks. “Get in the car,” he whispers and Robby goes to the enger side, opens the door, and slides inside. In a few moments, the vehicle’s engine spins into life, and it moves out of the driveway into the street.

Dogs begin barking wildly as the ‘Chevy’ gathers speed and moves away. At the end of the road, George turns on the lights, and the car hurries away. Robby clears his throat.

“Where you wanna’ go?”

George glances at the gas gauge and sees that the car’s fuel tank is nearly half full. He looks at his brother and speaks, “Hicksville?”

Though, there is the sound of caution in his answer and Robby wonders, “Why?”

“That far, George?”

“Well, we hafta’ get away from here.”

“Then, how do we get back?”

But, there is only silence as George reflects on an answer. At last, he speaks again. “We can steal another car.”

“OK, sounds like a plan,” Robby says and the ‘Chevy’ moves to ‘Wantagh Avenue’, then, North to Hicksville.

The sun is beginning to rise and light is spreading it’s glow over the entire area. The boys are riding in a strange car that, by now, might have been reported to the police as stolen. Robby is thinking of this as he turns to speak. “George, let’s ditch the car right now and walk home!”

The older brother is surprised at the words. He is enjoying driving the car. Though, he has no license and does not want to leave it yet. “But, by now, they’re inside a car that the cops are probably looking for!” he thinks. Then, he speaks, “OK Robby, let’s turn onto a side street and ditch the car right there.”

The Chevy slows down after going another half mile and turns onto a small side street that leads them to another residential area.

George pulls over, parks the car, shuts off the engine, and throws the keys onto the back seat. Surprised, Robby looks at his brother. “Why throw the keys back there?”

“You want someone to steal it?”

* * *

The Wilkes brothers are tired, but elated, too as they walk back to their home. They have stolen two cars and have not been caught, yet. “Hopefully, we never will,” George muses. The brothers walk past the ‘A & P’, cross ‘Wantaugh Avenue’, and begin to stroll down Green Lane to their home. Robby is still cautious, though as he looks down their street, he sees their house. “Just Dad’s car is in the driveway,” he muses, and the boys continue home.

Though parked at the end of ‘Green Lane’ at a ‘T’ intersection is an unmarked Nassau county police car. A wip antenna extends upwards from it’s back bumper. The boys stop walking, and George looks at his brother.

“You see any signs of the cops?”

“No, you?” Robby answers.

“Let’s go,” George Wilkes says, and the boys continue walking.

The policeman is tired. He’s been waiting at the end of the street for nearly two hours, ever since the desk sergeant had radioed him of neighbors’ complaints about strange people walking the area around ‘Green Lane’. On an educated guess, he had decided to park his vehicle close to the Wilke’s residence and observe their house. Though now, he has almost given up and considers abandoning his ‘hunch’. He squints his eyes for one last look. “Nothing!” he speculates, then notices a movement far down the street. “Two boys?” He muses,

and the man slumps down in his seat and waits for them to come closer.

George and Robby Wilkes are almost home, and their unmade dirty beds appeal to them now. The boys approach their driveway and go to the front door. But, in the distance, a car’s engine is heard starting. The boys look towards the offending sound, then they see lights. George freezes. Robby looks at him and asks, “What’s that?”

“That noise?” George asks.

“Sounded like a car starting up!”

“What you want to do?”

George slows walking to a near stand still. “Probably a neighbor going to work,” he wonders, then continues speaking. “Let’s keep goin’.”

The car’s engine idles while the policeman waits. In the distance, the pair is closer. The man can vaguely see their features now. “Wilkes kids?” he wonders. “I wonder if they were out all night?”

The boys are close to their house. In a few moments, they walk onto the driveway. The policeman puts the car into gear and goes to them.

The boys’ backs are to the patrol car, and they fail to see it coming. But the

sound of it’s engine is clearly audible. George Wilkes turns his head slightly, but continues walking. Robby continues to ignore the vehicle, too. They walk up to their front entrance and stop. The patrol car moves into their driveway, stops behind the Wilkes’ car, and the cop gets out.

“Heh, you!”

George turns around and answers, “Yeh.”

“You guys got a minute?”

“Sure officer,” George answers. “What about?”

The boys are quiet as they wait for the patrolman to speak first. But, the brothers know what he is going to ask them. They remain mute until the cop stops before them.

“You guys just get home?”

“Why officer?” George asks.

“I’ll ask the questions!” the cop snaps back. “Did you guys just get home?”

“Yeh.”

“Where were you tonight?”

The question has them trapped, and George knows it. Though, his demeanor is calm and his smooth face reveals no indication of any emotional stress. But, George’s mind is racing. A hand rubs his temple before he speaks again. “We went to the playground.”

“Anyone see you there?”

“I don’t think so,” George answers. “We were alone.”

The policeman is quiet again. But, he is staring at both boys. Neither youngster is showing any fear or discomfort, only contempt. “Are they enjoying this?” the man wonders. At last, the cop speaks again. “Your parents home?”

“Yeh, but they’re in bed sleeping,” Robby says.

The cop looks at his wristwatch. “6:43,” he muses, then speaks.

“Your father the janitor at the ‘Gardeners Avenue’ Elementary school?”

“Yes sir,” George answers.

“Then, he should be up.” the cop says and reaches over and knocks on the door. The man waits.

The boys are quiet, and they wait, too for their father. “But, is he sober?” George wonders. The front door opens. The policemen stare aghast at what they see.

An unkempt, wrinkled woman looks at them. She seems to be still sleeping as she stares at them through rheumy, half closed eyes. Her hand rises and wipes her matted hair from her eyes, then she speaks.

“Officer, what you want?”

“Its about your sons.”

The woman hesitates as the man’s words begin to in her brain. Her hand goes to the door to maintain her balance, and she blinks her eyes in a lame attempt to understand the policeman’s words. At last, she speaks. “Wud they do now?”

“I think they stole a car.”

But, the woman does not answer, her mind is slipping into a nebulous void that insulates her from the reality of the man’s words.

She walks away, gets a nearby lawn chair that’s in the hall and sits down on it. Mrs. Wilkes looks at the vague image of the cop and wonders if this is all a bad dream. Then, she speaks again.

“You gonna’ take ’em away?”

“I better, until we get this matter cleared up,” the cop answers. “They’re under suspision of car theft, now.”

XX

THE GREEN LANE THUMPERS

Across the street, a few houses from the corner of Green Lane is a plain Levitt house. It is not the neatest home or the most fashionable. In fact, the residence doesn’t even have an attached garage. But, the home is the meeting place of the ‘Green Lane thumpers’, a group of mothers whose goal is to lose weight.

* * *

It is Monday, the second week in April, and the fathers in the neighborhood have left their homes and gone to work. The men’s wives are home now, and the women are alone once more. Most have spent the early morning sending their children off to school and doing their household chores. By 10:00 am they are done, and the women now have time to go shopping, do laundry, or visit their neighbors.

Phylis Goldman puts the last plate on the drying rack on her stainless steel sink and goes to the foyer to get her hat and coat. Soon, she is outside walking to a neighbor’s house across the street at 43 Green Lane. This is the meeting place of the ‘Green Lane Thumpers’, a dieting club formed for the purpose of shedding unwanted pounds from the ’ bodies.

Phyllis walks across Green Lane, goes towards the corner, past two other homes, and turns right onto a short driveway of her friend’s Levitt house. A short

distance away another woman is already going into Ruth Bosell’s home. The women have become part of a morning ritual where they meet with other obese women: Harriet Jones, Wilma Rochet and Joan Dirdle. They are all of the ‘Green Lane Thumpers’.

No one seems to know who first coined the name for their group. Perhaps, it was one of their husbands or a smaller neighbor. No one knows for sure. However, the women are gathering once more in an attempt to lose weight and to socialize with their friends.

Phyllis Goldman walks into the dining room and sees the yellow Formica—like tabletop resting on six chromium plated steel legs and six matching chairs are there, too to complete the set. The table has been pulled out and another section added to it to accommodate everyone. All the women are evenly spaced around the table. Phylis pulls out a chair and sits on it. She looks at her friends.

Ruth Bosell, Harriet Jones, Wilma Rochet, and Joan Dirdel complete the club. Wilma Rochet is the largest person in the group, and she has selected two chairs to sit on. Both pieces of furniture seem to protest her weight on them as they emit moaning sounds into the room. Though, the other women are trying not to notice her. Ruth Bosell gets up and goes to the stove. A pot of coffee is boiling as the woman turns off the stove, removes the pot from a glowing electric burner, and fills six cups close by her. When done, she places a steaming cup before each of her friends. A small box of plain doughnuts is placed before them, too. Though, each woman is really waiting for their reward at the end of their exercise session—’JELLY ROLLS’ !

The women take their cups and dantily hold the handles between their thumb and forefinger. Though, Wilma Rochet has her small pinky extended up into the air, too. Some in the group see her grand gesture and also put their little fingers up. Then, the conversation begins when Joan Dirdle clears he throat.

“Have you heard the latest?”

“What is that?” Phylis asks.

“The cops were at the Wilkes’ house.”

“Oh, when?” Harriet asks.

“Last weekend.”

“About what?” one asks.

“The Wilkes boys stole a car!”

Joan Dirdle speaks up. “They’ve graduated to cars, now.”

Wilma Roche becomes anxious and unconsciously, she shifts her weight on the chairs that she is sitting on. The furniture makes high pitched noises in protest. Though, the woman does not notice. She looks at the others and speaks, “Who’s car was it?”

“Belonged to someone a few streets from here,” Dirdle says.

“Thank god it wasn’t any of ours’!” Phyllis says and takes another small bite from her doughnut.

The women continue their chatter as they gossip, their conversation going from one neighbor to the other. Though, Wilma Rochet stares at the small box of doughnuts in front of them. “Empty! She thinks, then speaks out. “There’s no more doughnuts.”

“I guess that it’s that happy time again,” a voice says.

The others nod their heads, labor to a standing position, and waddle to the bricked—in fireplace. The large masonry structure separates the living room from the dining room—kitchen area. The women find places around the screened—in openings on both sides of the fireplace. Each has her back to the brick, their ample buttocks resting against the bricks above the screens. Slowly, they begin to move their hips away from the brick surface, then back again until their Bodies stop suddenly with a muffled sound.

At first, there are only soft sounds as their glutinous masses of soft flesh the brick structure. However, the women gradually increase the tempo of their movements until the group reaches the apex of their exertions.

Sweat begins to form on their foreheads, each of their backs begin to ache, and their stomach muscles send urgent messages to their brains to stop. At last, the women tire, and they go limp. Slowly, the ‘Green Street Thumpers’ return to the dining room table and fall onto their chairs. A few look at the empty box of

doughnuts. Ruth Bosell goes to a nearby white metal cabinet and takes out another box of plain doughnuts.

The four woman have returned to their chairs, and they are watching Ruth with self indulgent glutinous interest. At last, another box of doughnuts is put on the counter. Then, she closes the cabinet door. The sound of the door snapping shut shatters the strained, quiet expectancy in the room. A woman begins to stand and rush for the box. But, she catches herself and sits down again. At last, Ruth Busell carries the box of doughnuts to the table and sits down.

The women are staring at the box. Neither, wishing to be the first to open it up. Though, Ruth Bosell is their host, and she carefully lifts the top. The sight of the doughnuts causes the women to druel. Some lick the saliva off the corners of their mouths as their eyes stare at the fried dough. Then, Harriet reaches out and snatches up a doughnut. Others do too, until the box is empty.

Once more, the women have bowed to their desires. When done eating, they begin to gossip again as they single-out another unsuspecting neighbor and talk about her. In a few minutes, they are bored and Joan Girdle changes the subject.

“You girls want to thump again?”

“Sure, let’s go,” someone says, and the group stands and goes back to the fireplace.

In a few moments, the women have their backs to the brick and are waiting for someone to begin first. Though, for a short while they remain still. But, Phyllis Goldman thinks of the jelly rolls waiting for them, licks her lips, and slowly

begins to shove her backside against the bricks. The other wives do the same. Again, the group builds theirselves into a rapid motion as their bodies begin moving in a rapid staccato. Again, sweat forms on their foreheads, their backs begin to ache, and once more, their stomachs begin to ache, too. When they are tired, the group stops again and rests.

The wives are exhausted now, and they are sweating, too. Though, all of them have only one thing on their minds—’Their reward, the jelly rolls’. The women gather around the dining room table and wait until a large white box is put before them. Wilma Rochet reaches out and lifts the cover. The jelly rolls disappear and are eaten with a gusto. Then, another conversation begins as the women pick apart another unsuspecting neighbor. When the jelly rolls are consumed, the coffee cups emptied, and the women tire of their gossip, the ‘Green Lane thumpers’ go back to their homes.

XXI

Catechism and the Chimpanzee

Lester is in fifth grade and March is over and soon it will be Easter. However, the religious significance of this time of year has not occurred to our small boy, yet. The thought of chocolate Easter bunnies, brightly colored tin foil wrapped chocolate Easter eggs, and other sweets does appeal to him. In past years, coins have been placed in his Easter Basket, too. Lester sits back in his hard Maple wood chair and stares at the numbers being written on the blackboard. Though, the thought of his Easter basket is now constantly with him. He begins to write in his notebook again. At last, the teacher looks at the wall clock and sees that it is 2:00; time for the Catholic children to go to Catechism and one less problem. The woman puts her chalk in the wood rack beneath the blackboard, looks at her class and speaks.

“Time for some of you to go to Catechism.”

Nearly one third of the class gets out of their seats, take their books and other possessions, and leave the classroom. Buses are lined up outside to take them to Saint Bernards Church.

* * *

Lester and the other fifth graders are excited. They have been given a brief respite from the boring routine of elementary school as they go onto their buses

that will take them to their religious instruction just a mile or two away. When all of the students are seated, the buses are put into gear and begin to roll away from the grade school. Lester looks at the boy sitting next him.

“Ed, what we learning today?”

“Same thing the Nun talked about last week, what to do when we’re in confession.

“Oh, I ,” Lester says, then continues looking at Ed and speaks again. “You like going to confession?”

“No! All the priest tells me is to be a good boy and to say a couple of ‘Our Fathers’ and ‘Hail Maries’.”

“So, what’s wrong with that? That aint’ much,” Lester argues.

“Yeh, I guess you’re right.” Ed says and continues. “You think the protestant or the Jewish kids hafta’ go to confession, too?”

“I don’t know, maybe?”

A girl sitting in the seat in front of them turns around, faces the boys, and speaks. “My Dad is protestant, and he don’t hafta’ go.”

“Don’t seem fair! Lester complains.

“No, it don’t!” Ed says loudly.

The girl turns around and sits back in her seat. Though, Lester and Ed lapse into a moody silence. In a few minutes, the bus comes to Hempstead turnpike, turns, then turns again into a small service road that goes past Saint Bernards Church to where Catechism is being taught. As the bus moves, the children see a large building in front of them. By it’s entrance, a priest is waiting for them. In a short time, the buses stop, and their side doors open. Ed looks at Lester.

“Lester, I’ll race you to catechism!” Ed yells and the boys rush outside.

The priest watches two boys running to him and in an instant, he steps in their way and speaks, “Never saw two boys in such a hurry to go to Catechism before.”

“Sorry, Father,” Ed says, and the boys walk, instead.

The boys go through the entrance, down a short hall, and into a spacious classroom. A Nun is standing before the black board. The word ‘Confession’ has already been written on the hard black surface. Lester and Ed sit in two seats in back of the class. Other students are in front of them. Though, their excitement fades when the Nun clears her throat.

“Boys, take out your notebooks and write this down.” ‘Bless me father for I have sinned… .”

The boys are quiet, and their nervous chattering has faded away. Though, an occasional comment is made as sheets of loose leaf paper are ed through the class to friends. When the fifth graders are ready, the Nun begins to write more words on the board. As the students continue copying, a slight conversation is heard. The Nun looks behind her and speaks.

“There a problem boys?”

The students quickly stop their talking and continue copying the sentences written on the board. She turns around and writes once more.

Another boy es a note to a neighbor across the room. The paper is unfolded and read.

‘you got gum’

A thin stick of gum is ed back to the boy. However, a small piece is broken off by another and put into the student’s mouth. Others break off small pieces, too until there is only a small fraction of the stick of gum remaining. Another note is ed back through the class.

“need more gum”

After the note is read, a reply is ed back.

“Don’t got no more.”

The Nun has noticed the class’s commotion and turns to face the boys. “May I see that piece of paper?”

The tightly folded small piece of loose-leaf paper is ed through the class until the note is picked up by the Nun. Then, she unfolds it and reads the message. “Don’t got no more”

“Don’t got no more, . . . . what?” the Nun demands.

The boy is quiet, and he is hoping that his reticence will end the matter. But, the Nun is persistent. “Well!”

“Gum,” he whispers.

“What did you say?”

“Gum!” he says louder.

“You want to chew gum in my religious class!” she roars. “Get up here!”

The boy becomes scared. He has heard stories of these women when they are provoked. “Have I gotten this Nun mad at me!” he thinks. Slowly, the youngster rises from his chair and approaches the front of the room.

The Nun goes to her desk and takes out a foot long wood ruler with brass ends on it. The boy is approaching her, and when he stops, she speaks. “Hold out your hand!”

The boy does as he is told. However, when he raises his hand, he takes a step away from her, too.

“Closer!”

The youngster takes a step towards her and quickly, she raps a desk next to her.

The boy flinches.

“Now, sit down and what could have happened to you.”

The youngster returns to his seat, rubbing his hand. The other students in the room have been warned, too, and they cast knowing looks at each other and at the Nun standing before them. The room becomes deathly calm. However, the wall clock strikes the hour.

Lester looks at the clock and sees that it is 4:00. “Time to go home,” he thinks. However, the Nun speaks again. “Lester, Ed, you two stay after class.”

The boys become nervous. “What did we do?” Lester wonders. The Nun continues speaking. “Your mothers are going to pick you up in the parking lot. So, after Catechism, go wait for them out there.

Lester Nilsson and Ed Gibbs are waiting in the church’s parking lot. Neither boy knows why they are not going home on the bus. “Did the Nun call our mothers?” Lester wonders. “But, how could she?” At last, Ed sees his parents’ 1949 Dodge in the parking lot. Ed runs to it. Then Lester hears his mother calling his name. He runs to the 1949 Dodge, too.

The boys open up the back door and climb onto the spacious mohair back seat. Quietly, the engine idles until the clutch is let out, and the car moves out of the church’s parking lot. Lester leans forward and speaks to his mother, “Why didn’t we take our school bus? Why are we taking this big old car today?”

“We have a surprise for you boys,” Mrs. Nilsson answers.

“What?” Ed Bursts out.

“We’re going to the new McDonalds.

“For a 15 cent hamburger?” Ed Gibbs asks.

“Yes. Then, Saturday we’re going to the circus.”

“Where?” Ed asks.

“Gardeners Avenue School,” Mrs. Nilsson answers.

* * *

Lester is sitting on the couch in their living room as he looks at Aesop’s Fables on their heavy and cumbersome television set. He is enjoying a new feature that has been installed on the set. A huge magnifying glass is now extended in front of the tiny nine inch picture screen. Now, the programs appear to be twice as big as before. However, the boy stares at a cloth bag resting on top of the set.

The boy looks down and sees a faded dark burn mark on the rug. The early afternoon sun had shown into the room and had also gone through TV’s magnifying glass. The sun’s rays were focused onto the living room rug and caused the heavy material to smolder. Had Rosalyn not been in the room at the time, a fire could have been started. However, the boy hears his mother calling him.

“Lester, have your lunch, now. You’ll have to hurry. It’s almost time to go to the circus!”

“OK!” he says, turns off the TV, and slips the bag over the glass.

* * *

Again, Lester, Ed, and their mothers are in the 1949 Dodge sedan as they go down Gardeners Avenue. It is almost 1:00, and the vehicle is going faster than it should. At last, the Gardeners Avenue School is seen and the vehicle turns, then leaves the wide road. In front of the school, cars have already parked, and Mrs. Gibbs parks behind them. The doors of the sedan open, and the two boys burst from the vehicle and run into the school. The mothers follow them and shortly, catch up to their sons.

Inside the school’s gymnasium, the bleachers have been pulled away from the wall onto the floor. The large room had been transformed into a carnival atmosphere of gaiety and entertainment as the floor space was taken over by cages, props, and other items that the performers will need to conduct their show.

Jugglers, acrobats, animals, and animal trainers are on the floor, too as they get ready for the afternoon’s performance. Though, on the side of the gym is a long bench that three Chimpanzees, eight dogs, and a goat are resting on.

The ape-like animals are dressed in clown costumes that are giving them a humorous look. Though, the chimp’s faces have a serious look to them, too. One animal is calmly sitting as he stares at the youngsters in the crowd. Though he appears to be nervous when the high pitched voices of the young crowd screams their delight at the entertainers.

At last, a dignified man dressed in a tuxedo appears on the show floor. The lights go out, a spotlight illuminates him, and the spectators gradually quiet down. At last, he speaks into a microphone as the students anxiously listen.

“Ladies and gentleman!” the man’s voice booms. “Welcome to the greatest little show on Earth!”

The children become enthusiastic and begin to scream and applaud again. However, some of the animals become fearful and restless. A chimpanzee does a back flip, and the children become even more noisy and enthusiastic. The animal does another back flip. Then, the announcer tries to speak, and when the crowd quiets down, the announcer continues speaking.

“And now, for your entertainment, I would like to introduce ‘Miss Meemee and her world famous dogs!”

A group of eight dogs, all Border Collies rush out onto the floor and begin to run around in a tight circle for a few revolutions until Miss Meemee yells a command, and the animals suddenly line up and sit down. Again, the woman yells another command, kneels over, and the dogs begin to jump on her back, launch their selves into the air, circle around to where they started, and do their trick all over again. After a few revolutions, the trainer issues more commands, and the dogs perform more tricks for the crowd. In a few minutes, another command is given to the dogs, and they hurry back to the bench, jump onto it, and sit down.

Then, the woman yells another command, and the goat walks out on the gymnasium floor. The trainer has a large brightly colored red ball in her hand. The goat is standing about ten feet from her when she tosses the ball at him. Then, he butts it back to her, and she catches it. The students in the bleachers watch the trainer and her goat the ball between them until she gives the goat another command. The goat goes back to the bench, jumps onto it, and lays down. At last, the Chimpanzees are called.

Three chimpanzees pedal specially adapted small children’s bicycles onto the gymnasium floor. The children become elated and scream their delight at the animals. However, one of the chimps begins to stand on the pedals of his bicycle and jumps up and down violently until his bicycle begins to hop across the floor. The students begin to cheer even louder. Their screaming begins to make the chimpanzee even more nervous. His trainer approaches the animal.

The small ape stops riding his bicycle, drops it on the floor, and runs to his trainer. The woman kneels down and embraces the chimp. He returns the gesture and calms down. The crowd becomes quiet, too. At last, the Chimp gets back on his bicycle and continues his trick. In a few minutes all of the animals are back on the bench. The announcer stands before the crowd again, and the room becomes quiet once more.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we thank you for seeing our show today, and we would like to see you again!” the man says, and he extends his hand to the woman trainer.

She walks over to the animals and calls out a command to them. The goat jumps off of the bench and lowers his head to the audience, then returns to the bench. The dogs jump off the bench, line up before the audience, bark, and take their places on the bench. Then, the chimpanzees jump off the bench and wave at the people in the stands. There is a loud applause.

Then the elementary students stand and begin yelling and clapping at the performers. A little girl is clapping her hands and yelling, too. Then, she jumps off the bleachers onto the gymnasium floor and approaches the animals. A chimpanzee steps between her and the other animals and grabs the youngster. Then, almost effortlessly, the little girl is picked up by her arm and tossed away from the goat, dogs, and the other chimps onto the hardwood floor of the gymnasium. The audience becomes quiet. The girl’s mother hurries to her daughter and helps the little girl stand up and go back to the bleachers. Then, the

trainer walks to the chimp and quietly talks to him. The beast drops his head in shame and hides beneath the bench. Then, show is over.

XXII

THE LIGHTER

March is over and soon, it will be Easter. The warm April morning is clear and dry as the sun embraces everything with it’s tender warmth. However, Lester does not notice. Today is Saturday and the Nilssons are going to Parkchester in the Bronx to visit his mother’s parents, Grandma and Grandpa Mcquire and her younger brother, Alfred.

Though Alfred is only three years older than Lester, the large boy is still considered his uncle. He is the youngest of five children. Often doted on by his parents, an older brother, and three older sisters, the youngster soon became overweight and spoiled. However, Lester likes to visit Alvin and to play with his toys, especially, his Lionel train set.

Lester is now sitting on the back seat of the family’s Chevy staring at the ing scenery. Ahead of them is the ‘Whitestone Bridge’. The small boy sees the huge suspension bridge as it rises over the East River. Above him are the monstrous cables that the road of the bridge is hanging from. Smaller cables are leading down from them to the deck of the bridge. The boy tries to look at the water below. But a wall of riveted metal plates is in his way. After the car reaches the highest point of the bridge, they begin to go down. Far ahead of him, he can only see cars, vans and trucks of all sizes anxiously waiting for their turn at the toll booths.

At last, Burt pays the quarter toll, and the car speeds away until the vehicle slows down again, and they turn off the busy highway onto a smaller road. Then,

more turns onto more streets as Mr. Nilsson negotiates the labyrinth of concrete avenues and smaller streets until they arrive near to their destination. Burt looks for an empty space, then parks the car. The Nilssons will have to walk the rest of the way.

The walk to his grandparent’s apartment house is for only another block. In a few minutes, they are there. A small tree is by the building’s entrance. A dry worn dirt area is beneath the tree, and small children’s toys litter the tiny area. The Nilsson’s walk past the play area into the building.

Inside, they enter a small lobby. Nearby, is an elevator where Rosalyn leads her family to two sliding doors and pushes a button for the eighth floor and waits. Soon, the doors open, and they go inside the enclosure. Another button is pushed, and the doors close. Then, they are lifted to the eighth floor, the elevator stops, and the elevator door opens. The family goes to the Grandparents apartment, and Burt rings a buzzer. Soon, the door opens.

“Grandma!” Lester calls out.

“Lester!” she answers. “Rosalyn, Burt its great to see you!”

The family continues greeting each other. Then, they enter the apartment, go to the living room, and sit down. Nearby, the aromas of chicken, dumplings, vegetables, and other foods are coming from the small kitchen. Lester goes to Alvin’s room.

Inside, the small boy sees his uncle on the bedroom floor putting more sections of track together. Lester walks up to him, then stops.

“Hi, Alvin!”

“Hi, yourself,” he answers.

“Making your train set bigger?”

“Yeh,” the larger boy answers, then continues. “Need more track, though.”

“Hafta buy more?” Lester asks.

“Yeh.”

“Where?”

“There’s a train store past the park a little ways,” Alvin answers, and he is quiet for a short time, then continues. “We can go there after lunch.

“OK,” Lester says, and the boy kneels down and also plays with the tracks.

* * *

Lester and his parents are seated behind a large Hard Maple table. Cold cuts, breads, and a large chocolate layer cake are before them. Alvin looks at the chocolate cake and speaks.

“More cake?”

“More cake, please!” Grandma Mcguire corrects him.

“More cake, please.”

Burt es the cake dish to the boy and watches Alvin grab a large piece of the cake off the cake dish with his fingers and stuffs the desert into his mouth. Grandfather McGuire casts his son a menacing look.

“Sorry, Dad.” the boy says. He puts the cake on his dish, and goes to the kitchen sink to wash the chunks of cake and icing off his hands.

However, Burt sees a piece of cake stuck on the corner of the boy’s mouth, then Nilsson changes the subject when he speaks again. “Gramps, when are you going to retire?”

“This summer, sometime.”

“Then what?” Burt asks.

“Move to Vermont, what else?”

“By Grandma’s old home?”

“No, her sister is living there. We’ll buy another place,” The grandfather says.

Lester and Alvin have been listening to the grown-up’s conversation and are becoming bored when they must listen to them talk about people they barely know. Alvin gets up and goes to Lester and speaks.

“Let’s go to the train store.”

“Sure,” the nephew says, and he puts on his thin jacket. They begin walking out of the room. However, Alvin stops and looks at Lester.

“I have to go to the John first.

Lester walks to a nearby table by the door and waits. Bored, he begins to play with the top drawer of the table. He opens it and sees a collection of discards that have been carelessly tossed into the drawer. He sees a toy gun and picks it up. Lester begins to play with it. However, when he presses it’s trigger, a small door opens and a flame shoots upwards. “Wow! It’s a lighter,” Lester thinks. Then, he sees Alvin coming back into the room. Lester closes the drawer and

unconsciously puts the lighter into his jacket pocket.

Then, Lester follows Alvin outside. However, Rosalyn sees her son leaving and becomes concerned. “Lester, where are you going?”

“To a train store.”

“Alright, but, don’t be too long,” she says and continues. “We’ll be leaving in a few hours.”

“OK mom,” Lester says, and the boys leave the apartment and go out of the building.

Outside, they walk past the lone tree in front of the building. Three small children are now playing in the dirt, and they do not notice the two older boys ing them. Alvin quickens his pace, and Lester must hurry to keep up with him. They go onto another larger street and continue walking. In front of them, the street opens up into a wider boulevard that goes by a park-like development. Ornate fountains, terraces, and other attractive concrete forms have been carefully constructed in the small area. Beyond the park is a small group of stores. Alvin walks to one of them.

Lester asks, “That where the store is?”

“Yeh, the third one is.”

Lester looks at the building and sees that the entire front of the building is glass windows. The boys walk to the third store. Above the glass is a sign that reads, “TRAINS.” The boys open the door and go in. Inside the business, large displays show the items that are for sale here.

Lester and Alvin wonder if they are in another world. A large layout of an HO scale train set is before them. Lester stares at the display and sees a small freight train going through a simulated miniature mountain. The train disappears and reappears as it comes through the mountain and makes a wide turn towards a metal arched bridge. Lester looks at Alvin.

“This place is keen!”

At first, his uncle is confused. “Keen?” Then the nephew’s words become clear to him and Alvin answers. “Yeh, this is a neat place.”

The boys wander about the store as Lester marvels at locomotives, switch tracks, boxcars, and the many other accessories and needed items that a model train enthusiast can purchase here. Alfred walks to a distant counter by a far wall. An older man is waiting.

“Can I help you?”

“Yeh,” Alfred answers. “I need a curved section of 027 track.”

The man disappears into a nearby storeroom and quickly reappears with a short

section of curved track. “Here!” he says.

Alfred takes the section of track and looks at it. The shiny section of curved metal is exactly what he wants. “Or is it?” He wonders. Alfred looks at the man once more.

“I need curved tract that curves to the right!”

“So!” the man says. “If you want it to curve to the right, just pull out the pins and put them on the other end.”

“Oh,” Alfred says, then he asks, “How much?”

“That piece is used, 25 cents.”

The boy hands the man a quarter, takes the track and goes to Lester.

“OK, Lester, let’s go home.”

* * *

Alfred and Lester are relieved. Alfred has the section of track that he needs to make his train set bigger. Lester feels better that they will get back to his

grandparent’s apartment in time so his parents will not worry about him and Alfred getting home late. The boys’ pace is now brisk, and they’re content, too. However, Alfred also wants to hurry home so that he can install the new track. He stops and looks at Lester.

“Let’s take the short way back.”

“Short way?” Lester asks.

“Sure, follow me,” Alfred orders, and the boys walk towards a small alleyway and go between two buildings. The towering structures seem like a confining prison to the smaller boy. Lester’s hand goes inside his jacket pocket and feels the lighter. He feels better, and the pair continues on.

The alley leads them to a smaller street. Cars are parked here. However, a few have their wheels removed and are now resting on milk crates. Lester notices a movement by one of the abandoned vehicles. But, he ignores it as they walk on. However, Alfred has noticed the slight motion, too. The uncle slows down. So does his nephew. “You see that?” Alfred asks.

“What?”

“Someone in front of that car?” the uncle asks.

“You want to go back?”

However, a teenage girl appears in front of them. So does another girl. The boys stop. Alfred becomes scared, then terrified as the girls come closer. Though, Lester remains calm as his youthful innocence prevents him from understanding the reality of their circumstance. He stares at the pair.

The girls seem delinquent in their manner. Both are wearing worn blue jeans and tight fitting short jeans jackets. However, their predatory stares unnerve the youngsters, too. “They’re like no girls I’ve ever seen,” Lester thinks and watches the pair walk up to them and stop. Then, one of the girls speaks.

“We want all your money!”

Terrified, Alfred remains still, though he has heard of these girls, and the bad things they do to little boys. However, Lester begins to push the lighter against the fabric of his jacket. A girl notices the subtle movement and looks at her friend.

“One of ’em’s got a gun!”

The teenage girls turn and run away. Then, Alfred walks to a nearby brick wall and relieves himself on it. However, Lester just stands there, incomprehensive of what has just happened. When Alfred is finished with his business, he walks back to Lester.

“Alfred, who were they?”

“You don’t want to know!” the uncle answers and becomes quiet.

However, Lester is confused, and the boy wants to know more. He looks at Alfred, and again, he asks, “Who are they?”

“They’re two sick teenage girls that walk around robbing people, usually small children, . . . . little boys. Sometimes, they hurt ’em, too,” the uncle answers, then he becomes quiet.

A strained silence consumes the two boys as they reflect on what has happened to them. Alfred is thankful that the girls had run away. “But, why?” he wonders and stares at Lester. Then, the uncle sees a faint bulge in his nephew’s jacket. Alvin speaks.

“What’s that in your pocket?”

“Huh?” Lester blurts, then feigns ignorance. “What pocket?”

“Your jacket pocket!”

The small boy raises his hands and feels the bulge in one of the pockets. “Darn that lighter!” The boy stares at his uncle, fear showing in his eyes. Lester speaks. “You think, I’m in trouble?”

“Trouble? What are you talking about?”

But, the youngster is too scared to reply. Alfred speaks again.

“What’s in your pocket?”

“You won’t tell grampa?”

The urgency in the boy’s voice alarms Alfred. “Did Lester swipe my father’s pistol from his dresser?” he wonders, then, speaks again. “Let’s see what’s in your pocket?”

Lester reaches into his jacket and removes something. “What’s that?” Alvin thinks. However, Lester raises his arm and opens his hand.

“That’s a small gun!” Alvin thinks as Lester pulls the trigger.

Up, comes the flame!

“Oh, for cripes sakes,!” Alvin thinks.

XXIII

SHOPLIFTING

Easter is over, and school continues to play a major part in our boy’s life; though it’s purpose escapes the youngster, creating an unfair bother to him. Though at times, Gardeners Avenue Elementary School introduces to our boy youngsters his own age who have been raised in different moral climates.

John Higgens is a quiet boy whose easygoing temperament and inconspicuous manner allows him to blend into most public situations with out revealing his intensions or attracting the suspicions of others. This ability has allowed him to go places and to do things that other youngsters his age would not even consider.

Often John is seen walking the school corridors alone as he hugs a wall or darts into a darkened area. This reclusive quality of his has marked him as a ‘loner’; an inconspicuous form, a mere blur in a shadow, someone not to be concerned about or drawn to.

Outside of school, John is an unkown youngster who never fights with others or is drawn into any form of conflict. He abhors personal conflict and has learned to appear peaceful and innocent. This quality of his has permitted him to come and go as he pleases. Even his parents do not notice him. They are often too concerned with their own lawless deeds, and he has given them no cause to worry. John, for all outward appearances, is the perfect child. He does what he is told and seems to go to great lengths to placate people. He has learned to walk away from a problem situation before it escalates into a major dilemma. For John Higgins has evolved into the perfect thief. Though now, John is

approaching a new department store, ‘Time Square Stores’.

The huge business is the aggregation of many businesses under one huge roof. There are food venders, shoe stores, recreational stores, and clothing sections for women and men, too. There is even a section of the store where one can get a haircut for a very reasonable price.

John has left the Gardeners Avenue School for the day and is walking up Gardeners Avenue to Hempstead Turnpike. A short distance from the juncture of the two roads is Time Square Stores or as the local residents call it, “TSS.” The boy nears Hempstead Turnpike, turns right into a parking lot and enters the store through a side entrance. Once inside, he is confronted with a maize of isles that lead the consumer to a huge selection of items sold in the building. John looks in front of him and far in the distance, he can see the sporting goods section. John unfastens a shirt button and leisurely walks to the area.

Before him are fishing rods, reels, lures, fishing line, and accessories for the avid angler. John stops before a display of fishing lures and stops. Then, the fifth grader looks around him and sees other people leisurely looking at the items for sale, too. However, they do not appear to notice him. John grabs a bright box with a fishing lure inside it, looks around him, and sees that no one is looking at him. He stuffs the box into his shirt. He walks down the isle and sees a glass display case. John walks to it. Then he hears a voice behind him. “John!” The boy turns towards the sound, sees Lester, and becomes slightly uncomfortable.

“John, you like to fish?”

“Sometimes.”

“Where?” Lester asks.

“Mud pond, by Massapequa.”

“John, you ever catch anything?”

“Some times,” he lies.

The boys continue their conversation as they both look at the display case. Inside, are hundreds of jack knives. John lifts the cover and removes two knives. He looks at them carefully, then only puts only one back. The other knife he sequesters into his shirt. Lester is shocked and stares at the other boy. John looks back at Lester. “They’ll never miss it.”

Lester is confused and does not know how to respond to the other youth. “What do I do?” he wonders. “He stole that!” However, Lester realizes the unwritten code of youth that onishes one from telling of another youth’s transgressions…

Finally, Lester speaks. “I’ll see you.”

John watches Lester Nilson walk away from him. When the other boy disappears, John leisurely ambles to the building’s front entrance where the pretzels are sold. He will purchase a pretzel and linger there until he is done eating it. Then, John Higgins will go home.

XXIV

’The Green Lane Sluggers’

Lester is in his bed, grateful to be home. He is awake now, and the thought of a new day appeals to him. He gets out of bed and walks to the bedroom window. The boy stares at the green grass, the budding trees, and thinks of the sharp contrast between Parkchester and Levittown. “I’m so lucky to live here,” he thinks. “We even have recharge basins!” Lester turns from the window and goes into the bathroom. He hears noises in the kitchen.

“Lester! Your breakfast is on the table,” His mother yells.

Lester does his morning bathroom ritual, gets dressed in his room and goes to the dining room. A bowl of cold cereal and juice has been put on the kitchen table for him by his mother. Lester sits down and eats. However, Mrs. Nilsson looks at her son and speaks, “What are you doing today?”

“What day is today?”

“Lester, today is Saturday.”

“And, last week was Easter?”

“That’s right. Why?”

“Mom, I think I’ll grab my mitt and go to school.”

“That’s right, Today, is the try-outs for Little League.”

Lester finishes his breakfast, get’s his mitt out of his room, then, looks at the large padded leather glove. Tightly packed into it is a baseball. A huge rubber band is wrapped around the glove molding the leather mitt to the contour of the ball. Lester removes the rubber band and puts on the glove. He rams a fist into the glove. His hand tightly nestles into the leather. “I am ready,” the boy thinks, and the ten-year-old leaves his room and goes to the ‘Gardeners Avenue School’ for the try-outs for ‘Little League’. But first, Lester grabs the permission slip off the dining room table that his father had signed.

* * *

Behind the elementary school is a large crowd of youngsters, some with their parents. Large cafeteria-style folding tables have been placed on the edge of the baseball field. Each table has an age number taped to it. Lester walks to a table that has a number 10 taped to it, and he takes his place at the end of a line and waits his turn.

In front of him are other boys, all the same age as him. Most, he has seen before. Many are playmates that he has grown up with. Lester looks at the crowd and feels comfortable with them. Though, some are strangers. The line continues moving until Lester stops before the table. A mother looks at him.

“Your permission slip?”

Lester hands her the paper, and she hands him a T-shirt. Lester holds it up and sees ‘Levittown Little League’ printed on it. He folds up the T-shirt and goes to another line. He goes to the end of that line and stops. Lester notices that the other boys have put their new T-shirts over the T-shirts that they are wearing. Lester puts on his new ‘Levittown Little League’ T-shirt and waits.

Boys are going onto the playing field and demonstrating their skills at throwing, catching the baseball, running, and batting. In the sidelines are fathers watching their sons and comparing their abilities with that of other boys on the field. When the children are done, they are told to sit down on a nearby set of bleachers and wait until the final teams have been decided on. Lester walks to the bleachers and waits. Closeby is Jeff Monroe. Lester gets up and sits down next to him.

“Lester, how’d it go?”

“OK, I guess.”

“You think our street will be on the same team?” Jeff asks.

“Hope so,” Lester answers, then watches three more boys approach him and stop.

“Hi Lester, Jeff.”

“Fred, Will, Ed,” Jeff answers.

The five boys stare at the field as the other youngsters display their baseball skills. However, more come off the field until there is only a few boys left. At last, they leave the field, too. Now, all of the youngsters wait for the final verdict from the Little League officials. In a half an hour a man rolls a portable chalkboard in front of the bleachers. Then, he begins to print names on it’s black surface. Lester and his friends anxiously look on.

Ed Gibbs, Will Thomas, Jeff Monroe, Fred Custer, and Lester Nilsson see their names written down in a neat row.

“We’re on the same team!” One shouts.

“What do they call it?” Will Thomas asks.

“Don’t know. Let’s talk to’em into calling the team ‘The Green Street Sluggers,” Fred Custer barks out.

“Hey, that’s a keen name! Think they’ll do it?” Lester asks.

* * *

It is Saturday, the second week in June, and the morning sun has risen high into the sky. The power lines are singing a monotonous high pitched song that soon is ignored. Already the ‘Green Lane sluggers’ are gathering on Bilko Street to practice batting. However, their ‘Little League’ T-shirts were given to one of the parents.

Mr. Gibbs works for a printing company that specializes in silk screening. Mr. Gibbs had agreed to silk screen ‘Green Lane Sluggers’ on the back of their new ‘Little League’ T-shirts.

However, now, Fred Custer steps up to the chalk mark on the pavement and takes a few practice swings. Will Thomas is on the pitcher’s area. A very faint chalk mark indicates where the pitcher should stand.

Thomas winds up, spits, throws the pink rubber ball, and the object flies past the batter. “Strike one!” Monroe calls out.

Again Will Thomas winds his arms up, spits, and hurls the ball. Custer swings, and the ball explodes into the air, arcs high overhead, then, bounces off the front windshield of a car parked nearby. In a few moments it’s owner suddenly appears, gets into the vehicle, and moves it further down the street. After the car moves out of the way, Custer takes his place at home base again. Thomas swings his arms once more, spits, and throws the ball.

But, the ball goes wild, and Fred must duck to avoid being hit. Then, the batter yells; “Hey, stupid! What’re you doin’ ? Tryin’ ta’ kill me!”

“Whad you care, I missed didn’t I!”

“Ah shut up and throw the ball,” Fred says.

The game continues until the players become bored and leave Bilko street. In front of them are the boys’ fathers. Jeff Monroe looks at Fred Custer and speaks.

“Those our Dads?”

“Yeh, what are they doin’ here?” Fred asks.

“Don’t know, let’s ask them,” Monroe says.

The fathers approach their sons and stop. “You guys done playing?” Mr. Thomas asks.

“Sort of,” Fred Custer answers.

“We were wondering if we could you?” Mr. Monroe asks.

The ‘Green Lane Sluggers and their fathers walk to Bilko Street and form two teams, the fathers against the sons. At first, there appears to be an obvious disparity between the two groups. However, after playing a few innings, youthful

vigor balances off the ability between the two groups. The sons and their fathers soon begin to enjoy their sport. Though, a father often needs to take a moment to rest, especially when the man must run to a base.

At last, the sun has risen too high, and the morning’s heat is causing the fathers to quickly tire. At last, Mr Gibbs holds up his hands and speaks. “Let’s go to Bowhacks and have a soda!”

The boys exclaim their eagerness to go, and the fathers and their sons go into two cars and drive to the small soda shop and candy store by Bowhacks.

When inside, the group wanders to two tables that are by the lunch counter and sit down. Nearby, are Robby Wilkes and two of his friends. Burt Nilsson sees the boys, but he remains quiet. Burt takes his place by Lester and sits on a padded chair. In the distance, a man approaches them.

“May I help you?”

“Yes,” a father says. “‘Cokes’ for everybody.”

The man disappears into a room and shortly returns with a tray with their bottles on it. The man places the tray on one of the tables and distributes the bottles. Soon, the fathers and their sons begin to speak among their selves.

“Will, how do you like ‘Little League?” Mr. Monroe asks.

“Good,” The boy answers. “But, I wish I got to play in the games more.”

“What do you mean?” Mr. Custer asks.

“Seems like the same kids play all the time,” Ed Gibbs interrupts.

“That doesn’t seem right!” Mr. Thomas says.

“What kids play?” Mr. Monroe asks.

The children are silent as each boy considers an answer to the man’s question. Of course, each mulls over the thought of ‘ratting’ on another kid. Finally, Fred Custer speaks up.

“Mr. Johnson’s kid always plays.”

“Who’s Mr. Johnson?” Mr. Monroe asks.

“He’s the coach and the father of one of the players.”

“Oh, he is!” Burt Nilsson hisses.

“We’ll have to see about that!” another father says, and Mr. Custer grabs the bill, and everyone gets up.

* * *

It is Wednesday, midweek and Lester’s little league team is practicing on a baseball field in back of the ‘Gardeners Avenue School’. Some are on a line waiting to bat, some have taken positions on the bases and in the infield. The rest of the team are scattered around the outfield. Mr. Nielson and a few other fathers are sitting in the bleachers watching their sons. However, every once in a while a father casts an ominous look at Mr. Johnson.

The coach is standing near a long bench watching the youngsters in the field, Occasionally, he yells out an order or hurries to another player to offer the boy advice, then comes back to the bench. A father leaves the bleachers and approaches the coach. Mr. Johnson sees him coming and looks at the man.

“Mr. Johnson?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve been watching you in the bleachers and see that you’re trying to be everywhere at once. You want help?” Burt asks.

The parent’s offer has surprised the coach. He was expecting some sort of caustic criticism or needless advice. But, the parent’s words have caught the

coach off-guard. Mr. Johnson’s reply is almost apologetic.

“Sure, can you help out in the outfield? Try to keep those boys on their toes.”

The parent sprints away. Then slows down to a brisk walk. Then, the youngsters in the field see the man coming. Some get up, crouch over, and place their hands on their knees in a ready position. The father approaches a player and stops.

“Hi, I’m Mr. Gibbs, your outfield coach.”

The youth looks at the man, incomprehensive of what he has just heard. Finally, the boy replies, “I’m Fred Custer. What does ‘outfield coach’ mean?”

“Means that you and me are going to work on your playing skills out here. In fact, I can talk to a bunch of you,” Mr. Gibbs says and motions the other three other boys to approach him.

In the next half hour, the father puts the players through a series of running and stance exercises that they can use in the outfield. At first, his words are garbled and come slow to the man, but in a few minutes, Mr. Gibbs becomes more confident and at ease with the youngsters. The boys are no longer complacent with being just outfielders. They are feeling like team players. Mr. Gibbs hears someone approaching him and looks around. “Need help?” another parent asks.

“Sure, I’ll tell you what to do.” Mr. Gibbs says and in the next few minutes, he explains what he feels the duties of an outfield coach should be. Then, the other

man takes three kids and goes a short distance away and teaches the youngsters how to be outfielders. In the distance, another father approaches Mr. Gibbs.

“Need Help?”

“Sure!” Gibbs says, and again, Mr. Gibbs tells another father what the duties of an outfield coach should be. Then, Mr. Gibbs returns to the long bench where Mr. Johnson is still standing.

“Mr. Gibbs, what’s going on back there?”

“You have three fathers in the outfield now. They’re telling the boys what they should be doing. Also, the boys are doing exercises to make them better outfielders.”

“Oh!” Mr. Johnson says, impressed that the other man has organized the fathers in the outfield so well. However, he looks at a player, and the boy is wearing his little league T-shirt. A thought occurs to him, and he speaks to Mr. Gibbs.

“Mr. Gibbs!”

“What?”

“The kids have T-shirts to tell everyone they’re in Little League. Why not the coaches?” Mr. Johnson says.

“So?”

“So, all the coaches should have T-shirts as well. And, the shirts should tell everybody what they are coaching.”

Mr. Gibbs is impressed with man’s words, and he sounds excited when he speaks. “That’s a great idea. That way everyone on the field will have his own Tshirt that tells everyone what he does.”

“You know somebody who can silkscreen the T-shirts for us!” Mr. Johnson asks.

“Yes, I do”

“Who?” the coach asks

“I can do the silk screening in my home, and it won’t cost you a cent.”

“Great!”

“Oh, coach?”

“Mind if I put down ‘The Green Lane Sluggers’ for the name of the team?”

“I guess that’s OK. Hell, your silk screening for free,” the coach says.

“One more question.”

“What?” Mr. Johnson asks.

“You just set me up?”

“You’re damn right I did!”

XXV

It is Saturday, once more, and two ‘Little League’ teams are playing against each other. One team is sitting on a long bench staring at the players of the opposing team. The youths on the bench are wearing their Little league T-shirts. Though, they appear to be disappointed and jealous as they stare at the ‘Green Lane Sluggers’.

Their T-shirts have the same lettering on the front. But on the back, in bright white letters are the names of the street they live on, and the position that they play. Even their coaches have similar T-shirts, though much bigger, that have printed on their backs what type of coach he is. There are the outfield coaches, the infield coaches, the batting coaches, and there is even a coach in charge of the team’s equipment and T-shirts. He is Mr. Gibbs.

Harvey Gibbs is a silk screener by trade. On the backs of each of his son’s team mates’ T-shirts he has silk screened, “GREEN LANE SLUGGERS”, the position that that boy plays, and the street he lives on. The team are wearing their modified T-shirts with a youthful bravado that is making them stand out from the other teams. In fact, Mr. Johnson, the head coach of the ‘Green Lane Sluggers’ is walking around with a huge red cape that has ‘The Boss’ silkscreened onto it. This distinction is causing complaints from other teams as many ask, “What right do you have to do this?” However, there are some teams who are competing for the most audacious “Little League’ T-shirts. Some Little League Officials have viewed these displays critically, though they haven’t said anything to them, yet. For this competition is becoming popular with the spectators and the general public. Many people sitting in the stands are showing their for their team by waving banners with the team’s name on it.

Attendance at their games has drastically increased as hundreds of spectators

gather and small side bets have been made. What was once a child’s game that taught youngsters the values of fair competition, getting along with others, and team play has attracted a small group of individuals who will take advantage of ‘Little League’ for their own financial gain.

At first, these people had started their betting with close friends who had sons on opposing teams. Then, their gaming began to attract the attention of others until public betting became a common practice. However, the inference of being openly involved with such an activity was avoided by most. The parents became very wary of who they bet with, lest their child be involved, too. But, the children were being involved. Not by any intentional design on anyone’s part, but, through the very core of “Little League’, the players.

Good players are now being pampered and held in a higher regard that caused other children to be pushed aside and treated unequally. This situation caused many youngsters to lose heart in the game and to complain to their mothers. The mothers soon telephoned each other and voiced their outrage until the topic was also broached repeatedly in many homes at the dinner table with their husbands. Then, more mothers began going to the Little League games, too.

* * *

Another Saturday has come, and the baseball diamond behind the Gardeners Avenue School is being played upon once more. ‘The Green Lane Sluggers’ are playing another Levittown team, ‘The Village Green Bombers’. The playing field is filled with anxious youngsters as they pit their skills against the other team’s.

Fathers are in the bleachers watching their sons. However, more mothers are in the bleachers, too watching their husbands. A batter for the ‘Village Green

Bombers’ comes to the plate and stands ready. The ball is thrown.

“Strike one!” the empire calls out.

The youngster raises his bat again and waits for the ball to be thrown. The catcher crouches down and waits, too. The ball is thrown at the catcher. The stands become deathly quiet as they watch the ball go over the plate.

“Ball one!” the empire calls out.

The pitcher shakes his head and steps back from the pitchers mound. He punches his mitt, spits on the ground, and steps on the pitcher’s mound, once more. He winds up his arms, spits, lifts his leg and throws the ball.

Ball Two!”

Again, the pitcher looks at home plate, squints his eyes, winds up, spits out gum juice, lifts his leg, and throws the ball. The batter swings, and the ball explodes from home plate and arcs into the outfield.

Lester is playing center field and has heard the sharp crack of the ball against the bat, then sees the ball rise high into the air and descend towards him. The boy holds up his mit and moves into position. The ball strikes his mitt with a muffled thud, then bounces out of his glove onto the ground. Lester has dropped the ball! The boy becomes excited and fumbles the ball as he picks it up. It rolls on the ground again, then he picks it up again and throws it to home plate. However, the

batter is on second. One of the fathers boos Lester from the bleachers. His wife pokes the man in the ribs. Lester looks at his team’s bleachers, sees the father, and looks away from him.

The pitcher spits on the ground again, winds up, lifts his leg, and throws the ball at home plate. The batter swings, there is a cracking sound, and the ball arcs high into left field. Lester’s teammate moves into position and catches the ball. There is applause nearby in the bleachers. However, another voice is heard, too. “SEE LESTER!” Another batter steps up to home plate.

The pitcher throws the ball again. “Strike one!”

Lester continues crouching in center field. The boy prays that the ball will be hit towards him. He feels that he must redeem himself. “Darn, I hate this waiting!” he thinks. Then, he hears the crack of the ball as it explodes from home plate. A shortstop holds out his mitt and catches the ball. Lester stares at his teammate and becomes jealous.

In another half hour, the last strike of the inning happens, and the teams change positions. Lester takes his place on the batter’s bench. Then, Lester hears his name, and he looks at the boy sitting next to him.

“We all make mistakes.” Ed Gibbs says.

“Yeh, but that’s no excuse.”

“Well, I hope you hit a home run.”

“Thanks Ed. But, I’ll settle for a single,” Lester says, and he hears the crack of the ball. “Who hit that?”

“Jeff Monroe,” Ed Gibbs says.

Lester looks into the infield and sees Monroe standing on first base. However, when he looks back at the players sitting on the bench, he sees Fred Custer going to home plate. Lester slides down the bench and waits for his turn to bat.

“Strike one,” the empire calls out.

Fred bends over the plate and takes another practice swing. The pitcher throws the ball again. But, Fred bunts it towards third base and runs to first.

Lester gets off the bench, goes to home plate, then picks up the bat off the ground. He steps up to the plate, takes a few practice swings, and waits. The bat is poised above his head. The pitcher winds up, spits, raises his leg, and the ball is thrown. Lester watches the baseball as it speeds towards him. “A good throw. I can hit that!” he thinks, and the boy swings.

“Strike one!” the empire calls out.

The ball is thrown back to the pitcher. He winds up, pauses as he looks at Lester

and spits towards the batter.

“Screw you!” Lester thinks, and he sees the ball being hurled towards him. Lester swings.

“Strike two!”

“This could be it and I’m out,” our boy thinks and sees the pitcher wind up and raise his leg for another throw.

Lester tenses and sees the ball speeding towards him, once more. But, it is too close to the batter. Our boy steps out of the way.

“Ball one!”

Lester has another chance. He waits by the plate. The ball is thrown again. Another ball goes to the inside, but, Lester bunts it to first base, and then, he sprints past the ball.

However, the first baseman begins to leave his position and go after the ball. Then, he stops, turns around, and goes back when he sees the pitcher running towards the baseball, too. Lester runs past the first baseman, striking the other boy in the shoulder and dives to first base. The bases are loaded and Will Thomas grabs the bat and stands by home plate. The pitcher winds up, spits towards Will, lifts his leg, and throws the ball.

A loud crack is heard, and the ball flies high and out of bounds. The pitcher waits for the ball to return and spits. Will watches the ball as it is thrown again. Thomas grips the bat firmer, then swings. “Strike two!”

Lester is anxious to run to second, and he inches away from first base. “The pitcher has not noticed,” he thinks. Our boy drifts further away from first. The ball is thrown again. Will swings and the ball arcs over the third baseman’s head. Thomas sprints to first. Lester goes to second as another boy pushes the player on third base to home plate. “The Green Lane Slugger have made their first point of the game.

The game continues, and the innings slowly go by as everyone stares at the score board. ‘The Village Green Bombers’ are behind as the ‘Green Lane Sluggers’ try to continue their lead. Though in the bleachers, an incentive will be offered to the ‘Green Lane Sluggers’ from an unsuspected source.

John Larch is sitting in the bleachers. Though his son plays on the opposing team, the man has made a sizeable bet on the ‘Green Lane Sluggers’ to win. The score, so far, is even, 1 to 1, and they are in the eighth inning. “Anything can happen!” the man thinks. “Perhaps, I can do something.” The man leaves the bleachers and walks to the team’s bench. Mr. Johnson is nearby wearing his red cape. Mr. Larch approaches the coach and stops. Mr. Johnson casually looks at the man and waits for him to speak.

“You the coach?”

“Yes sir, I am.”

“I’m John Larch, and I would like to make your team an offer, if I can.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“If your team wins, I’ll give your team money for ice cream and soda after the game.”

“Can I do that?” Mr. Johnson wonders, and he is quiet for a long while until he speaks again. “Yeh, I guess it’s alright. Let me talk to the team.”

John Larch walks back to the bleachers and Mr. Johnson steps in front of the batter’s bench, looks at his team, and speaks, “If you guys win, someone in the bleachers will give you money for ice cream and soda after the game.”

The boys look at each other, excitement showing in their eyes. The youngsters begin speaking to one and another. Winning, now has a new meaning to it, “Icecream!” So, with egomaniac disregard for what they’re really playing for, the team readily agrees to play extra hard. Another boy leaves the bench.

Ed Gibbs reaches down, picks up the bat, and approaches home plate. In back of him, his team-mates are cheering him on. Ed raises the bat, crouches slightly and with a determined look on his face waits for the pitch.

The pitcher winds up, spits, raises his leg, and hurls a fast-ball. Gibbs swings, but he misses. “Strike one!”

The pitcher bends over slightly, puts the ball behind his back, winds up, raises his leg, and throws another fast-ball. Gibbs swings again and a sharp crack is heard. The ball flies over the third baseman’s head. Ed sprints for first base.

The game continues as the ‘Green Lane Sluggers’ renew their efforts with an increased vigor. The boys are coming to bat with a greater incentive as each boy does his part to get the ice-cream and soda treat that the man had promised them —if they win?

Mrs. Monroe is watching her husband. He has just been talking to John Larch, and her husband is now returning to her. “Why?” she wonders. “Is he betting again?” The woman becomes concerned as she stares at him. Finally, he sits next to her.

“Joe, where were you?”

“Talking to John Larch.”

“About what?”

The woman’s words caution the man, and he shrugs his shoulders, then speaks, “just talking about the game.”

“That’s nice,” she says. However, she stares at her husband in a suspicious manner that belies her doubts about what he has just said. Then, she hears the crowd yell and applaud, too.

“What happened?” Mrs. Monroe asks.

“Our team got another base hit!” Joe Monroe says. “And, our guy on third made it to home plate.”

“What’s the score?” she asks.

“2 to 1, our favor,” he says.

The minutes slowly as the crowds watch the baseball go back and forth between the pitcher’s mound and home plate. Every so-often, the ball is hit into the infield and another base-hit is made. However, when the ball is hit again, it is driven to a short-stop and caught. The inning is over, and the ‘Green Lane Sluggers’ leave the field now and switch places with the ‘Village Green Bombers’. The game is in the ninth inning.

Joe Monroe looks at his son on second base and wonders about the bet that he has just made with John Larch. “And, I bet against my son’s team, too!” the father thinks. “If my wife ever finds out! But, if I win, the odds will triple my bet!”

It is the final inning, and the ‘Green Lane Sluggers’ are at bat. Fred Custer is by home plate taking practice swings, and the pitcher has just put another piece of gum in his mouth. The empire throws him the ball, and the teams are ready to play again.

Fred holds up the bat, crouches by home base and waits. The pitcher spits gum juice towards home base, winds up, raises his leg, and throws the ball.

“Strike one!” the empire yells out.

The catcher throws back the ball. Then the pitcher catches it, winds up, lifts his leg, and throws the ball again.

A loud cracking sound is heard, the ball arches high into center field, and the other team’s center fielder catches it. Fred is out, and he walks back to the batter’s bench. Another boy takes the bat and walks to home plate.

The other team’s pitcher is holding the baseball as he casually rolls it in his hands. He chews his gum slowly until the juices in his mouth begin to weep out a corner of his lips. He winds up, spits out gum juice, raises his leg and throws the ball. There is another loud crack as the baseball shoots from the player’s bat, arches high over the first baseman’s head and descends. The first baseman catches the ball. One more out remains.

Lester’s team has relaxed, and many think that they have won. Some become lax and wonder about the ice cream at the end of the game. Some even imagine their favorite flavor as the ice cream courses into their bodies. Though, some watch the pitcher as he throws another pitch. The ball is struck hard and flies high into the outfield and bounces. Their team’s player lunges for it. He catches it, and the ball is thrown to home plate. A player is running to the plate. But, the catcher seizes the ball in time. Another out and the opposing team comes to bat.

The ‘Green Lane Sluggers are now at their positions on the field. They have only to retain their lead to win the game. Lester is in center field as he watches his team’s pitcher, Will Thomas throw the ball.

“Strike one!” the empire yells.

The catcher throws the ball back to the pitcher. Then, the boy winds up, spits, raises his leg and throws the ball again.

“Strike two!” the empire yells.”

Again, the catcher throws the ball back. Thomas throws the ball again. It is hit, and the ball shoots towards second base. Jeff Monroe holds up his hands and catches the ball. The batter is out.

A boy leaves home plate and gives the bat to another. He comes to home plate, takes a practice swing and waits. Will Thomas throws the ball. The batter swings, and the ball explodes into the infield again. A boy lunges for the ball and catches it. Another batter is out.

The ball is thrown again. However, the opposing team’s batter is nervous and prays that he makes a homerun. But, the ball is now coming into his path of swing. The batter leans, swings the bat with all of his strength, and there is a loud crack. The ball flies high into left field. Jeff Monroe raises his hands and moves under the ball. Lester approaches the left field, too. The ball hits Monroe’s glove with a painful force. He flinches, and the ball falls onto the ground. Lester runs to it, then fumbles the ball and drops it on the ground. Finally the boy picks up the baseball and hurls it to the second baseman. The boy

catches the ball and throws it to home plate. The runner is out. The game is over and the ‘Green Lane Sluggers’ have won.

* * *

The boys are sitting on stools in a small diner by Bohacks. The remaining players are sitting at small tables with their coaches and a few parents. Mr. Monroe is at one of the tables with his wife and his son, Jeff. They all have a large dish of ice cream before them. The small restaurant has a festive atmosphere as everyone celebrates their victory over the ‘Village Green Bombers’. Though, a few people notice another coming into the business.

He appears to be an average size man. One who you would casually and not be concerned about. However, when Mr. Monroe sees him, he becomes nervous, casts a worried look at his wife, and quickly gets out of his chair. The father walks to the end of the counter and approaches the man. Then, they walk outside, go to the end of the building, and the man faces Jeff’s father.

“You got my money?” John Larch says.

“Yeh, right here,” Mr. Monroe says.

Mr. Monroe reaches into his pocket and removes a thick wallet. He opens it and removes a hundred dollar bill. The other man snatches the money out of his hand and walks away. Mr. Monroe watches him go into a nearby car. “Damn!” Jeff’s father thinks, and he turns, then freezes. His wife is standing in front of him.

“What are you doing?” She demands.

“Nothing.”

“Was that money you gave that man?”

“Sort of,” he answers.

“You betting again?”

Her question causes Mr. Monroe’s face to flush scarlet. The look on her husband’s face confirms her fear, “He’s been betting again! Against his own son’s team, too!”

“You tell Jeff?” the man asks.

“Hell, no!”

XXVI

THE BELLY FLOP

The sun is rising, creating a hot stillness to the morning. However, the wires have not begun their high pitched singing yet. Lester sits at the breakfast table and looks at the hot eggs before him resting on two pieces of toast. They appear to be staring back at him, defying his right to consume them and end their existences forever. However, the boy slices an egg with the edge of his fork, and the yellowish-orange yoke escapes and runs on top of the bread. The boy cuts off a piece of toast with the edge of his fork and puts the mess into his mouth. He chews the food slowly and stares at his mother by the sink. She turns around and looks at her son.

“Lester, what are you doing today?”

“Did you get the pool tags yet?”

“Yes, they’re hanging on the key rack. You want to go there, today?”

“Yeh, Mom. Can I go by myself?”

Mrs. Nilsson considers her son’s words. “Why not, they have life guards.”

“Lester, no diving off the boards, though.”

“No, Mom.”

“You’ll be careful?”

“Yes, Mom.”

“OK, you can go.”

* * *

The fifth grader is walking to the ‘Slate Lane pool’. Draped over his shoulder is a towel that his mother had given him. Though, the towel is slipping off his shoulder. He reaches up and pushes the cloth closer to his neck. The sound of the pool tag is felt when the stamped metal plate hits his towel. Ahead of him is the galvanized steel gate to the pool. Sitting close by is a young woman checking pool tags. Lester walks up to her, shows her his pool tag, and walks through the gate.

Inside the fence, is a huge concrete pad to walk on and by the sides of the pad by the galvanized steel fence, are benches to sit on. Lester walks to a bench and places his towel onto it. Other towels have been placed there, too. Lester walks to the water a few feet from him.

He stands by the water’s edge for a long while, and he looks around him. On the far end of the pool are the diving boards. He looks at the smaller board and sees the narrow wood platform extending over the deep end of the pool. Then, Lester looks up and sees the high board. It towers over everything, and the small boy feels small in comparison to it. He looks at the edge of the pool again and sees the clear water and smells the odor if chlorine. Lester holds his breath and jumps in.

The suddenness of the cold water temporarily stiffens every muscle in his body. But, he quickly becomes accustomed to the cold. Slowly, he begins to move and feels the gentle that the water is giving him. He begins to swim.

At first, he does a clumsy breast stroke. Then, the boy puts his head into the water and does an easy crawl. He opens his eyes and sees people’s bodies beneath the water. He turns onto his side and takes in another breath of air, then continues his crawl through the water until he comes to the edge of the pool and stops. Lester stands, turns around, goes beneath the water, and pushes against the concrete side of the pool. He begins to swim under water to the other side. However, when he has only ten more feet to go, his lungs crave for more air, and they feel as though they’re going to burst. But, our boy continues on until his hand touches the other side. His head surfaces.

For the moment, the boy inhales deeply as his lungs fill up with new air. He feels lightheaded, too. At last, Lester is his old self again, and the boy casually swims back to the other side.

At last, he is across the pool again and climbs out of the water. Lester turns and walks to the deep end where the diving boards are. Then, he re his mother’s words about the diving boards. He looks around him, sees that she is not around, and dismisses her from his mind. He looks at the high board and cowers from it. He goes to the smaller diving board, instead. He walks to it, goes up a small ladder, and runs off the diving board.

In a few minutes, Lester is back at the small diving board.

However, he takes a few cautious steps to the end and stops. He looks at the water beneath him. “The board’s so high!” he thinks, waits for a few long moments, and dives off.

“Wapp!”

Lester is hurting. His stomach and chest are stinging from the impact. He swims out of the diving area, under a series of white floats, and back to the shallow end of the pool again. He gets out of the water and stares at the diving area. But, he hears a familiar voice a few feet behind him.

“You try the high board yet?”

“Oh, Fred, it’s you,” Lester says, then answers. “No, not yet.”

“You chicken?”

The words appear to be challenge and our boy feels Fred Custer’s scrutiny on him. Custer speaks again. “I bet you won’t jump off the high board!”

“Bet I do!” Lester shouts, and he hurries to the high board.

However, Lester begins to have regrets almost as soon as he hears Custer’s ribbing. “To late, now,” he thinks as he comes closer to the high board.

Lester stops at the ladder and looks up. Two thick tubular handrails are extending up to the diving board. Lester begins to climb up as one hand grabs another step. Though, the higher he goes, the slower he climbs until he finally is standing on the diving board. Then, he inches out to the end of it.

His legs feel weak, and his balance is leaving him. Then, he comes to the edge of the handrails. “What do I hold on to?” he wonders.

Lester backs up, grabs the hand rail and looks down. Nearby, are Fred Custer and a few other boys. They’re pointing at him and laughing, too. Lester hurries to the end of the board, holds his breath, and jumps.

Suddenly water is all around him, and he has sunk down deeper than he had expected. He hurries to the surface and breathes in fresh air. Lester swims to the edge of the pool and gets out. Fred Custer is waiting for him.

“You did it!”

“Yeh!” Lester answers and starts to speak again. But, Fred interrupts.

“When you gonna’ dive off?”

His friend has asked the terrible question. The words seem to taunt him as their meaning becomes clearer to him. “Another belly flop!” he wonders. “No, I can’t.” However, Fred is still taunting him as his friends encourage Lester to dive off.

“Come on, Lester!” A voice says.

“Yeh, Lester! Bet you’re too chicken to dive off!” another voice yells at him.

Lester hurries to the high board once more, then climbs the ladder. Once on top, our boy stares at the end of the diving board. “It extends for ever,” he thinks. “Then, no handrails, no diving board, nothing!” He steps off the last step and slowly shuffles to the end of the board. Lester raises his hands over his head, leans forward, and tries to push the board with his feet. But, his legs are too straight and his straight body continues to lean over until his feet slip off the edge of the diving board. He plummets down to the water.

“Waapp!”

The familiar sound attracts everyone’s attention around the diving area. A lifeguard prepares to dive into the water after Lester. But, our boy bobbs up and begins to swim to the edge of the pool. Fred and his friends are there waiting for him. Some are concerned and others offer the boy wicked sneers.

“Heh Lester, you alright?”

Lester does not answer but, continues a slow crawl to the edge of the pool, then gets out of the water.

“Lester, you alright?” Fred repeats.

“Yeh, but, wha’d I do wrong?”

“You did a great belly-flop,” Custer answers.

“I know. it hurts! But, what am I doing wrong?”

“Try jumping straight up, then go straight down to get a spring from the board,” Custer says and continues. “Be sure you don’t hit it!”

Lester goes back to the high diving board for another try. As he nears it, he wants to walk away. But, he sees his friends watching. He approaches the ladder and climbs to the diving board. Below is Fred Custer and his friends. Lester steps onto the diving board, hesitates, and walks to the end of the board. When he is about four feet from the end, he thrusts his knee up and jumps on the end. The diving board flexes down, then pushes the boy up as Lester jumps. His entire body flips uncontrollably.

Everything is whirling around him as his arms and legs try to go in different directions. Then, he descends at a quickening speed until Lester hit’s the water flat on his back. “Waapp” A life guard dives into the pool after him. Others walk

over on the cement to have a closer look. The boy is quickly brought to the edge of the pool, taken out of the water, and brought to a nearby bench. Lester sees Fred. “What happened?”

“Lester, you mistimed your jump,” Custer says.

“Oh,” Lester mutters, and he lapses into a brooding silence. He becomes worried as a vision of his mother appears, and he prays, “Hope Mom don’t find out!”

XXVII

The handball court

Lester grabs his basketball and carries it out of the Nilsson house. Nearby, is a new foundation and a cement pad for for their new garage. Lumber and other materials are nearby. However, our boy ignores the new construction and bounces his basketball to a court in back of Bohacks.

A tall, thin structure appears before him. It is a large plywood wall that is about twenty feet wide, twelve feet high, and a few feet thick with a shingled roof. Black-top is all around it. On one side of the wall is a bare area used for handball and stickball games. On the other side of the wall is another large area for handball and stickball. However, there is also a basketball net there, too. Lester walks to the basketball area and begins shooting his basketball into it.

At first, his attempts are clumsy and even hitting the backstop behind the net is chore for him. But, Lester is persistent and after about a dozen more attempts, he gets the ball into the basket. The boy becomes elated and his success spurns him to shoot more baskets. However, after an hour, he becomes bored and leaves his ball below the basketball net and walks to the end of the wall. A small opening is there large enough for a small boy to go through.

Between the sides of the wall is an empty space with many pieces of dimension lumber connecting the plywood sides together. Lester stares at the diagonal bracing and decides to go inside. The interior of the wall is like a huge ‘jungle gym’ with many boards and edges to hold onto. He goes inside and begins to climb up.

Lester has found a new use for the handball stop as he travels through it’s interior. Though, the constant force of gravity, and the narrow age are causing our boy to become tired until he extricates himself to the end of the wall and moves outside once more. He sees his basketball and shoots baskets again.

As our boy plays, five other boys his age see him from a field close by. They walk to the fifth grader and stop. Then, a boy speaks.

“You wanna’ chose up teams and play?”

“Sure,” Lester says.

Two boys are selected as captains, the teams are chosen, and a coin is flipped. Then, the boys begin to play basketball.

Two teams of three boys each are competing as the youths pit their abilities against the other team’s. With youthful innocence, the boys dribble, , and shoot the ball with the athletic zeal of much older people. The teams continue their sport until someone holds up their hands and speaks.

“Heh! Who’s got money?”

“Why?” a voice asks.

“Let’s go to the candy store and get something’ to eat,” a tall boy answers.

“I got five cents,” someone says, then another speaks. I got seven cents.”

The boys gather together and pool their money. When done, the tall boy has twenty three cents in his hand and speaks. “This ‘nough for us all?”

“That’s not even four cents apiece,” Lester says.

“We need more,” another says.

“I know, let’s go over to the new construction and see if we can get any bottles to cash in,” someone says.

OK, let’s go,” another says.

* * *

Five boys and their new friend walk in back of Bohacks, along a long galvanized steel fence by a large field, and they climb another galvanized steel fence that has been erected to keep people out of the construction area. Then, the boys stop and see men working. Lester walks to a man laying concrete blocks.

“Mister, you mind if we pick up the bottles for the deposit money?”

“Naa, go ahead.”

Our boy goes back to his friends. The other boys seem confused and are just standing around looking at all of the activity about them. Lester walks up to one of them and speaks.

“I asked one of them if it’s OK to pick up any bottles. He said, ‘Yes’.”

“Great!” someone says. But, another boy adds, “Better be polite.”

The boys scatter and pick up the empty bottles in the area. When done, they have filled two large wood crates. Lester sees the man that he had asked and goes to him.

“Mister, thanks for letting us pick up the bottles.”

The man sets another concrete block, then looks at Lester and speaks, “That’s alright.” He applies more mortar, points his finger at another man and continues speaking. “See that guy. He’s he foreman. Better thank him, too.

“Ok,” Lester says and walks away.

The boys are back at the small diner, and they are gathered around the candy rack. Each boy has his share of the bottle money, ‘twenty six cents’. Quickly, each boy makes his selection and takes what he wants.

Five and ten cent ‘Snickers, Almond Joy, M & Ms, and other sweets are taken from the rack and brought to the cashier. Then, Lester goes outside. But, he freezes. Standing in front of him are Robby Wilkes and two of his friends.

“What do you want?” Lester asks.

“Your money or your life.”

“No, we worked hard for this money!

“We?” Wilkes asks.

Then more boys begin coming out of the diner until all five of Lester’s new friends are standing around Wilkes and his buddies. The tall boy begins speaking.

“Lester, whats wrong?”

“Wilkes and his friends are trying to take my money!”

“Yeh, they did the same thing to me!” one of Lester’s new friends says.

“Me too!” another says.

Lester and the others gather around one of Wilkes’s friends and six boys grab the ‘tough’ and wrestle him to the ground. Then, someone launches a fist into his nose. The would-be tough begins bleeding. Scared and not willing to help their friend, Robby and the other boy run away. Then, the defeated youngster is let go, and he runs away, too as his nose continues to bleed.

Lester and his five friends go back to the basketball net, split into teams, and continue playing. Their altercation with Wilkes and his friends is soon forgotten as they become involved with their game. However, the boys soon become tired and the ferver of competition, the sun’s heat, and eating too much candy overwhelms them. The boys break up and one by one, they walk away. Lester goes back home, too.

XXVIII

The garage roof

Mrs. Nilsson is vacuuming the downstairs hallway by the bedrooms, and she does not hear her son enter the house and go into the living room. He is hot and tired when he turns on the television set and waits for it to warm up. In a minute a sound is heard behind the huge magnifying glass then, a picture. Lester takes the bag off, sits down on the couch, and watches the ‘Roy Rogers’s Show”.

The actor is riding his horse, ‘Trigger’ as he follows his sidekick who driving his jeep, ‘Nellie’. In front of them are the bad guys. They are riding dark horses and wearing black clothes. However, Lester hears a noise behind him and feels a presence. The fifth grader looks behind him.

“Hi Dad!.”

“Lester.”

“I need your help,” the father says.

“OK, what you doin’ ?”

“Laying shingles, come on.”

The pair goes to the front yard and sees a ladder leaning against the roof. On the roof are rolls of tarpaper, an assortment of tools, a box of nails, and bundles of shingles. Lester goes up the ladder, then onto the roof. When he is about ten feet from the peak, the boy turns and looks in back of him.

The roof appears flat. However, there is a slight incline to it. Yet, Lester has little difficulty as he walks to it’s peek and stares at their front yard. Then, he hears his father calling him.

“Lester!”

“Yeh, Dad?”

“Help me shingle the front of the roof, would you?”

“Yeh, Dad.”

The father climbs the ladder and shortly, he is standing next to his son. In a few minutes, the man takes a roll of tarpaper, carries it to the far end of the roof, puts the end of the tar paper against the end of the house where the flashing is, and unrolls it until he comes near to the drip edge on the side edge of the garage. He cuts the roll with a razor knife then staples the tarpaper to the plywood decking on the roof. Mr. Nilsson looks at his son.

“OK Lester, your turn to roll the tar paper out.”

Lester grabs the roll and tries to lift it. “Don’t budge!” he thinks.

“Try rolling it.”

Lester puts the roll onto it’s side and rolls the tar paper to the end of the house. Then, the boy rips the end free, making sure that the end of the tarpaper will be against the flashing of the house. Then, the boy rolls the tar paper to the edge of the garage and cuts it with a razor knife. Then, the boy gets the stapler.

“Wait!” the father calls out.

“What?”

“We have to overlap the edges first,” the father says and, the man grabs the new piece of tarpaper and overlaps it about two inches. Lester looks on and sees how the man uses the faint lines on the tarpaper as a guide. When the father is done, he looks at his son again.

“OK, you lay out the tarpaper and go right up the roof to the peek. Lester grabs the roll and goes right to work. At first, the boy is cautious, even nervous as he works. Nonetheless, he fights his youthfull urge to hurry, and the boy carefully follows his father’s instructions. Below him, he can hear the man placing the shingles down and nailing them to the roof. Lester continues to unroll more tarpaper until he comes to the end of the roll. “I’ve still got a few feet more to

go,” he muses and positions the tarpaper and staples it to the roof. Lester gets another roll that has been placed on the roof.

The boy rotates the roll to move it towards the peak. When done, he places his hand on top of the roll and pushes. Slowly, he begins to move up the roof. When he comes to the last piece of tarpaper that he had laid down, the boy stops and rests. He looks up the roof and thinks, “I’ve got only five more feet to the top.”

Lester rotates the roll a quarter turn so that it’s end is facing the peak of the roof. He tears the end free and begins to roll the tarpaper roll to the flashing on the end of the house. But the roll is not properly positioned yet, and the boy grabs the end of the roll and moves it up the roof. The roll becomes diagonal now, and it wants to roll down to the ground. But, the boy’s leg is holding it.

However, the boy’s leg is beginning to cramp, and, Lester moves his leg free of the roll of tarpaper to lessen the pain. Then, the roll moves. Lester quickly grabs it. However, the boy can only catch the free end of the tarpaper. The tarpaper unravels with a roaring sound as it speeds to the front yard, past Lester’s father, and onto the driveway. The father looks up and sees his son holding the end of the tarpaper.

“Lester, what happened?”

“I screwed up, Dad.”

“Lester, you all right?”

“Yeh.”

But, Burt Nilsson looks at his son holding onto the end of the tarpaper and sees a continuous length of black fibrous material extending down the roof onto the driveway. At first, he is about to yell at his son. But, the man becomes grateful that no one has fallen off the roof. The father looks at his son again. “Let’s get off and roll up the tarpaper.”

XXIX

Thin air

The garage is finally done. Though, Lester had not been asked to help again. He had heard his parents arguing the point until his father had relented to his mother’s objections. However, the lure to go onto the roof again is now too great for the boy. Lester walks to the front of the garage and stares at it.

The boy’s eyes see the huge overhead door, then the overhang of the roof, and finally his eyes linger on a small half wall on the front corner of garage. The boy goes to it and places his hands on top of a flat surface. He climbs the half wall until he is standing on top of it. A corner post leads almost to the roof. He shimmies up that, too.

Lester grabs the roof and climbs higher until, he pulls himself upwards. Finally, he is resting on his hands. The boy lifts a knee onto the cinder shingles, then the other knee. At last, he is standing on top of the roof of their new garage. Then, a thought strikes him. “How do I get off?”

Lester stares at the grass below him. “Too high here!” he thinks. Lester walks to the back of the garage and looks down again at their back lawn. “Should I jump?”

He continues to stare at the grass. Then, he leans forward and stops. Our boy looks behind him and sees the upstairs attic window of the house. “Maybe, I can

go into the house and get off the roof that way.” Lester walks to it.

The window is a standard size upstairs Levitt window used in thousands of other Levitt houses. Lester approaches it and tries to lift the sash. But, it is locked and will not budge. He walks back to the end of the roof to take another look. He looks down at the grass in their back lawn. “I’m so high!” he thinks. “But, not as high as the front.”

Lester takes a deep breath, leans forward, starts to take a step forward, and freezes. Our boy makes the sign of the cross and prays. Then, Lester holds his breath and takes a step forward again and pushes himself into the empty air.

Now there is nothing to his feet nothing to hold on to. Our boy begins to fall as a frightening feeling of nothingness consumes him. The sound of rushing air roars past his ears. Then his feet hit the ground. His legs buckle, and he lands with a sudden impact on his side. “That was keen,” he thinks. Lester stands up and returns to the half wall.

Again, he places his hands on the top of the half wall and lifts his body on top of it. Then, he shimmies up the post and lifts himself onto the roof. He walks to the back of the garage again and stares at the back lawn below him. It no longer appears too high to him. Though, he is still wary. Then someone calls out his name.

“Lester.”

“Who’s that?”

“Me, Lester”

Our boy looks down the side of the building toward the cinder driveway and sees Ed Gibbs. Ed is looking up at him with a quizzical look.

Lester answers, “Hi Ed.”

“What, you doin’ ?”

“Playing superman.”

“No Lester, really?”

“I’m jumpin’ off the garage roof.”

“Don’t that hurt?” Ed asks.

“Didn’t,” Lester answers and continues. “Just halfta’ know how to fall.”

“I don’t know?” Ed says, then continues. “I’m bigger than you.”

“You’ll probably hit harder, too.”

“Probably,” Ed says, then asks. “Think I can get up on that wall?”

“I don’t know? Go try.”

Gibbs walks to the half wall, places his hands on the top of it and jumps up. His hands and arms strain against his weight until his arms buckle, and he lands back on the grass. “Cann’t do it!” Gibbs says and changes the subject. “Let’s go behind ‘Bohacks’.

“OK.”

XXX

’The Street Party’

It is Saturday, the third week in June. Lester and Ed walk down Green Lane and turn right onto Bilko Street, then, they will go to Bowhacks. However, as they Eissen Street, the next street in back of Green Lane, they can see much activity there. The boys quickly forget about going to Bowhacks and go to see what is happening.

All of the cars have been moved off of the street. Saw horses are blocking off almost three hundred feet of the road. Long tables, chairs, smaller tables, and other pieces of furniture are now in the street. Even Mr. Messina’s Spinet Piano is there, too. Women are placing bowls of food onto the tables as others leave their homes with more food. Small groups of men and women are idly talking among their selves. A few children are playing stickball beyond the saw horses at one end of the street. Lester and Ed approach the children and stop.

“What’s happenin’ ?” Lester asks.

“We’re havin’ a street party!” a boy blurts out.

“Can anyone go?” Ed asks.

The boy is quiet for a short while, then answers, “I suppose it’s just for the

people on our street.”

“Oh,” Lester says, a note of disappointment sounding in his voice.

“But, if you guys help us set up,” a voice interrupts. “We’ll let you have a plate of food.”

The boys turn around and see a woman looking at them. They become excited, and the pair eagerly nod their heads. Ed asks, “What can we do?”

“Why don’t you boys help me put the silverware on the tables?”

The woman hands the boys a metal bowl filled with plastic forks, spoons, and knives. She leads them to a nearby small table. On the table are piles of plastic dinner plates and glasses. She walks over to a long table, places the tray of silverware on it, takes a few plates from the small table, and carefully lays them out on a larger table. Then, she places a fork, a knife, and a spoon next to a plate. Finally a glass and a napkin are laid down, too. Then, she looks at the boys and speaks carefully. “, forks on the left and knives and spoons on the right.”

“Yes, Mam,” Lester says, and the boys start setting the tables.

The boys are anxious to help, and they quickly set the long folding tables. However, once in a while a piece of silverware is put on the wrong side of the plate. But, Lester or Ed catch the mistake, and the woman doesn’t notice, either.

In an hour, the boys are done, and they return to the woman.

“Mam, we’re done,” Ed says.

The woman looks at the tables, beams at the place settings, and says, “They look great boys. We can lay out the food now.”

Wives begin to place breads, cold cuts, butter, drinks, and other items of their meal on the tables. Soon, they are done, and a woman calls out to the group, “Come and get it!”

Quickly, the tables fill up. Lester and Ed have been given two places to sit at by the woman who had told them what to do. Lester reaches into his pocket, takes out his pocket watch, and looks at it.

“2:31 and supper aint ’til five.”

The boys eat their food with a gusto as other children look at them. A girl sees Lester, gets out of her seat, and goes to him.

“Lester, that you?”

“Emily!” he thinks and re the girl at school who wanted to play with him. Lester looks at her and speaks, “Hi, Emily.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Ed and me were setting up the tables.”

“Where you live?”

“Next street over,” Lester answers, “Green Lane.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that! Maybe some time you can come over and play with me?”

“Maybe?” Lester murmurs, then our boy sees Ed approaching him.

“Lester, they have ice cream too!’

“Really, we have some?”

“I guess,” Gibbs says.

The boys finish eating the food on their plates and go to a small card table a few yards away. Three one gallon containers are there. The boys go to one of them,

and Ed grabs a nearby ice cream scoop.

A line of people is forming behind them and Ed scoops out a ball of vanilla Ice cream and puts the ice cream on his plate. Then, Lester grabs the scoop and scoops more ice cream out and puts it on his plate, too. However, the boys notice a person behind him. The man speaks, “When you guys are done eating your ice cream, you want to scoop out ice cream to the others?”

“Sure,” Ed says.

The boys take their plates and bring them to a nearby table. However, they hear a commotion at one of the tables. “What’s that?” Ed says.

“Where?”

“Over there!” Lester says and points to a long table a few yards from them.

Two men are arguing. Their serious faces and loud voices are beginning to attract the attention of others at the surrounding tables. The group becomes quiet as they listen to the two men.

“Your son hit my car playing stickball!”

“So?”

“So, tell your kid not to play around my car!”

“John, why don’t you park in your driveway.”

“Look, Wally. I’ll park my car where ever I want.

“John, what’s the harm with parking your car in the driveway?”

“You keep out of this!”

“Why?” Burt Nilsson asks and continues. “If the kids want to play on the street, let ’em.”

“I agree,” Wally says. “Where else can they play?”

“Yeh, I guess you’re right,” John says and looks down the street. “What’s he doing here?”

“Who?” Burt asks.

“That cop!”

The men follow the end of John’s finger and see a black and white police car park by a saw horse in the street. A big man gets out of the cruiser and walks to the group. The parents and their children become quiet as they watch him approach. When the policeman stops by a parent, he asks the father a question. The father says something. Though, Burt cannot hear him. Then, the policeman walks away and begins to converse with others in the crowd. Finally, the cop approaches Lester and his father, then speaks.

“Nice street party you have here.”

“Thank you,” Burt says. “It’s a nice day for it.”

“I see you people have blocked off the road.”

“It seemed like the right thing to do,” Burt answers and continues. “Is everything alright?”

“Right as rain. Looks OK to me,” the cop says.

A mother walks over to the cop and says, “We have coffee and donuts. You want me to bring you something?”

“That would be great. Thank you,” the policeman says, then continues. “First, I better call the station first.”

The crowd watches the cop walk to his car and shortly, he returns and sits by Burt Nilsson. Lester clears his throat and speaks. “I know you.”

“You do?”

“You were at our house,” Lester says.

The policeman offers the boy a quizzical look, then he smiles and answers, “That was just a misunderstanding.”

“Well, that’s all over now and forgotten,” Mr. Nilsson says. However Rosalyn Nilsson darts a menacing look at the cop.

The policeman sees her expression and speaks. “Sorry if we went too far Mam’.”

The big man’s apology quickly placates the woman, and Rosalyn is quiet. Though, some of the other housewives offer perplexing looks at her. But, they remain quiet, too and continue eating their meals. In the distance, by one of the saw horses, Mr. Messina begins to play his Spinet Piano. Couples get up and go to him. Burt looks at his wife.

“You want to dance?”

“Sure, let’s go.”

The Nilssons leave the table and walk to Mr. Messina’s piano. In a few minutes Lester watches as his parents hold each other while his father leads his mother around the dance area. The small boy watches his parents and wonders what they are doing. Then, he feels a slight pressure on his shoulder, and the boy turns around. Staring at him is Emily.

“Lester, you dance with me?”

“Dance?”

“Yes Lester, with me.”

Our boy is confused and scared from the apprehension that he is feeling. Lester wants to run away. “But, where?” he ruminates, and the little girl reaches out and grabs his hand. She pulls him out of his chair and leads the small boy to the other couples.

Lester is terror stricken as Emily pulls him to the other couples. Some of the dancing parents are casting kind looks at the youngsters. However, our boy doesn’t notice. He can only feel the dread of impending abashment. Emily continues to lead our little boy to the other couples. Then, Lester looks around him.

Slowly, our boy begins to mimic the adults. His legs are also responding to her

movements. He begins to lamely shuffle. Though, now and then, he steps on her toes. But, Emily doesn’t notice. She finally has Lester and continues to lead him with the other couples. Finally, the piano stops playing. Lester quickly leaves Emily and goes back to his table.

Rosalyn Nilsson watches him sit down with a mother’s pride. Then, she speaks. “Who’s your girl friend?”

“Emily. She’s in my fifth grade class.”

“I didn’t know you could dance,” his mother says.

The boy becomes embarrassed and lapses into a strained silence.

However, his father notices his son’s behavior and thinks of the first time he had danced with a girl. Burt Nilsson changes the subject.

“Lester, could you get me another scoop of ice cream?”

“Yeh Dad!” Lester blurts out, grabs his father’s plate, and hurries to the ice cream table.

“Did I say something wrong?” Rosalyn asks.

“You embarrassed the hell out of him!”

“Why, about dancing?”

“Ros, Lester is sensitive about those things. He’d rather play tag or stickball.”

“Oh, I see, I’ll try to be more careful.

The afternoon gradually fades, and the sun continues to descend into the horizon. Though, the party is still going strong as late-comers the group. Some of the new neighbors even bring a contribution and add it to the depleted food on the tables. Men bring cases of beer, each containing twenty four bottles of ‘Black Label Beer’. In the distance, Mr. Messina is playing a Waltz on his piano. Some couples are dancing, too. Rosalyn Nilsson looks at her husband.

“Burt, how long will the party last?”

“Probably ’til Sunday morning,” Burt says, adding. “Someone’s put a beer on Messina’s piano. He’ll keep playing as long as there is beer.”

Rosalyn looks towards the piano and sees others standing around the instrument with beer bottles in their hands. Then, she looks at Burt and speaks, “You want to dance?”

“Sure,” he says, and the couple wanders over to the piano.

The night is clear, hot, and pleasant. Occasionally, a firefly glows in the dark as children run around the group collecting the insects and put them into glass jars. Rosalyn wanders to the beverage table and takes a beer bottle and uncaps it.

Lester is with Ed Gibbs and both boys are running about the area with glass jars. The tops of the jars have been stuffed into their pants pockets. Ruth Bosell is sitting at a table with her husband and sees the boys.

The woman is bored. Her husband is talking to another man, and their conversation about cars is not appealing to the woman at all However, she notices that one of the boys who are running around is Rosalyn Nilsson’s son, Lester. She gets out of her chair and walks to her neighbor and stops.

“Hi, Rosalyn.”

“Ruth, what’s up?”

“Not much. But, I think that I should tell you something,” Bosell says.

“What is that?”

“Your son is running around with a glass jar in his hand!”

The mother looks around her and sees Lester and another boy collecting fireflies. The glass bottle that he is holding has a pulsating glow to it. Rosalyn gets out of her chair and goes to him.

“Lester, what are you doing?”

“Me and Ed are collecting fireflies.”

“Ed and I.”

“Ed and I are correcting fireflies.”

“In glass jars?”

“Yeh.”

“Lester, what happens if you fall and drop one on the street?”

“Mom, it breaks?”

“Yes, it will. Leave the jar here, go into our house, and get a small plastic container from under the stairs,” the woman orders, and her son crosses the street and disappears into their house.

Phyllis Goldman has seen Lester and his mother talking. But, the woman wonders, “What about?” She walks over to Rosalyn and stops.

“Where’s Lester going?”

“To my house to get another jar.”

“Oh?”

The woman’s sly manner is subtle. However, Rosalyn is suspicious of her when she speaks, “Oh, what?”

“Nothing bad. I was just curious why he left the party.”

“Well, I just wanted Lester to get a plastic jar instead of running around with a glass one.”

“Rosalyn, that makes sense,” Goldman says, then drawls. “That’s exactly what I would have done

“Then it meets with your August approval!” Mrs. Nilsson says.

“What? What’s that suppose to mean?”

Rosalyn takes another drink from her beer bottle and answers, “Means you ask too many questions!”

“I just wanted to know… .”

“You just want to know too much!” she interrupts loudly.

The sudden outburst suddenly quiets everyone, and a strained hush settles over the crowd as they stare at the two women. Rosalyn has kept her feelings about Goldman to herself for years. However, sometimes she will vent her frustrations at Burt, but, to no one else. Though now, her pent up emotions are cresting and too much beer is causing her to abandon her self control as she continues speaking to Phyllis Goldman.

“Phyllis, why don’t you mind your own business!”

“Well, I nev… .!”

“You never mind your own damn business!” Rosalyn interrupts.

The altercation between the two women is causing a large crowd to gather around them. Even their husbands, Burt Nilsson and Larry Goldman are there as they move closer to their wives to listen to what they are arguing about.

“Don’t interrupt me. I was speaking!” Goldman says loudly.

“Yes, and for once, your talking to someone face to face.”

“What?” Goldman asks. “What’s that suppose to mean?”

“Means that you are a mouthy gossip who talks about people behind their backs!”

“I’m not taking that!” Phyllis Goldman says, takes a step forward, and pushes Rosalyn.

Roselyn pushes the other woman back. Then, Goldman grabs her hair and pulls it.

The pain triggers a latent primeval response in the woman and Rosalyn’s tightly clenched fist arcs up and buries itself into Godlman’s stomach. The others watch as the big woman grabs her midsection and sinks to her knees. Alarmed and concerned for his wife, Larry Goldman rushes to her. “Phyllis, you alright?”

“That woman hit me!” Phyllis gasps.

Burt is approaching the crowd holding a beer bottle. However, he had been

someplace else and was not aware of the altercation between the two women. He approaches a neighbor on the edge of the crowd and speaks.

“What’s going on?”

“Your wife hit Phyllis Goldman,” the man says.

“Good!” Burt thinks, then speaks. “Why would Rosalyn do that?”

“Phyllis pushed her,” the neighbor says.

Burt begins to force his way through the crowd until he can see his wife standing over Phyllis Goldman. Her husband, Larry is kneeling over his wife. Mr. Nilsson hurries to Rosalyn and stops. “What happened?”

“That woman pushed me!”

“Why?”

“I told her that she is a nosy gossip!”

Burt lips widen into a smile when he asks, “Well, isn’t she?”

Larry Goldman hears Burt’s words, looks up, and stares at Nilsson, then says, “No, she is not!”

“Oh stop it, Larry! Your wife is a damn gossip, and she got what she deserved!”

“Oh, she did, huh,” Mr. Goldman says, stands up, and approaches Burt. “You want to repeat that?”

“What are you deaf? Your wife ‘is’ a nosy gossip!” Burt bellows.

A fist is launched at Burt Nilsson. However, the tightly clenched mass of flesh and bone goes over his head when Burt ducks his head. Burt kicks the man in the shin, then pushes him to the ground.

A friend of Larry’s helps the man to his feet. But another objects, “Leave him alone.”

“I will not! He’s my friend, and what are you going to do about it?”

The other man punches him in the face. His nose begins bleeding. Another man punches Larry’s friend, and the pair begins fighting.

In a matter of a few minutes the crowd erupts into a brawl. Men are fighting

men, wives are fighting other wives, even the policeman is wrestling with two other men.

However, at the desert table, Lester Nilsson and Ed Gibbs continue to scoop out ice cream and put it on their friend’s plates. Many of the children are sitting at a long table watching their parents and the policeman fight.

“Lester, where is your mother now?”

“She’s on that cop’s back pulling his hair. Where’s your mother?”

“She’s sitting on the curb holding her eye.”

“Hey, look at my father!” Jeff Munroe busts out.

The man is wrestling with another father on the grass by the curb. Mr. Munroe has his opponent in a headlock. The other man is yelling curses at him as he tries to punch him with a free hand.

Jeff, you think your Dad’ll win?” Lester asks.

“Don’t know, But, look at that cop!”

The boys stare at the big man crawling on his hands and knees to the curb. His shirt is pulled out and the seat of his pants is ripped. A large area of white is showing. Jeff looks at Lester. “Let’s help the cop!”

The two boys walk over to the policeman as he turns over and sits on the curb. The cop offers them a weary look.

“Mister, you OK?” Jeff asks.

“Yeh, I’m alright.”

“You want a beer or ice cream?” Lester asks.

“Scoop of strawberry ice cream would be great!”

Lester turns and walks to the ice cream table. When the boy approaches the table, a mother is already there. She has the scoop deep inside the container and takes out a ball of ice cream and puts it on a small plate. Then, she leaves. Lester grabs the container and notices that it is almost empty. He takes the one gallon container and a long plastic spoon and goes back to the cop.

“Here, Mister.”

The cop takes the gallon container and the spoon and begins to eat the remaining ice cream in the container. Around him the fighting has almost ended. However,

two women at another table are arguing loudly. The others are sitting as they rest. Some are finishing their meals, others have uncapped another bottle of beer, and are talking quietly among their selves. A man from another table approaches the cop and stops.

“You gonna’ arrest anyone?”

“Well, if they press charges,” the cop answers.

“And if they don’t?”

“No.”

“Officer, you’re alright,” the man says.

XXXI

’THE OLYMPICS’

It is now near the end of June, and the temperature is getting hotter, the wires are singing, and Lester is looking forward to the Summer. But, the boy must still contend with two more weeks of school. Final exams, last minute projects, and unforeseen dilemmas that can surface add to the mirage that our boy foresees as reality.

However, grade school has been a cloistered safe haven for our boy that has been preparing the youth in very small ways for future events. They will be added to his experiences that are his foundation for the future. But, Lester rolls out of his bed, stands, and stretches his young muscles. For he will now be confronted with another new day as he winds up his days in the fifth grade. He walks out of his room and goes into the bathroom.

* * *

Today is the ‘Olympics’. It is a small respite before summer vacation. A short time to relax and forget the final tests that all of the students have been preparing for.

Students will be competing in track events: the fifty-yard dash, the hundred-yard dash, high jumping, long jumping, baseball, football, throwing the javelin. Everyone is excited to compete in these long awaited games

Lester is dressed in a clean white T-shirt, a pair of short pants, and a pair of worn US Keds sneakers. Other boys are dressed in the same type of clothes. The girls are dressed pretty much the same way, too. Though, some are wearing dresses. Even, Mrs. Crowell and the teachers are dressed in shorts, T-shirts, and sneakers.

However, some students have retained their usual apparel and have not bothered to dress according to the fashion of the day. Robby Wilkes and his friends are standing out like sore thumbs as they loiter in the sidelines. Though they appear to be nonchalant in their behavior, Robby Wilkes and his friends secretly harbor a strong resentment for not being included in the competitive games. However, their noncompliance is no fault of their teachers or of the principal. The boys simply chose to be elsewhere’s when the other students had signed up for the events. Even Mr. Rosenblurg, Robby’s fifth grade teacher didn’t notice. The man thought Robby had signed up in the principal’s office as the other students had. So now, Wilkes and two of his friends, Tom Shanks and Jack Withers are wandering around the school building, the playgrounds, and the large ball fields unsupervised. The boys are now walking to the school’s cafeteria.

“Robby, you think we’ll get caught?” Withers asks.

“No, just be careful.”

“There’s the cafeteria,” Shanks says.

“OK,” Wilkes says. “Look for the freezer.

The boys approach a large glassed-in display case. It’s shelves are empty. However, the small area behind the display case has a large top loading freezer with a cheap padlock locked to it. Robby Wilkes looks at the appliance and speaks.

“I bet I know what’s in there.”

“What?” Shanks asks.

“Ice cream.”

“Really!” Withers exclaims.

“Let’s open it up and see,” Shanks orders, pauses briefly, then continues speaking.

“Any ideas?”

“Pick the lock?” Withers asks.

“Withers, how the hell do ya’ do that?” Wilkes demands.

“I don’t know. Seen it done on TV, though.”

“I got an idea!” Tom Shanks says and continues. “Why not take a big bar and twist the lock off?”

“With what?”

The boys look at Robby, their quizzical expressions believing their bewilderment until Shanks sees a rough, hardened bar with a wood handle used for sharpening knives on a nearby counter. He picks it up and puts it into the curved section of the lock and tries to pry the lock open. But, the lock continues to hold. Willkes grabs part of the bar, too and pulls. The lock still will not open. Withers approaches the pair and also pulls. The lock breaks and Wilkes speaks.

“We got it! Hurry, take the lock off!”

Shanks removes the lock, lifts open the door, and looks inside.

“Look, we hit the jackpot! Vanilla ice cream sandwiches!”

“Quick, let’s grab some and get out of here!” Wilkes orders, and the boys grab a handful of ice cream sandwiches and rush out of the cafeteria.

Outside the cafeteria, the boys go into a nearby classroom and sit down at the wood desks. The boys tear the wrappers off some of the ice cream sandwiches and begin to eat them with a gusto.

* * *

Lester has both of his hands on the grass. His feet are firmly pushing against the ground as his head arches back while he waits for Mrs. Crowell to begin the race. Eight other boys are waiting, too. One boy begins to creep in front of the others. A few other boys do the same.

“Boys, get back in line!” the principal orders.

The boys move back.

Then, there is the loud crack of the starting gun. The boys sprint away. However, Lester trips on a loose shoelace and falls on the grass. He quickly gets up and sprints after the others. In a few seconds, the race is over. Lester has finished last in the fifty yard dash. Our boy sits down on the grass and reties his shoelace as Mr. Rosenblurg walks over to him and stops.

“Loose shoelace, Lester?”

“Yes sir.”

“Next time, you’ll do better.”

The boy looks up at his teacher and mutters, “Thank you.”

Another crack of the starter’s gun is heard, and Lester sees a group of girls racing the fifty yards dash, too. “No one has tripped on a loose shoelace,” he thinks. In the distance, Lester hears a man speak into a loudspeaker. “The boy’s long jump is about to begin.”

Lester walks to another part of the school’s athletic field. In front of him are two long lines forming; a girl’s line, a boy’s line. Lester takes his place at the end of the boy’s line. Will Thomas is in front of him.

“Lester, what happened?”

“Tripped on my shoelace.”

Another boy is also standing on the line, hears the two boys talking, and he interrupts them. “Lester tripped on his shoelace!” he slowly chides. Other boys in until a teacher walks over to them.

“Be quiet!” she says, and the other students quickly settle down. However, some students cast Lester condescending looks at him. Nearby, a woman speaks, “Boys, get ready for the ‘Long-Jump’”

A boy crouches down and tenses as he waits. Then, he sprints towards a line, jumps, and lands on the ground.

“Eight feet, two inches!” a teacher bellows.

Lester quietly waits his turn. He is nervous and repeatedly, he looks at his shoelaces. He moves forward again. Another student sprints away, jumps, and lands on the ground.

“Seven feet, three inches”

Lester creeps forward again and continues to wait as another boy jumps.

“Eight feet, two inches.”

It is now Lester’s turn. Our boy crouches at the starting line, puts his weight on his hands, sprints away, and jumps.

“Six feet, nine inches.”

Lester walks back to the line for another try. However, in the distance by the school, he sees teachers running into the building. Lester forgets the long jump and hurries over to the school, too. Another teacher sees him coming and waits for the boy to approach him.

“Mister, what’s going on?”

“Why aren’t you at the Olympics?” the man snaps back.

“Was wonderin’ what’s goin’ on here.”

“Well, you forget about that and go back to the games,” the man orders.

The principal is standing nearby and sees Lester. She calls out his name. “Lester!”

Yes, Mrs. Crowell.”

“Did you see any students here?”

“No, why?” Lester asks.

“Someone broke into the ice cream freezer.”

“Really!” Lester muses. “I wonder if it was Wilkes?” At last Lester speaks, “Did you check if it was Robby Wilkes?”

“Robby Wilkes?” the principal wonders and then, she speaks, “You go back to the games, now.” Lester walks back to the Long-Jump. However, Mrs. Crowell looks for Robby Wilkes.

Tom Shanks watches Lester hurry to the Long-Jump. “Nilsson had been talking to the principal. Why,” he wonders and sees Lester take his place in the line at the Long-Jump. Shanks walks there, too, and stands behind Lester.

“Lester?”

“What?” Nilsson answers, turns around, then sees Robby Wilkes’s friend. Lester’s voice is guarded when he reluctantly answers again, “What?”

“Why you talkin’ to Crowell?”

“What business is that of your’s?” Lester snaps back.

“I’m makin’ it my business!”

Lester hears Shanks’ reply, and the words sound like a threat. However, our boy does not want to pursue the conversation with him any further. Nilsson tries to walk away. But, Shanks hurries in front of him and blocks his way, then speaks, “What were you talking to Crowell about?”

“Nothin’,” Lester says and tries to walk away again.

Then, Tom Shanks grabs Lester by the arm and throws a punch at him. But, our

boy lifts his arm and blocks it. Suddenly, he kicks Shanks in the shin, and Lester wrestles him to the ground. The boys begin punching and maneuvering each other into a headlock. However, Lester feels himself being lifted off of Shanks. The fight is over.

“What’s going on here?” a man asks.

The boys are quiet, neither wanting to ‘rat’ on the other as they stare at one of the six grade teachers. He is a big man; a towering giant, an austere, threatening presence.

“Well?”

The youngsters remain quiet as each waits for the other to speak. Then, another voice is heard. “What’s going on here?

“Mrs. Crowell, I caught these two fighting!”

The woman stares at the two youths, her pale, cold eyes boring into them like a tempered drill. Shanks wants to run away. But, Lester is in the way. However, our boy is too frightened to do anything, and he lamely stands before her. The woman points a bony finger at the boys.

“I want to see you two in my office, right now!”

The boys leave the athletic field and go into the Elementary school. The sixth grade teacher is following them. On the way, Lester lamely sneaks a look at Shanks and wonders, “Why couldn’t he’ve’ left me alone?” Shanks returns his look with a defiant look of his own as he thinks, “He ratted on me!” In a few minutes they are in the principle’s office sitting on two chairs facing her desk. The sixth grade teacher is behind the boys waiting, too. In a few minutes, Mrs. Crowell walks into her office, closes the door, and speaks.

“Mr. Rosen, why were these two fighting?”

“I don’t know.”

“I see,” she says and is quiet for a short time, then continues. “You can leave now, Mr. Rosen and go back to the games. Shut the door behind you, please.”

The fifth graders are alone with Mrs. Crowell as the woman stares at the boys. Shanks shifts uneasily in his chair and looks down at the floor. Lester is quiet, too and looks out of the office window. Neither boy wants to meet her intense stare. Though, the austere woman looks back at the boys as her eyes silently scrutinize them. Lester begins to daydream and wonders, “Mrs. Prentergast?” At last, the woman speaks,

“Look at me! . . . . Why were you two fighting?”

However, the boys remain quiet.

“Well?”

The fifth graders continue their silence.

Mrs. Crowell slides her chair away from her desk and pulls out a drawer. Slowly, she removes a hickory paddle and places it on her desk. Then, she speaks again, “I want answers!”

“He wouldn’t answer my question.”

“Lester?”

“Yes Mrs. Prenterga… ., er Mrs. Crowell, he answers, then continues. “It wasn’t any of his business.”

“Mrs. Prentergast! Me?” the woman wonders and continues her silence. But, she wants to pursue the boy’s fears of this mythical child’s ogre. She opens another desk drawer and removes her lunch box and places it on her desk. Then, she slowly opens it. The boys stare ar her with quizzical expressions. Then, she takes out two shiny objects and places them on her desk.

“A knife and fork!” Lester ruminates.

Shanks stares at the utensils, aghast at their meaning, “She’s gonna’ eat us!” His voice is strained when he mumbles, “He wouldn’t answer my question!”

“What was that?”

“What you was talkin’ to Lester about.”

“Better, he doesn’t know,” she thinks, then says. “I just wanted to know how he was doing in the games.”

“Oh,” Shanks mumbles and Lester breathes out a sigh of relief.

XXXII

’THE RUSTY’

The Gardeners Avenue School Olympics are over and so are final exams. June is also over and next year Lester Nilsson will be a sixth grader. “I will be an upper classman,” he muses. Lester has ed all of his final exams, and now he can look forward to Summer vacation. But, today, he must help his father caulk his uncle’s boat, ‘The Rusty’.

“That’s an odd name,” Lester muses. “How did Uncle Austin think of that?” Our boy finishes his oatmeal and goes outside. The trunk of the car is open, and Lester sees his father coming from the garage with more tools. Soon, Mr. Nilsson closes the trunk, then they get into the car, and drive to the boatyard.

The Nilsson’s Chevy moves South on Wantagh Avenue, then East through another section of Levittown. Our boy looks out of the enger window and sees a long procession of Levitt homes going past him until they go beyond the village limits onto another large road. Lester sits quietly, though he begins to wonder what his friends are doing. In the distance, he can see a small canal leading to the ‘Great South Bay’. Near the entrance to the waterway is a large fenced in area where hundreds of boats are being stored. The Chevy stops at a gate, and Burt Nilsson and his son leave the car and carry their tools into the boat storage yard.

Once inside the gate, Lester sees hundreds of boats, mostly motor boats of varying sizes, from small runabouts to large cabin cruisers. A few large sailboats are resting on wood s, too. A short distance away, they approach a small

cabin cruiser.

The boat has nearly all of it’s paint scrapped off the hull. Between the planks small lengths of fibrous caulking have been twisted and forced between the planking. Lester’s father carries his toolbox and puts it next to the ‘Rusty’ while Lester begins to untie the ropes holding a thick canvas onto the hull, and the boy peels the fabric away until a large area of the hull is exposed.

Lester’s father removes from his toolbox a large caulking chisel, a wood mallet, and a roll of caulking. Soon the man is twisting the caulking and pushing the fibrous material between the planks in the hull. When he has filled about five feet of the planking, Burt Nilsson works the caulking chisel and the hammer and forces the caulking tightly between the planking.

While the father works, Lester continues to scrape off more old paint. In other areas of the yard, others are scraping and caulking their boats, too. Sounds of hammering, men talking, and scrapping are also heard. However, a man carrying a large roll of caulking walks up to Burt Nilsson and stops. The father stops working and gives the man a quizzical look.

“Burt, I’m all done caulking my boat. Could you use another roll of caulking?”

“Sure I can. Thanks!” Nilsson answers and takes the caulking. Then, the man speaks again.

“A bunch of us are getting together and having lunch and a few beers after work this morning. You guys are more than welcome to us and have a few.”

“That’s great!” Burt says, then continues. “Think that cop will be there?”

“He might,” the man says. “So?”

“Be interesting to see what he does when he sees my son there.”

* * *

Burt Nilsson and his son enter the small restaurant and bar. Then, Burt sees a group of men sitting at the counter, and he leads Lester to two empty stools by the men. In front of one of the stools is a tiny beer glass with a dark liquid in it. The bartender pushes the tiny beer glass in front of Lester. Burt gives the man a perplexing look. “What’s this?”

“That’s for Lester!” the bartender says as the other patrons offer each other knowing looks.

“Looks like Beer!” Burt bellows.

“Lester go taste it,” a patron orders.

Our boy raises the glass to his lips and drinks sparingly from it. Then, he speaks, “Root beer!”

“Let’s have some fun with that cop. He should be coming in soon,” another patron says.

The men lapse into casual conversations that focus mainly on their boats. Lester’s small beer glass seems to be forgotten as the men talk. The bartender looks at Lester. “You and Burt working on your uncle’s boat?”

“Yes sir. I’m scrapin’ and Dad’s caulkin’”

“Hey Burt,” a man says. “I take it, your uncle’s boat is wood planked?”

“Yeh, it’s a real pain. I wish it was fiberglass.”

“Mine’s wood. But, I hear they’re fiber glassing wood boats now,” another patron says.

“Burt, you mind if I watch you caulk you uncle’s boat?” one asks.

“No, come around any… .,” Burt says and suddenly stops talking and looks towards the front door.

Walking into the restaurant is the huge sheriff’s deputy. The man lumbers to the counter and sits next to Lester. Unconsciously, Lester takes another drink of root

beer. The cop sees the small beer glass and speaks.

“Burt, what’s your kid drinking?”

“Beer.”

“Damn it, he’s a minor!” The cop bellows. “You want me to arrest you?”

Burt wants to laugh, but he remains quiet. However, someone at the far end of the counter begins teasing the man. Others do, too until everyone is enjoying the humor. But, the cop is confused. He takes the boy’s glass and tastes the liquid in it. “Rootbeer!” the cop bellows. “Your all under arrest!”

Lester begins to laugh, too and finishes his root beer. The cop takes Lester’s small beer glass, holds it up to the bartender, and speaks. “Another beer for the kid!”

XXXIII

’The Almost Harley’

Today is Wednesday, the first week of Lester’s summer vacation. The day is also ‘Garbage Day’, and steel garbage cans have been placed by the curb in front of the Levitt houses. Larger unwanted items too big to fit into the containers are next to the cans.

Lester reaches into his pants pocket and feels a few metal coins. He takes them out and sees that he has eight cents. “Think I’ll go to Bowhacks for some penny candy,” he muses, and the boy walks down Green Lane to the small restaurant and candy store next to ‘Bowhacks’. However, a fearful thought suddenly strikes him. “Hope I don’t meet Robby Wilkes and his gang!”

The morning is becoming hot as the sun continues its assent into the sky. Lester begins to hurry, and he starts running. Then, he feels one of his sneakers beginning to slip off his foot. He stops and looks at the canvas footwear. “Gosh, my shoelace come undone,” our boy thinks. Lester kneels down and reties the knot. Then, he stands and looks up. However, his gaze lingers on an old bicycle frame that has been placed by a garbage can for this week’s garbage pickup. Lester forgets about getting candy at Bowhacks, and the boy goes to the discarded metal frame.

The wheels, fenders, and chain have been removed. But, there are a seat and a shiny handlebar with the rubber grips still on it. Even the foot mechanism and the pedals are there. Lester is pleased with what he sees. “All I need is a motor and some wheels, and I can make a scooter!” he thinks. Lester picks up the

frame and carries it home.

Our boy is becoming tired and hot, too. The sun is higher, the morning is becoming hotter, and our boy is now sweating. “But, I’m gonna have a scooter!” he thinks and sees his home further down the street.

At last, Lester carries the bicycle frame up his parent’s driveway, goes to the back entrance to the garage, and carries the frame inside. Lester looks around the garage and searches for a place to hide the frame.

By the back door is his father’s ‘Atlas’ metal lathe. Lester puts the frame behind it. Then, our boy goes to the small coffee shop by Bohacks.

When Lester walks out of the garage, he feels the oppressive heat of the morning sun. He considers going to the pool. However, Lester feels the change in his pocket, and the boy decides to go Bowhacks, instead. He walks down Green Lane.

Lester approaches Bilko Street and begins to turn onto it. However, Lester looks in the direction of the Gardeners Avenue school Annex and re the old farmhouse that is a short distance from there. Lester forgets about Bowhacks again and continues to the end of Green Lane.

Lester turns right onto Wanaugh Avenue and continues to the Presbyterian Church. A short distance away from it is an old abandoned farm house. Our boy walks across a large dirt parking lot behind the church. At the far end of the parking area are small outbuildings behind the farm house. Lester goes to one of them.

It is only a shed. However, there are a few ancient old relics from an abandoned working vegetable farm. Wood handle shovels, rakes, hoes, and many other tools are there. Lester slowly stares at the items until his eyes linger on an ancient walk-behind garden tractor. On top of it is an old gasoline engine. Lester approaches it, kneels down, and looks at a small aluminum tag attached to the engine. “NPR6,” it reads.

Then, Lester looks at the faded name printed on it’s sheet metal cover, “BRIGGS and STRATTON.” “I haf-ta’ have that engine!” he thinks. Lester leaves the shed and hurries home to get his red wagon and a few of his father’s tools.

Our boy is on Green Lane again walking back to the old farm house. Behind him is his little red wagon. Inside the wagon are the tools that he thinks that he will need to take the engine off of the garden tractor. In front of him is Wantaugh Avenue. He can see the steeple of the Prespyterian Church. However, he sees that he is ing a line of houses. One dwelling has open grassy areas around it. “No hedges!” he thinks. Lester also sees the dirt parking lot behind the church. Suddenly, he crosses a front lawn, goes past the side of the house, and pulls the red wagon across a back lawn until he is standing in the church’s parking lot. Lester takes a deep breath and pulls the red wagon to the open shed. “The garden tractor with the ‘Briggs and Stratton’ engine is still there!”

Lester pulls the wagon into the shed, then pushes it close to the garden tractor. Lester takes an adjustable wrench and removes four small bolts holding the engine, then removes a Bowden Cable. The engine is free, and our boy carefully puts it into his wagon and goes home with it.

* * *

Rosalyn Nilsson goes to the curb, grabs the Garbage can, and drags it back to the side of the garage. When finished, she looks at the large metal container and has the same recurring thought, “Why can’t Burt do this?” Then, she walks to the overhead door to see if it is locked. However, when she pulls the door up, it rises easily. “Damn! I forgot to lock it.” Then, she raises the door all the way, casually looks into the garage, and sees something different by the lathe. “What’s that!” the wife thinks and lowers the door. Rosalyn goes back into her home.

* * *

It is late Wednesday afternoon, and the Nilsson family is at the dinner table. The smells from spaghetti sauce, pasta, and meatballs fill the kitchen as Lester and his father quietly sit at the table and wait to be served. Rosalyn begins to bring plates of hot food to the table.

At first, the Nilssons begin to eat the meal with the anticipated gusto that hungry people often have. However, as they eat, a casual conversation ensues regarding common topics until their discussion fades. Then Mrs. Nilsson clears her throat and changes the subject.

“Burt, what’s under your lathe?”

The question confuses the man, and Burt stares at his wife in bewilderment, then answers, “What do you mean?”

“I was in the garage today and saw an old rusty thing and a bicycle frame. I just wondered what the stuff is for, that’s all.”

“Ros, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” the man says. Then, Burt looks at his son. “Lester, you know what your mother is talking about?”

“Yeh, Dad.”

“So?”

“I want ta’ build a scooter.”

“You do?” the father asks.

“Yeh, Dad. But, . . . .?” the boy begins, then his voice fades away.

The son’s reply sounds like a plea to the father. However, the boy’s words reveal an interesting project for them, too. Burt’s face widens into a broad grin when he speaks, “Lester, I think that we got ourselves a project!”

* * *

In the next two weeks after supper, Lester and his father convert the discarded bicycle frame into a small scooter. Surprisingly, the project was not as hard as it first appeared. Most of the needed parts and materials were acquired from a twenty gallon pail that Burt uses to hold discarded metal and unwanted parts that

he had been acquiring for years. Though, there was a problem with the wheels.

The pair had searched for suitable wheels in the local hardware and automotive stores. But, the wheels that these businesses provided them were too expensive, and they could not afford them on their shoestring budget. However, the problem was finally solved by their uncle, when Austin discovered two wheelbarrow wheels in his garage.

The project eventually began to resemble a scooter. However, there was just one last problem—the engine. “Will the old ‘Briggs and Stratton’ engine work?” they wondered.

For the next week they disassembled the old engine, cleaned and painted the parts, and finally reassembled it. Then, a galvanized nipple is screwed into the exhaust port on the block. Next, they bolted the Briggs and Stratton engine to the frame and built a simple foot operated pully system that acted as the scooter’s clutch and transmission. At last the Bowden cable is attached to a lever they had put on the bicycle handle and everything is ready. Then, Lester fills up the gas tank and pushes the scooter into the driveway.

A knotted rope with a wood handle is wrapped around the pulley on the flywheel and pulled. But, nothing happens. “The choke?” Burt re and flips a lever on the carburetor. Lester wraps the rope around the pulley once more, and the boy pulls the wood handle again. The engine begins to sputter and gasp into life. A cloud of blue-brown oily smoke forms around the scooter. However, the engine remains running. Burt looks at his son and speaks, “Lester, take it for a ride.”

Our boy sits on the seat, pulls up the kickstand, pushes down on the clutch pedal, and the scooter begins to move out of the driveway. Lester turns onto Green

Lane and goes to the end of the street. A thick plume of oily smoke follows him as he increases speed.

In the next half hour Lester goes around the block. However the local dogs begin to bark at the scooter’s loud racket as the animals become nervous. Mrs. Bosell’s poodle urinates on her kitchen floor. One neighbor opens his front door and thrusts an offending finger up at Lester. Then, a telephone rings in the Nilsson house.

“Hello, who is this?”

“Rosalyn, is that your son on that loud thing?”

“Yes, Phyllis.”

“Well, can’t he put a muffler on it! Its too damn loud!”

“Yes, Phyllis, I’ll see that they put on a muffler.” Rosalyn answers.

“Good!” the neighbor yells, and she hangs up the phone.

Rosalyn hangs up her the phone, too and storms out of the front door. Burt is standing in the driveway looking down their street. Then, he hears the front door slam behind him. The man looks behind him.

“Burt!”

“What?”

“Phyllis called. I guess Lester’s scooter is making too much noise.”

“I see. When Lester comes back, we’ll put a car muffler on it. I had found one on the side of the road a few months ago and brought it home. It looks almost new”

“Good,” his wife says and hears Lester coming back to their house.

Burt has raised the garage door and disappeared into the building. In a few minutes, Lester is back, and he drives his scooter up the driveway and into the garage. His father is waiting for the boy. A car muffler has been put on his workbench. When the scooter’s engine has been turned off, Burt carries the muffler over to the scooter. Lester offers the man a quizzical look. The big object appears to be a large shiny tin can to the boy.

“Dad, what’s that?”

“I hope, your scooter’s new muffler,” the father replies, then continues. “Let’s see how it fits.”

For the rest of the morning, Lester and his father measure, cut, and bolt the muffler onto Lester’s scooter. When they are finally done, Lester stands a few feet from the scooter and looks at their work.

Extending from the ‘Briggs and Stratton’ engine is a long car muffler. It appears to give the scooter the appearance of having a fat shiny tail. However, Lester is beginning to feel a strong pride for his homemade motor scooter. He even wants to give it a name, “My ‘ALMOST HARLEY’.” Our boy gives his father a pleading look.

“Dad?”

“What, Lester?”

“Can I take it for a spin?”

“Sure! Be interesting to see how it sounds and what the neighbors will say?”

Lester wraps the starting rope around the pully, chokes the carburetor, and pulls. The engine begins to run, though it is barely audible. Lester is elated, and he gets back on the scooter, moves up the kickstand, and drives the scooter back into the street.

In the distance is Mrs. Goldman walking her poodle. Lester drives past her and waves his hand. She waves back to him, satisfied that she has got her way. However, Lester has a strong urge to shake his fist at her or giver her the

‘FINGER.’ But, Lester just drives away from her.

Our boy is pleased with himself. The neighbors do not seem to notice him. And when they do, most wave at him now. He turns onto Bilko Street, goes around the block and returns home. But, a Nassau County police car is seen in his parent’s driveway. Lester drives his scooter onto the driveway, inside the garage, then stops and turns off the engine. However, he hears the front door to his parent’s house open.

“Lester, come over here,” his mother orders.

Lester looks up and sees the same big policeman as before, then his parents. Lester puts down the kickstand, gets off the scooter, and walks to his parents and the policeman. The policeman speaks first.

“Nice bike you got there.”

“Thank you, sir.”

The policeman walks past Lester into the garage and stops by the scooter as Lester’s parents follow him. The big man kneels down and stares at the muffler. Then he speaks, “You guys created quite a stir around the neighborhood.”

“I know,” Lester says.

“That’s why we put that car muffler on,” Mr. Nilsson explains.

“I see,” the policeman says, then continues. “You know your son needs a license for this.”

“He does?” The father asks, feigning ignorance.

“Yes, he does. It’s a motor vehicle.”

The cop is right, and Lester’s father knows it. But the policeman sees the disappointment in the small boy’s eyes. The cop looks at the father. “Where did you buy this?”

“Buy it?” Burt asks. “Lester and I made it from odds and ends we had around the shop.”

“Oh, most parents wouldn’t do that.”

“I thought it was a neat project for us to do. And, it taught Lester a lot about tools.”

“Wish my father had done that!” the policeman thinks, then speaks. “I’ll tell you what. Just put the scooter away for a week or so, then take it out for a spin. Hopefully, your neighbors will forget about it and leave you alone.”

“Thank you officer,” Burt says and looks at Lester. “You think you can leave your scooter alone for a week?”

“Yes dad.”

“Oh, Mr. Nilsson?”

“Yes officer?”

“We never had this conversation, right?”

“Right as rain,” Mr. Nilsson says.

“Oh before I forget it. Your son’s motor scooter is a motor vehicle, right?”

“Rrrrright,” Burt stutters.

“Is it ed?”

“Nnnno.”

“Does your son have a driver’s license?”

“Nnnnno.”

“And you’re his father, and you are responsible for everything that he does?”

“Yyyyyes.”

“Then Mr. Nilsson, you figure out what to do now. If I’m called here again, you’ll probably have to go to court.” the cop says, and the big man walks back to his car.

XXXIV

’THE DENT’

Rosalyn Nilsson has finally ed her driver’s test and received a license. It was an achievement for the woman and for her husband, too. Her quiet ways and lack of any understanding of the function and operation of a motor vehicle had frustrated Burt Nilsson. Even the simplest of things confused her, like going down the right side of the road. And ‘Parallel Parking’ had been a monumental hurdle for both of them. At one point, Burt became so upset and frustrated that he had fled the car in despair and walked back home. Rosalyn and the Chevy had followed him as she negotiated a serpentine route back to their home. Now, the neighbors park their cars in their driveways rather than risk their vehicles being damaged by Rosalyn Nilsson. But now, she is getting use to the vehicle and often takes the car on shopping trips. However, Burt still has sleepless nights as he thinks of his wife’s driving.

Also, Lester has his reservations, too regarding his mother’s driving. Today, however, he must go to the dentist. Rosalyn looks upon her son’s visit as another opportunity to drive the family’s automobile and to improve her driving. Though, Lester would prefer to walk.

“Lester?”

“What, Mom?”

“Get into the car. Your going to the dentist.”

“Do I haf’ to? I can walk!””

“Yes you do! Now, get ready;” she says and walks outside.

Lester gets off the couch, turns off the TV, and walks outside. His mother has already gone to the car, and she is quietly waiting for her son. Soon, Lester comes outside, too and gets into the Chevy. The engine is started, the clutch lever is pushed down, and the column shift moves into reverse gear. Then, the clutch is let out, and the engine stalls. Again the process is repeated until the car backs out of the driveway onto Green Lane, and the Chevy goes towards Wantagh Avenue.

Lester is sitting quietly next to his mother. But, the boy would rather walk to Dr. Arnold’s office. Instead, he is compelled to watch his mother drive the car.

Lester becomes transfixed on every vehicle she es and every pedestrian that they go by. Curbs, street corners, and stop signs are having a new meaning to the boy as his mother nearly misses them all. At last, their car jumps the curb and stops in front of the dentist’s building. Lester rushes out of the vehicle and hurries to the man’s office that is in the same style Levitt house that he lives in.

Inside the building, the boy sees a nearly bare reception area. Three chairs and a small table with a few magazines lying on it are all that’s in the small room. Inside a nearby room, the dentist’s drill is heard as it slowly grinds into a patient’s tooth. Lester winces at the sound. “And, I’m next,” the boy agonizes. Lester sits in a nearby chair and waits as his mother talks to the receptionist. In a

few minutes, a middle aged man walks out of the dentist’s room and approaches the receptionist.

“How much for the visit?” he asks as he takes out his wallet.

“Five dollars.”

“Here,” the man says, and he walks away.

Our boy continues to wait until Dr. Arnold walks out of his small room and calls out the boys name. “Lester!”

“OK,” our boy says, and he enters the dentist’s room.

Lester goes to a large padded chair and sits on it. The dentist’s chair seems to absorb him as he leans back into it. Then, the doctor pulls a lever, and the back of the chair moves down and the boy is suddenly looking at the ceiling. His feet are lifted up, too. Large flourescent lights are above him. The small boy feels helpless as he watches Dr. Arnold walk about him. Lester’s eyes follow the man closely as the man picks up a small, tiny cutting tool. Then, his other hand reaches out and grabs a long articulating metal arm and pulls the end of it towards the small boy. But, the end of the arm stops a few feet from Lester’s head, and Dr. Arnold puts the shank of the cutting bit into it. Our boy stares at the drill, and he flinches when the dentists turns the machine on.

A long leather belt is moving and the drill does too. A monotonous sound of

moving machinery is heard as the dentist speaks, “Lester, open up.”

“Who, me?”

“Yes, ‘You’.”

Lester opens his mouth as wide as he can while he tightly closes his eyes. The dentist thrusts the drill into the small boy’s mouth and touches a tooth. The boy becomes aware of a terrible vibrating sensation as Lester strains his neck and shoulder muscles. Our boy pushes against the footstep, too and feels the muscles in the back of his legs strain. But, the terrible vibration continues until a dull pain is felt. Lester desperately pushes his head against the headrest for another long moment. At last, the drill stops, and the cutter bit is removed from his mouth. “OK Lester, rinse your mouth out.”

Lester leans forward, grabs a nearby small paper cup of water and rinses his mouth. He spits the mess into a white porcelain bowl next to his head. The dentist speaks again. “Lester, that wasn’t so bad.”

“Your full of crap!” the boy thinks and remains quiet. Lester leans back into the chair again.

“Alright, Lester, open wide,” the dentist says and again, he puts the drill back into the youngster’s mouth. Lester sees the leather belt moving once more, and the boy tenses his body. Then, he hears the drill, and our boy feels the dull pain again as the bit chews away a small part of his tooth. In a few long, agonizing moments the vibration stops and the dull pain does, too.

“OK, Lester rinse out your mouth.”

“Our boy grabs the paper cup and rinses the tooth particles from his mouth. He spit’s the watery mess into the white porcelain bowl and leans back into the chair. Lester moves his tongue over his tooth and feels a large hole that the dentist has made. “What now,” our boy wonders as he watches the doctor go to a nearby table and grab a bottle and some metal tools.

The man’s back is hiding his motions from Lester. But, the boy hears noises as metal hits a ceramic dish. Then, the dentist turns around and speaks, “Lester, open up wide.”

The boy’s eyes dart at the leather belt, and he notices that it is remaining still. But, Dr. Arnold begins stuffing something into the hole that he has just made in the boy’s tooth. When the dentist is done, he speaks, “Alright, bite down.”

In a few minutes, Dr. Arnold is done and Lester hurries out of the dentist’s chair and rushes to his mother in the reception room. Mrs. Nilsson sees her son and speaks.

“How was the dentist?”

“Awfull!”

“That bad,” the mother says. “Let’s go home.

* * *

Once more, the mother and her son are in the family’s Chevy. However, Lester is relieved that he is not in Dr. Arnolds dentist’s chair. Lester leans back in the seat and looks out of his window.

There’s a sudden jerking motion as his mother lets out the clutch, the car backs off the curb, and the wheel plummets nearly a half a foot to the street. The woman turns the steering wheel, puts the shift lever into first gear and let’s out the clutch. Then, the engine stalls. Again the woman starts the engine and eventually, the car begins to move away from the dentist’s office.

The street is nearly vacant, and Rosalyn Nilsson begins to feel more confident as the car picks up speed. Then, they come to the end of the street, and she must stop for another stop sign. However, the woman does not see anyone around her, and she creeps past the sign into the intersection, turns, and drives down another street. However Rosalyn Nilsson is now confronted with vehicles parked on both sides of the road. She slows down and looks over the right front fender.

She is approaching an old Chrysler sedan. The huge car seems too big for the narrow road, and there is another car opposite it on the other side of the street. But, the woman is undeterred as she maneuvers the Chevy between the two vehicles. Lester stares at the Chrysler, and the boy sees it’s huge rear bumper.

“We’re too close!” the boy thinks.

“Screech!”

“What was that?” The mother blurts out.

“Mom, you hit that guy’s rear bumper!”

Frightened, the woman steps on the gas pedal, and the Chevy quickly speeds away. Lester looks at his mother.

“Mom, aren’t you gonna’ tell someone you hit that guy’s car?”

“No!” she snaps back. “And, don’t you dare tell your father, either!”

“Lester is silenced by her rebuff, and the boy sits back in his seat and looks out the front window.

* * *

It is a beautiful Saturday morning. The sun is warming the neighborhood, and the cloudless day forecasts clear weather. Burt Nilsson pulls the green plastic water hose from the front of the house to the driveway where the family car is. Nearby, is a pail of soapy water. The man twists the brass nozzle, and a stream of water flows from the hose. Soon, Burt Nilsson is enjoying his Saturday morning ritual as he washes the family car.

The man wets another section of the car, dips his sponge into the soapy water, and rubs the wet sponge on the car. Then he freezes.

“Look at that scrape!” he ruminates, and the man storms into his house.

“Rosalyn!”

No answer. Then, Burt hears the back door open and shortly, he sees his wife by the clothes line.

“Rosalyn!”

“What, Burt?”

“There’s a long dent on the side of the car!”

“I knew this was coming!” she thinks, but the woman maintains a quizzical look of innocence when she replies, “So?”

“So, you know how that happened?”

The woman is quiet, though her mind is in an agitated state. She looks at Lester, then back at her husband. “Not really,” she answers. “Might have happened when we were in the dentist.”

“Great!” Burt says and goes outside to finish washing the car.

The father is upset, and his wife’s answer has not allayed his suspicions of her. “Did someone else really do it?” the man wonders. Burt picks up the garden hose and continues washing the car in a vain attempt to remove the dent.

An old ’37’ Oldsmobile sedan is cruising the streets of Levittown. In the massive back trunk of the car are the men’s tools and supplies that they use to do bodywork on damaged cars. The sedan turns off Bilko Street onto Green Lane and slowly cruises down the road. The men see Burt Nilsson standing by his car rubbing his hand against the damaged sheet metal of the door. Curious, the men pull into the Nilsson’s driveway and stop. Burt turns his head and looks at the car.

“Can I help you?” Burt asks.

“We saw you looking at your door and wondered if it needs to be fixed.”

“Might? You guys want to look at it?”

“Sure,” the driver says, and the men get out of their vehicle and stare at the dent. In a few minutes, Burt approaches them and asks, “How much you want to fix

it?”

“Twenty dollars.”

“Great!”

For the rest of the morning, the men remove the padding from the inside of the door, knock out the dent, mix up some body filler, fill the low spots, and sand the door’s surface smooth. When done, Burt looks at their work and is pleased with the results.

“What do you think?” one asks.

“Looks good to me,” Burt says, and he reaches into his pocket, removes his wallet, and gives a man the money. Then the ’37’ Oldsmobile backs out of the Nilsson’s driveway and looks for another customer.

XXXV

’BANG’

June is over, and the beginning of July has begun. In a few days, it will be the ‘Fourth of July’. “Time to celebrate our nation’s birthday,” Lester wonders. “And to set off fireworks, too!” The boy lapses into a moody silence as he considers where he will get ‘firecrackers’ this year?

Last year, Mr. Monroe was handing out small ‘one inchers’ to some of the older teenagers. Though Lester’s friends had also managed to acquire a few. “But, this year?” our boy muses. “Who do we get them from, now?” Lester walks out of his home and goes down Green Lane to Jeff Monroe’s house.

Jeff lives in a sparsely furnished home. However, Mrs. Monroe keeps her home immaculate, and the woman winces when she thinks of her old tiny apartment in Queens. However, her family has moved, and the Monroes’ were one of the original buyers to move into Levittown. Now, the family has evolved into the typical Levittown Family.

Early in the morning, the parents get up and pursue their early morning rituals. The mother prepares breakfast for her husband, and after a hearty meal of scrambled eggs, toast, home fries, and coffee, Mr. Monroe leaves their home, goes to the train station, and takes the Long Island Railroad into New York City.

There, he changes into his uniform and for the rest of the day, he is a City

policeman walking a ‘beat’ in Brooklyn. Though, the man’s day is a long one, he has the opportunity to come home with items that he has confiscated from others. In the back of the Monroe’s new garage is a heavy steel thirty gallon garbage pail filled with firecrackers.

Shortly before the ‘Fourth of July’, Mr. Monroe gives out fireworks to his friends and sometimes, to their older children as well. Lester is now considering Jeff’s father as a source for this year’s fireworks. Our boy walks to the Monroes’ front door to their home, knocks, and waits.

After a short time, the door opens, and Lester sees Mrs. Monroe.

“Hello, Lester.”

“Hi, Mrs. Monroe, can Jeff come out and play?”

“Yes, I suppose,” she answers, and the woman calls out, “Jeffery!”

In a few moments, Lester’s friend appears and Monroe walks outside, closes the door behind him, and speaks. “You can’t come in ’cause Ma is vacuuming.”

“That’s OK. Wanted to ask you a question, anyway.”

“About what?”

“Can I get some firecrackers from you?”

Monroe is quiet for a short time as he considers his options. “But, Lester is my friend,” he muses, then speaks. “How ’bout a mat?”

“Jeff, thad’ be great,” our boy says. “When can I have ’em?”

“Oh, how ’bout right now? I’ll meet you in the street.” Monroe says, and the boy goes back into his house.

Lester is standing on the curb by Green Lane as he waits for his friend. However, our boy wonders about Jeff’s parents. “I know his father ain’t here. He’s a cop in the city. But, where’s Mrs. Monroe? What will she do if she knows about this?” Then, Lester sees Jeff coming out of his house carrying a small brown paper bag. When his friend stops before him, Jeff speaks, “I got you a whole mat.”

“Great!” Lester blurts out and asks. “How much?”

“How ’bout some Bazooka bubble gums”.

“You got a deal,” Lester says, and our boy turns and walks back home with the brown paper bag.

* * *

Today is July 3, 1957 and our ten year old boy is anxious about the excitement of the celebration of our nation’s birthday. Hidden behind his father’s work bench was a metal coffee can filled with the firecrackers that Jeff Monroe has given him. Lester had sequestered the mat into his room last night and pulled the fire crackers apart so the ‘one inchers’ are more convenient to use. When finished separating them, he had placed the tiny explosives back into the can, put a pack of safety matches in side, too, and pressed on top of the container a plastic lid. Now Lester stares at his ‘stash’ and looks forward to the ‘fourth’. Lester hides the can behind the workbench again and goes outside. Then, the boy stops.

Our boy goes back into the garage, takes ten ‘one inchers’ and the matches out of the can and puts them into his shirt pocket. Then, he hides the can behind the workbench again and goes out side once more. However, when he closes the back door to the garage, our boy suddenly stops. Lester raises his hand and looks at his fingers, then re Tom Shanks.

Last year, Shanks had been careless with his firecrackers. He had been playing with the big M-80s, and he had misjudged the duration of a fuse. The explosive had suddenly gone off, severely damaging his forefinger, and half the finger had to be amputated. Now, Shank’s hand is a reminder to others to be more careful.

Lester walks around the garage to the front street, and our boy decides to walk over to Fred Custer’s house. In the distance, Lester hears the sharp crack of a firecracker and sees Custer huddled by a bush near the sidewalk. Lester hurries to him.

“Fred, watch you doin’ ?”

“Practicin’ for the fourth. You?”

“Nothin’ much. But, I’ve got a few in my pocket and a pack of matches, too.”

“Where did you get your firecrackers?” Fred asks.

Lester hesitates, not wanting to disclose his source or put Monroe or his father in an uncomfortable position with the other kids. So, Lester’s answer is vague, “Had some left over from last year.”

Custer looks at him, his eyes narrow at Nilsson slightly. Then, he speaks, “You mean you didn’t set ’em all off last year?”

“Guess not,” Nilsson answers, then the boys hear a multitude of small explosions.

“I guess the ‘fourth’ is beginning early,” Custer says.

“Fred, let’s go over and see who set ’em off. Sounded like a whole mat!”

“OK.”

The boys walk towards Ed Gibbs’s house beyond the end of Green Lane where the street intersects with another small road. Ed is standing by the curb. He has a surprised, scared look on his face.

“Ed, what’s wrong?”

“I tried to light just one firecracker, and the whole mat went off.”

“Hey, stupid!” Jeff says. “You can’t do that they’re all twisted together!”

“Well, I ain’t doin’ that again.”

“Yeh, Ed, wanna’ kill yerself,” Lester says.

“Nah, I said, I won’t do that again,” Monroe yells back.

The boys remain quiet for a while. Ed did a stupid thing, and his friends won’t let him forget it. Ed tries to change the subject. “Hey guys, let’s set off some firecrackers by Bosell’s house. Maybe her mutt will wet her floor?”

“OK,” Fred says. “Let’s go.”

The boys walk down Green Lane away from Wantagh Avenue until they’re near

to Ruth Bosell’s home. Then, they cut across a neighbor’s yard into another back yard until they approach a Weeping Willow Tree. The boys hide under it, and Lester removes a small firecracker and his matches. Jeff speaks first. “Who’s gonna light the one incher and where?”

“I will,” Custer says, then he speaks again. “Right by the big windows in their living room.”

Custer takes the small firecracker and the matches from Nilsson and creeps over to the back of the Bosell’s house. The other boys remain under the Willow Tree and wait. Suddenly Fred Custer sprints from the Bosell’s house to the Willow tree. Then, there is a loud ‘BANG’. The boys sneak away back down Green Lane. Then, Monroe stops, and he looks at the others and speaks, “You think her mutt wet the floor?”

“How wud’ you know?” Lester asks.

“Yeh, no one was there to see,” Monroe says.

“Well, what do you guys wanna’ do now?” Gibbs asks.

“Play stickball?”

“Lester, its too hot for that,” Gibbs says.

“Peek into bedrooms?” Nilsson calls out.

“Quiet down!” Gibbs says. “Someone ‘ill hear you.”

“Guys, I know,” Fred says. “Let’s play basket ball behind ‘Bohacks”.

“Ya, let’s do that,” Nilsson blurt out.

The boys creep from under the Weeping Willow Tree, get a basketball from Custer’s house, and go to the playground behind the small cluster of stores. The boys begin to shoot baskets. Then, they hear the repeated explosions from a small cluster of firecrackers. Custer stops dribbling and speaks, “Where’d that come from?”

“By the fence over there,” Gibbs says, and he points his finger at the fenced in drainage ditch a short distance from where they are playing.

“Maybe they’ want ta’ play basketball, too,” Custer asks. However, Fred sees a small group of youngsters cross a small field and approach the basket ball court. Then, the boys stop by Lester and his friends and one of the youngsters speaks, “You guys want to choose teams and play?”

In a few minutes, the youngsters have picked teams and are now playing. Though, it is becoming hot, too. Finally, a boy from the other team stops playing and speaks, “I got some ‘M80s’. Let’s have some fun!” The boys stop playing and go to the construction site of the new high school.

The boys have climbed a thick woven wire fence and they are wandering around the area. Every now and then, a boy lights a one inch firecracker, and the boys dart to a new area of the construction site. However, when the new kids light off their ‘M80s’, there is a tremendous explosion. Gibbs goes to his friends and speaks in a hushed tone. “We better get away from these guys.”

“Think they’ll do any real damage?” Custer asks.

“I donno’,” Gibbs says, then, Ed suddenly points his finger at a large dump truck. “What’s he doin’ ?”

The others follow his finger and see that the other boys are trying to open the driver’s door to the truck. But, the handle will not budge. Then, they go to the enger’s door and try to open it, too. Again, the door is locked, and its handle will not move. But, the enger’s window is slightly open. A ‘M80’ is lit and thrown through the window. As the youngsters race away from the vehicle, Nilsson, Gibbs, and Custer watch.

There is a loud explosion. The windshield pops off the cab as the other windows shatter. Lester looks at his friends. “You see that?”

“They nearly destroyed that truck!” Ed Gibbs says, then Fred Custer yells.

“Let’s get outta’ here!”

Frightened, Ed Gibbs, Fred Custer, and Lester Nilsson sprint out of the construction site, climb the fence, and hurry to the drainage ditch in back of Bohacks.

The boys are now sitting on the slanted grassy side of the ditch. Lester looks at the others and speaks, “We get in trouble for that?”

“OH, cripes!” Gibbs laments. “I sure hope not.”

“What do we do?” Custer asks in a scared, pleading voice.

Nilsson stares at the others, fear is clearly seen in his eyes when he speaks again, “Let’s not do anything. We don’t know a thing!”

“Sounds good,” Gibbs says. “Let’s go back home to our Tree.”

“OK,” one says.

“But, let’s take the pipes home,” Lester says.

“But, we’ll get lost,” Ed Gibbs complains

“No we won’t! Lester says. “I know the way.”

* * *

It is late afternoon when the three boys manage to push the heavy cast iron cover aside and climb out of the manhole. Robby Wilkes is staring at the trio of friends, and the bigger boy becomes curious. Wilkes walks over to them and stops.

“Where’d you guys come from?”

“Bowhacks,” a voice answers.

“You went all the way through the pipes from ‘Bowhacks’ ?”

“Yeh, its nice and cool down there,” a voice says

Wilkes stares at the other boys in disbelief and wonders if they’re lying to him. “But, I saw them coming out of that manhole cover,” he thinks, then Wilkes looks at Gibbs and speaks. “Isn’t it kinda’ far to reach another recharge basin?”

“That’s OK, we can come out of any manhole cover.”

“But, aint they too heavy?”

“No,” Custer says. “If enough guys push on it.”

Wilkes is quiet for a long time as he considers Fred Custers’ words. “Shanks, and Withers, and me, too can push on it.” Then, Wilkes is quiet again until a quizzical look appears on his face. Then, he speaks again. “How you get to the pipes?”

“Best way,” Nilsson says. “Go into the ditch over there and go into the pipe.”

Robby Wilkes is silent again. Lester and his friends are quiet, too as they stare him. Then, without a word being spoken, Wilkes goes to the fence, climbs over it, walks towards the end of the drainage ditch, and disappears into the concrete pipe. Monroe looks at his friends and speaks, “Where do you think he’s goin’.

“Underground,” one says.

“I know underground, stupid! But, where? Monroe snaps back.

“I don’t know. I don’t care as long as he don’t bother us!” Nilsson says, and the boys nod their heads in agreement.

* * *

Robby Wilkes is beneath the ground going through the large concrete pipes. In the distance is a light; a beacon of hope, a destination to strive for. However, a strange sick feeling is slowly welling up in him. “But, why?” he wonders as the boy continues to the light.

Wilkes has often considered lurking through the drainage pipes when him and his friends are sneaking about the village. “No one can see them, no dogs will bark at them;” he muses as he watches the light become brighter and bigger. Finally, he arrives at the drain and Wilkes sees a small pool of water beneath it. Wilkes hops across the water to the next pipe and sees another light. Wilkes continues on, then hesitates.

Above him, a large cloud swiftly moves above him, temporarily blocking the sun. The light from the drain has faded as the interior of the concrete enclosure quickly darkens and ‘the fear’ overcomes him again. A strange nausea grips the bully until the cloud es, and the full strength of the sun’s light can enter the drainage pipe. Wilkes’s fear fades, and he continues on. Ahead of him is another light coming from another drain in the street. Wilkes’s courage is returning to him. But, high above him, more dark rain clouds are moving in.

Wilkes finally approaches the drain, stops at another pool of water, then climbs the rungs and looks through the drain into the street. He sees one of Lester Nilsson’s friend’s house on Bilko Street. Wilkes feels better, knowing where he is, and he steps off the rung and goes into another pipe. Then, another dark cloud es overhead.

Rain begins to fall slowly at first. Then more droplets begin to pelt the area above him. The light quickly fades until an ominous darkness surrounds him. Then, the fear returns as strong claustrophobic feelings grip him. Robby Wilkes collapses on the concrete bottom of the pipe as a torrent of water develops and courses around him. The boy closes his eyes and begins to wail.

The storm increases it’s fury until sheets of water descend on the surrounding land and the streets, as well. However, high overhead, blue sky is seen again, and the summer’s outburst of rain stops as quickly as it began.

Ruth Bosell’s poodle has become very upset during the cloud burst and had wet the kitchen floor. Now, her dog is straining against his leash as he leads his mistress outside. The dog bursts through the front door, tugging on his leash until the animal pulls the woman to the street. The dog lifts his leg and voids himself. Then, Ruth Bosell follows the animal towards the end of the street. In the distance, water is heard falling from the drain to the pool of water by the concrete pipes below. Then her poodle becomes frantic. The woman is pulled to the end of the street. Nearby, is another drain.

Water is heard, but there is another sound, too. “Like a child’s moaning!” Bosell thinks, and the woman stops at the drain’, kneels down, and listens. “That’s a child crying!” she thinks. The woman tugs at the dog’s leash, and hurries home.

* * *

“Lester!”

“What, Mom?”

“There’re police cars by the corner of our street.”

“Oh, why Mom?”

“I haven’t the faintest. Let’s go over there and see.” Mrs. Nilsson Answers, and Lester and his mother go outside and walk to the end of the street. A village truck and two Nassau County police cruisers are also there. The Nillson’s approach a policeman and stop.

“What’s wrong?” Mrs. Nilsson asks.

The policeman shifts his gaze from the street drain to the woman and speaks, “Sounds like a kid’s in the pipes.”

“Can you get him out?”

“Yes mam, their sending a trained dog right now.”

In the distance by Wantagh Avenue another cruiser is seen approaching them until the car stops a short distance away. The cruiser’s door opens, and a policeman gets out followed by his dog. They approach the others by the drain and stop.

“Officer what’s wrong?” the handler asks.

“I think there’s a kid in the pipes.”

“Oh,” the handler says, thinks over the situation briefly and continues. “What’s the best way in there?”

“Probably, from the recharge basin by the Slate Lane pool.”

Lester is listening to the policemen talking, and the boy wants to help them. But, his mother is next to him. “Do I dare speak and have her know that we go into the pipes!” he thinks. “But, this is an emergency!”

“Officer,” Lester says.

The policeman hears the boy and looks at the youngster. “Yes, what is it?”

“It’s a lot easier if you go in through the drainage ditch by ‘Bowhacks’. It’s not too far.

The cop is quiet, but he is thinking, too. Finally, he speaks, “How do you know?”

Lester looks at his mother, then stares at the cop. “Me and my friends go in there all the time.”

“You do!” Mrs. Nilsson gasps.

Lester is quiet, however the policeman asks, “Can we get the dog in there?”

“Sure.”

“Yeh, the kid’s right!” a village maintenance worker says.

“Ok, let’s go to ‘Bohacks’,” the cop orders.

* * *

The village maintenance truck, two police cars and an assortment of other vehicles are parked by the drainage ditch. Ed Gibbs, Will Thomas, and Jeff Monroe have seen the commotion from the playground and are there, too. A worker has unlocked the gate in the fence and opened it. The policeman, the maintenance workers, Lester, and his friends are watching the police dog as the animal hesitates before the drainage pipe.

“What’s wrong with him?” one asks.

“He’s scared of the pipe!” the handler says.

“Why? He’s a trained dog, isn’t he?”

“But, we never trained him for drainage pipes.”

“Great, now what do we do?” a cop says.

“Mister!” Lester says.

“What, not now!”

“Mister?” Ed Gibbs asks.

However, the policeman ignores him.

“Mister?” the boy repeats.

“What do you want?” the cop bellows.

“We can go in there and get him.”

“No!”

“Ah, what’s the harm,” another cop says. “Let the kids go in and get him. They probably go in there all the time.”

“What will the papers say?” the first cop muses, then looks at the anxious faces near him. “OK, let the boys go in and get him.

Will Thomas, Ed Gibbs, Jeff Monroe and Lester Nielson walk through the gate, down the incline of the ditch, and disappear into the pipe. Far in front of them, the boys’ can hear Robby Wilkes whimpering. Ed Gibbs is leading, then he stops and speaks, “You guys hear ’em?”

“Yeh, but we got a ways to go,” Lester says, and the boys continue moving. Then, they hear someone calling behind them, “You find him?”

“Yeh, we hear ’em!” Thomas yells, and the boys continue through the pipe.

The boys are crouching low now as they straddle a continuous stream of water beneath them. Ahead is a bright area from where the sunlight is showing through another drain. The boys approach it, jump the turbulent pool of water into the next pipe, and continue towards Wilkes plaintive moans. Ahead of them, the sounds are getting louder, and the flowing water is getting deeper, too. Once more there is another street drain. The boys continue through the pipe.

The water at the bottom of the pipe is over their ankles now, and they must place their feet further up the pipe to prevent their feet from getting wetter. Then, Gibbs bursts out, “There’s Wilkes!”

Sitting in the flowing water is Robby. He appears to be someplace else, though. His eyes are fixed on the light coming from the next drain as his body rocks forwards with each moan that he makes. The other boys stop when they reach him, and Gibbs is the first to speak. “Robby, you OK?”

Wilkes can only moan.

Gibbs shakes him and repeats, “Robby, you OK?”

“Huh, who, you?”

“Kids on your street”

“Take me home, wud’ you?”

“OK Robby, let’s go,” Gibbs says and Will Thomas gets on the other side of Wilkes and pulls, too.

Monroe and Nielson reach down and grab the large boy’s shirt. Slowly, Robby Wilkes is dragged backwards through the pipe to the drainage ditch. A distant voice calls out to them.

‘How’s it going boys?”

“Great!” Monroe yells, and the four boys continue dragging Wilkes.

Finally, they come to another pool of water and stop.

“What do we do?” Gibbs asks.

“Can’t lift him over that pool,” Gibbs answers, then continues. “Come on, let’s drag him through it!”

Each boy manages to grab a piece of fabric or an arm, and they pull. Wilkes slides into the pool and becomes stuck at the next pipe. Two boys stand in the pool and lift Wilkes up into the next drainage pipe. The boys resume their positions and drag Robby Wilkes to the next drain pipe.

At last, Nielson, Gibbs, and Monroe are seen dragging Wilkes’ still body. When the boys are at the end of the last pipe, strong hands reach out and pull the boy out of the pipe into the bright sunlight. Cameras begin taking pictures.

XXXVI

Lester is in sixth Grade now, and an upper classman with the special privileges that go with the grade; go off the school grounds during lunch to buy candy, park his bicycle in the six grade bicycle racks, sit at the special six grade tables during lunch.

Lester is in class now as he watches his teacher, Mr. Hastess while the man writes this week’s spelling words on the blackboard.

Mr. Hastess is a middle aged man who seems to be much older than he is. His dark brown hair is streaked with strands of grey hair that gives him a distinguished look that causes many to assume that he has a more important position at the school.

However, Mr. Hastess has no such expectations of himself, and he is happy to be one of the few men teachers at the Gardeners Avenue Elementary school. Often, he is seen sitting with the principle, Mrs. Crowell as they discuss problems at the school. Some have even wrongly assumed that their relationship is much more. However, they are both happily married and content with their spouses.

Mr. Hastess finishes writing the last word, places the chalk down on the rack, and looks at the class. The students are carefully copying the words into their notebooks. Even Robby Wilkes is hunched over quietly working.

The boy had been out for nearly a week, and when he finally came back, he was

a completely different person. The rebellious look that he gave all forms of authority is now gone. He avoids his old friends. And, the boy has married himself to the one form of education that he has always avoided—books. He is even beginning to hang out and enjoy being with the other kids on Green Lane.

Though at first, his new acquaintances were wary of him as their distrust of Robby Wilkes acted like a thick wall between them and the bigger youth. But, in time, that wall wavered and collapsed as Ed Gibbs, Fred Custer, Will Thomas, Jeff Monroe and Les Nielson became more accepting towards him. Now, Robby is grateful.

Seldom have people extended a helping hand towards him. Instead, many avoided Robby Wilkes and urged him away from them with their strained silence, biting reluctance to associate with him, and their sudden need to be someplace else. But now, the boys on Green Lane are offering him another way to act towards boys his own age. “Come play with us,” they are now saying.

However, the horrendous experience that Robby Wilkes had endured in the drainage pipes meant little to his old friends. For Tom Shanks, Jack Withers, Wilber Ronas, and Howard Clutch had been some place else at the time. They did not know, and their lives will continue as before while they persist in the bullying ways.

The boys on Green Lane are under their favorite Weeping Willow Tree as they decide what to do this morning. Robby Wilkes is with them too. Though, the heavy foliage of the tree is proving to be too confining for Wilkes until Robby moves against the edge of the enclosure, relieved that he can easily see through the leaves at the back yard surrounding them. Ed Gibbs is in the center of the group and speaks, “What do you guys want to do today?”

“Is it gonna’ be hot today?” Monroe asks…

“Maybe,” Thomas answers.

“Let’s go to Bilko Street and play stickball,” Fred Custer says.

“Stick ball?”

The other boys look at Robby Wilkes, their stares are incomprehensive of the boy’s response.

“You ever played?” one asks.

“No.”

“Really?” Gibbs bursts out.

“Let’s play stickball, then. You’ll find out quick enough.” Monroe says, and the boys leave the scant cover of the Willow Tree and go to Bilko Street.

Once there, the boys choose up teams and take their positions on the street. Since there are only six people playing, those not at bat are also playing by the bases or in the outfield. Robby is an outfielder playing in back of second base. An old

Cadillac is a few yards behind him. Robby looks around him and sees that the other players on his team are crouched down, have their feet apart, and their hands are placed on their knees. Wilkes copies them and assumes that position, too. Then, the ball is thrown over home plate.

Will Thomas swings, but he misses.

“Strike one!” the catcher says.

Monroe winds up, spits, and throws the soft flesh colored ball again. Thomas swings and misses again.

“Strike two!”

Monroe winds up, spits, and throws the ball once more. But, he hits Thomas in the hip.

“Ball one!”

Thomas winds up and hesitates as he sucks more saliva into his mouth. Then, he spits and throws the ball again. The ball is hit and explodes into right field, over Wilkes’s head, and hit’s the bumper on the Cadillac. Wilkes runs after the ball and picks it up. But, he just stares at it not sure of what to do.

“Throw it home!” a voice bellows.

“Home?”

“Home plate!”

“Oh,” Wilkes gasps and he begins to throw the ball to the pitcher, instead.

“No, stupid! I said to home plate!” Monroe bellows and Robby heaves the ball to the catcher.

But, the runner gets to the plate in time, and the team has scored a point. Wilkes assumes a ready position once more, hoping that he will not make another mistake. Monroe winds up again, spits, and throws the ball towards a new batter.

Nilsson is at home base now and sees the ball speeding towards him. The boy tenses and swings the broomstick as hard as he can. But, the ball only makes a glancing with the broomstick, and the ball dribbles on the ground towards first base.

The pitcher and the catcher go after the ball, neither aware of where the other is going. The boys collide into each other near First Base. The batter runs near them, past First, and continues past Second, too. When Les stops on Third, he catches his breath, and crouches down.

The catcher picks up the broom handle and takes a practice swing over home plate. Jeff Munroe winds up, spits, and throws the ball again.

“Heh, I’m not ready!” The batter yells, and he is hit in the leg with the ball. “Ouch!”

The stickball game continues as others come to bat until it is Robby Wilkes’s turn. He leaves his position by the Cadillac and approaches home plate.

“OK, Robby! Knock one to Bohacks!” Ed Gibbs yells.

Wilkes holds the broomstick in both of his hands, takes a practice swing, steps up to the chalked-in home plate, and waits.

Jeff Monroe throws the ball. But, Wilkes hesitates, and, the ball goes past him.

“Strike one!” Gibbs cries out from the outfield.

“Was not!” Wilkes yells back.

“Was too!”

“Ah, OK,” Robby relents. “It was a strike.”

The game continues until the oppressive heat of the late morning sun urges the boys to leave Bilko Street and go under their Willow Tree. Once there, Wilkes speaks, “Stickball is a neat game to play.”

“Yeh, we like it,” another says.

However, Monroe is restless, changes the subject, and asks, “What do you guys want to do?”

“Let’s go to Bowhacks,” Nilsson answers.

“Bowhacks?” Robby Wilkes asks nervously.

“Yeh, what’s wrong with that?” Ed Gibbs asks.

“Oh, I donno’,” Robby says, then he its. “Guess the owner don’t like me much.

“Your not gonna’ take anything, are ya’ ?” Nilsson asks

“No!”

“Pick on anyone?”

“No!” Wilkes shoots back louder.

“Then, let’s go over there and get some soda,” Thomas says. “I have ten cents.”

“I got a nickel,” Gibbs adds.

“Let’s go,” another says, and the boys leave the Willow Tree.

Four boys and Robby Wilkes cross the field and see Bowhacks and the candy store a short distance away. They approach the stores, then stop on the sidewalk. Nilsson reaches into his pocket and removes some change. Others do too. But, Robby just stands there. He has no money at all.

“I got six cents.” Les says.

“I have a dime,” Ed Gibbs adds.

“I have four pennies,” Fred Custer calls out.

Robby is standing with the others and hears the entrance door open. A small boy goes into he candy store. “I robbed him a few times,”

Wilkes muses and looks at his new friends. “But, they wouldn’t like it. Wouldn’t be right, either.”

After pooling their change, the boys have managed to accumulate a few pennies, some dimes and nickels. They enter the store and approach the soda fountain and sit on the stools by the counter. Ed Gibbs looks at the others and speaks, “How much money we got?”

Lester opens his hand, looks at the coins, and answers, “Thirty one cents.”

“Put the money on the counter,” Monroe orders and calls out to the owner. “Hey mister, how many cokes can we get for thirty one cents?”

The man approaches the boys and stares at the change. “Maybe three small glasses,” he thinks. Then, he notices that Robby Wilkes is with them. He scowls at Wilkes, pauses, and looks at the other boys. “He with you guys?”

“Yeh.” One says.

The owner is about to speak when a thought occurs to him. “Are those the boys who pulled Wilkes out of the street drain?” He looks at the boys and speaks, “Guys, how was it in the drains?”

“Awful.”

“I was never so scared in my life,” Wilkes says.

“I’ll tell you what,” the owner says. “You just bought five large sodas for thirty one cents.”

“Thanks mister!” the boys say, and they wait for the owner to bring them their sodas.

XXXVII

Battery acid!

Lester is waiting at the bus stop with five other children from Green Lane. They are standing in line conversing with each other until Ed Gibbs spies their bus turning onto their street. He reaches down and picks up his bag lunch and a few books, then he looks down the street again and waits.

“Ed, you see the bus?”

“Yeh, Les.”

“Ed. What are we doin’ today?”

“Local History, I guess. Today, he’s talkin’ about how frogs started Levittown.”

“What?” another person blurts out, and the boys look at Fred Custer.

“Not frogs dummy. The Golden Nematode.”

“It’s not a frog? But, ‘NEMATOAD’ ?” Nilsson asks.

“No, it’s some other type of bug or worm. I know it likes to eat potatoes.”

As the boys talk, their bus stops at the corner, and the youngsters go into the vehicle and sit down. Then the clutch is let out, and the bus lumbers to its next stop. On another street, Tom Shanks and Jack Withers are waiting.

The buses are pulling in front of the elementary school and unloading the young engers by the front entrance. The students go through the entrance doors and into the school. Lester and Ed go right to their classroom and sit at their desks. Tom Shanks and Jack Withers are in class, too, and the pair carefully watches Ed Gibbs come in and sit down. Shanks stands up, approaches Lester, and stops at his desk.

“Whad ya have for lunch?”

“Peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

“Good, I wan’ it.”

“No! It’s mine!” Nilsson yells.

However, the bully reaches out and tries to grab the other’s bag lunch. Quickly, Lester puts the food into the shelf in his desk, and the smaller boy leans forward

and covers the desk opening with his body. Then, Mr. Hastess is seen coming into the room. Shanks goes back to his desk and sits down.

For the rest of the morning, their teacher discusses the early days of Levittown and how ‘the Golden Nematode’ ruined the potato crop so the Levitt brothers could buy large tracts of land for a very low price. The morning goes by quickly, and the students are very receptive to the lesson. At last, it is the morning break, and the students relax from the morning’s tedium. Students begin to get out of their seats. However, Nilssons remains seated as he guards his bag lunch. Tom Shanks and Jack Withers approach him.

“We want your lunch!”

“Go get your own!”

Withers circles behind Nilsson and pulls his chair back. But, Lester is holding on to his desk, and the desk also moves back.

“What are you guys doing?” Hastess bellows.

“They’re tryin’ to take my lunch!”

“You people go sit back in your chairs.”

The two bullies go to their desks and sit down. However, they are not finished

with Lester yet. In a few minutes, Nilsson hears his name. “Lester, come over hear.” Shanks says.

Lester sees Shanks. “But, where’s Withers?” he wonders and answers. “No! I’m stayin’ right here.

Wilkes has been watching Lester and the other boy. He has seen enough. Robby gets out of his chair and goes to Shanks, and Withers approaches them, too.

“Leave him alone!”

“You got a new buddy?” Withers asks.

“Yeh, what’s it to ya’ ?”

“You never hang around us anymore,” Withers protests.

“Well, I’m sick of beatin’ on other kids.”

“Why, you turnin’ into a fairy?” Shanks asks, sarcasm lacing his voice.

“I’m no fairy, you are!”

The bullies stare back at Wilkes, not believing what they’ve heard. Disgusted, they walk away.

Lester also watches as the two bullies leave Wilkes. When they are out of sight, he approaches Robby and speaks, “You serious about not wantin’ to beat up on other people?”

“Sure am.”

“Why?”

“It don’t prove a thing,” Wilkes says. “Just makes people mad at you.”

“I’ll say.”

“Nother’ thing,” Wilkes begins.

“What?”

“Took a lot of guts goin’ into those pipes an’ dragin’ me out. Even the trained police dog wouldn’t go in them. I guess that I was real lucky to have you guys around.”

Nilsson is quiet. Though, he feels proud. However, the smaller boy realizes, “That we go in there all the time, and we’re use to being in there.” Then Wilkes tone becomes serious again. “Les?”

“What?”

“Be careful of Shanks and those guys.”

“Why, Robby?”

“They may get you alone and beat you up.”

“Thanks Robby, I’ll watch out.

* * *

School is over for the day, and Lester walks through the front door and goes into the foyer of his house. His mother is nearby in the kitchen wiping down a white metal cabinet. She sees her son and speaks, “Hi Lester.’

“Mom.”

“What happened in school today?”

The question bothers him. The boy wants to tell her of Shanks’ threat to him. However he realizes what she will say, “Walk away from that bully.” Then the boy wonders, “Where to?” Les continues through the kitchen, down the hall to his bedroom.

Les closes the door behind him and sees a large chest on the other side of the room. Our boy goes to it and opens it’s top. Inside is an assortment of toys and other items that he has collected. Les begins to rummage through the chest until he finds what he is looking for—a small, compact, black squirt gun. Our boy takes it out and goes to the bathroom.

Once inside the room, he closes the door and stands over the small sink. Nimble fingers grasp the water pistol and remove the plastic plug. He turns on the water and fills the pistol up. When the water begins to run out the small fill-hole, Les turns off the water, presses the plug back into place, and presses the trigger. A thin stream of water shoots out into the sink. He shoots the water pistol at the tiled wall on the other side of the tub. A thin, high pressure stream of water shoots out again and wets the tiles. Satisfied that the toy works well, he goes into the kitchen and walks to a nearby cabinet.

Our boy opens the door and sees an assortment of metal, plastic, and waxed paper containers of kitchen supplies. He takes out a glass bottle of vinegar, removes it’s screw cap, and wets a small part of his finger. When he tastes the vinegar, he makes a grimace and puts the cap back on the bottle. “OK Shanks, have I got a surprise for you!”

It is another school day in Levittown, and Les Nilsson is on a line with other students as they wait for their bus to pick them up. Our boy can feel the plastic

squirt gun pressing against his chest. Unconsciously his hand goes up to his breast pocket and feels if any vinegar has leaked out. Satisfied that the pocket is dry our boy continues to wait for the school bus.

Lester is sitting in his seat as he watches the Levitt houses go past him. They all seem different to him now. However, the bus stops at another street corner, and more students enter the vehicle and sit down. Then, a voice calls out, “Lester!”

Our boy looks in front and sees Shanks and two of his friends sitting across the isle by he driver. The boys are about fifteen feet from our boy, and they do not appear to be a threat to him. Lester leans back in his seat and tries to relax.

Within an hour, the bus pulls by the front entrance to the school and stops. The children scurry outside, then go into the building where they go to their individual classes. Les is walking to Mr. Hastess’s room and sees a small group of students lingering by the room’s door. One sees Les and calls out to someone by the classroom. Les’s hand instinctively reaches for his shirt pocket, but relaxes. Our boy walks into the classroom.

Shanks and his friends are standing in a small group by the door. They see our boy walk past them and stop by his desk. Clutch calls out.

“We can’t wait for lunch!”

“Oh?”

“Yeh! Wad’ you bring us today?” Wilber Ronas demands.

Lester remains quiet, but he is looking for his friends for help.

“I hope you brought us ‘Peanut Butter and Jelly’, Wilber Ronas taunts. “That’s my favorite!”

Mr. Hastess unlocks the door, walks into the class and sits at his desk. Then, the class follows him into the room. For the next couple of hours, the man leads his class in a simple writing lesson that appears to tax everybody’s learning a ability. Lester stares at the loose leaf paper on his desk.

“Adjectives,” Lester ruminates. “What will Hastess make us do next?”

“Now students, “Put a proper adjective in front of the noun.”

Lester stares at the partial sentence on the blackboard—“The ______ man gave me a candy bar.” Then the sixth grader considers an answer and prints, “nice”. Lester leans back in his chair and waits for the teacher to speak. But, our boy feels a heavy tap on his shoulder.

“Nilsson, what’s your answer?” Ronas orders.

Our boy is quiet as he ignores the bully.”

` “Well?”

Nilsson turns around and whispers, “I ain’t telling you.”

Ronas leans forward and drags his ball point pen down the back of Nielson’s shirt. Lester spins around, faces the boy, and yells, “What are you doing!”

Our boy’s sudden outburst causes the teacher and the other students to stare at him.

“Lester, what’s wrong?” the teacher demands.

“Ronas is writing on my back!”

“Come up here and let me see.”

Lester stands up and walks to the black board. He slowly turns his back to the teacher. “Wilber, you do this?” Hastess asks.

Yeh, I did,” he answers, then looks at Lester and speaks again. “Nilsson, thanks for ratting on me!”

Lester is quiet, but he realizes that there is going to be a fight. His hand slowly rises and feels the squirt gun in is pocket. He feels better. But, he is still nervous.

The rest of the day goes slowly as the teacher continues to explain adjectives to his class. Even Ronas has been taking notes. Though, the paper before him looks like the tracks of a very confused and disoriented bird. At last, a bell clangs over the loud speaker. The day is done.

Nilsson sorts his desk and leaves the classroom. Outside, the buses have already lined up and are ready to take the children home. Though, by Lester’s bus, Tom Shanks and his friends have already gathered and are waiting for Lester. Our boy hesitates, then he slowly moves towards them. The other boys stand still. No one speaks or makes the slightest move. Lester walks up to them, then walks around the group. But, a hand reaches out and grabs Nielson’s arm. A notebook falls to the ground as Lester pulls his arm free. Our boy bends down to pick up his book. Then, Howard Clutch pushes him. Lester reaches into his shirt pocket and takes out his squirt gun.

“Lester has a gun!” a bully yells.

However Withers sees the tiny opening at the end of the barrel and offers Lester a mocking laugh, then speaks, “That’s a squirt gun, get em’.

Shanks holds up his fists and approaches Lester. Our boy holds his ground, points the water pistol at Shanks’s face and squeezes the trigger. Vinegar shoots out and splashes into the bully’s eyes. “He put acid in that thing!” Shanks cries out.

“Battery acid!” Jack Withers cries out, and the others move away.

Mrs. Wixom is nearby doing her afternoon assignment watching the children going on to the buses. Now, she sees a boy covering his eyes and yelling, “Nilsson shot me with battery acid!” over and over. As the terror of possibly being blinded overwhelms him, he begins to cry.

A girl runs into the school.

In a few minutes, the school nurse hurries to the crowd. She is carrying a plastic squeeze bottle of water.

“Tom get your hands away from your face!”

“Nilsson blinded me with battery acid!”

“Let’s wash it away”.

“It hurts!”

“Let me see!”

The boy’s hands drop away from his face, and the school nurse rinses the

vinegar off. Quickly, the pain in his eyes goes away. However, a voice is heard. “Here comes Mrs. Crowell!”

The principal hurries through the crowd of students to the teacher, then faces Mrs. Wixom.

“What’s happened here?”

“Somebody squirted something into Tom Shanks’s face.”

“What?”

“I don’t know,” the nurse says.

“Then, who did it?” Crowell demands.

“I really don’t know that either.”

The principal calls out into the crowd, “Anyone know what happened?’

A little girl cries out, “He was Lester Nielson!”

“Anyone else see what happened?”

Another girl steps forward and cries out, “It was Lester Nilsson!”

“Where’s Lester?”

“Here.”

The boy steps out of the crowd and approaches Mrs. Crowell. On the fabric of his shirt pocket a dark wet spot is seen where some vinegar has leaked out of the squirt gun. “Lester, what’s in your pocket?”

“Squirt gun.” he stammers.

“Let me see it!”

Lester reaches into his pocket and removes the small black toy and hands it to the principal. She carefully looks at it. Then, takes the tip of her finger, touches the end of the water pistol with it, and tastes it. “VINEGAR!” she thinks. Mrs. Crowell speaks again to the nurse. “He, OK?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“OK, everyone on the buses and let’s go home.”

* * *

The train pulls into the station at Wantagh, stops, and sliding doors open to let the commuters out. Burt Nilsson leaves a car and walks onto the concrete platform. Minutes later, he meets Rosalyn, and they are in their Chevy driving home. He is tired from working in the ‘City’. Today, he was working in the ‘Manufacturer’s Trust building’ repairing one of his company’s machines. He is hot, tired, and looks forward to eating supper with his family and looking at the news on TV.

The smell of spaghetti and meatballs with a thick home made sauce is filling the dining area. Burt and his son are sitting at the dinner table waiting to be served as Burt reaches over and turns the set on. In a few minutes, the TV has warmed up, and the black and white television set reveals a neatly dressed news commentator as he relates the news for the day in the metropolitan area. Burt casually looks at the screen paying only scant attention to what is being said until the announcer looks at the paper before him, laughs briefly, then continues his commentary.

“Today, there was more excitement at one of our elementary schools in Levittown. A student was presumed to be blinded by battery acid shot from a common squirt gun. However, it was not acid that was squirted. It was, in fact, common house hold vinegar. Because of the students’ age, their names have not been released. However, one of the students has been in trouble before, and the subject of gang violence has been mentioned, too.”

Burt looks away from the television set at his son and asks, “Lester, you know anything about this?”

Our boy is quiet, though he is becoming very worried. The seconds go by slowly as the father waits for the youngster’s reply. At last. Lester answers, “Yes.”

“Well, tell us about it.”

In the next few minutes, the son launches into a lengthy narrative about what had transpired that day. Then, he stares at his father.

“So, it wasn’t battery acid?”

“No, sir.”

The father allows a contemptuous laugh and asks, “It was only cider vinegar?”

“Yes sir.”

“Well, you made the news again.”

XXXVIII

THE OFFER

It is now late winter, nearly Spring. Though the snow is gone, a continuous cold and damp drizzle is descending on Long Island. Lester is walking home from elementary school, and the boy is thankful that his mother had insisted that he wear his raincoat over his winter coat and to wear his goulashes, too. He is warm and dry, although our boy is in the street by the curb as he walks through a current of water coursing to a drain. Ahead of him, a damn of debris is blocking the flowing water and causing a large puddle of water to spread out onto the street. Nilsson walks to it.

Lester takes his foot and forces an opening in the damn. Water surges between the buildup of leaves, sticks, and other debris. A heavy, continuous flow of water is heard going into the drain. Then, another sound is heard. Someone is behind him speaking.

“Little boy, would you come here?” Lester looks in back of him and answers, “What, Mister?”

“I said come here.”

“Why, mister?”

“I have some candy for you.”

Our boy stares at the man. His hair is tangled and dirty looking. His eyes have an intense, dark, and bloodshot look to them. Lester has been warned about such people, and our boy begins to feel uneasy. Lester turns away, goes up the curb to the sidewalk, and sprints across his neighbor’s front lawn. Behind him, he hears a car’s door open. Our boy becomes frightened, and Lester begins to run faster. Then, the car door slams shut, and the car drives away.

When Nielson finally stops, he is in the next street. A mother opens her front door and yells at him. “Use the sidewalks and stay off my front lawn!”

Lester walks down the street and cuts across another lawn to Jeff Monroe’s house. In the distance, Lester can see his friend. Monroe is dressed in his winter coat, raincoat, and goulashes playing in a mud puddle on the side of his house. Our boy hurries to him and stops.

“Hi Lester, you don’t look too good.”

“Some man tried to pick me up. Had to run away from him.”

“You tell you folks?”

“No. Haven’t been home yet.”

“My dad,” Jeff says. “If he caught him, would try to kill em’.”

“Mine would, too.

Their discussion is beginning to make Monroe feel uncomfortable as he wonders, “What would I do?”. He waits for a lull in the conversation and speaks, “You tell your folks?”

“I better. Some kids might get taken.”

“Probably.” Monroe says.

“I better get home,” Lester says. “See ya’.”

* * *

Lester hurries home, then stops. He reaches down to one of his goulashes and retightens the buckle. Then, he hurries to his home.

Once there, he enters the foyer and hangs up his raincoat and winter coat, then, places his goulashes and shoes on pages of newspaper that are on the floor. He goes into the kitchen.

Lester sees his mother by the washing machine wiping down it’s white porcelain finish. Mrs. Nilsson hears a noise behind her and turns. “Hi, Lester,” she says.

“Hi, Mom.”

The mother stares at her son as her mother’s intuition floods her. “What’s wrong with him?” she wonders and speaks. “Lester, Is something wrong?”

“How does she know?” he thinks.

“Lester, I’m your mother. You can tell me.”

The small boy stares back at her and wonders, “What will she say?”

“Well?” the mother insists.

Lester bursts out, “A strange man offered me candy!”

“Was he in his car?”

“Yes!”

“Lester, what did you do?”

“I ran away as fast as I could!”

“What type of car was it?”

“Mom, I donno’. It was a dark car,” the boy says

The mother is quiet, aghast at what her son has told her. Lester stares back at her. However, her boy is worried that he has done something wrong. At Last, Rosalyn Nielson speaks, “Lester, you did the right thing. Now, go to your room and lie down. I have some phone calls to make.”

When Lester leaves the kitchen and disappears into his bedroom, Rosalyn Nilsson picks up the phone, dials Ed Gibbs’ mother and waits. In a few seconds, a voice is heard. “Hello, who’s this?”

“Mrs. Gibbs. This is Rosalyn Nielson, and I think there’s something you should know.”

“What’s that?”

“There’s a guy in a dark enger car driving around the neighborhood trying to pick up our children!”

“What!”

“Lester was very upset when he got home. I thought you should know.”

“Rosalyn, you want me to call the other mothers?”

“Yes, I’ll call the cops!” Nilsson says, and she hangs up the phone.

In the next hour all of the neighborhood mothers are notified, and the incident is reported to the Nassau County Police Department. Mothers are scurrying around Green Lane gathering their children and bringing them home. Some fathers are driving their cars around looking for a dark car. At last, a police cruiser is seen coming from Wantagh Avenue. Another cruiser is behind him. One car stops in front of the Nilsson’s home. The other police car continues past the Nilsson’s house and disappears. In a few minutes, Rosalyn hears a knock. She goes through the foyer and opens the front door.

“Mrs. Nilsson?”

“Yes, officer.”

“I’m here to ask you what happened with your son.”

In the next few minutes, Lester is called in and our boy and his mother explain what had happened. The youngster is nervous. However, as the conversation unfolds, Lester realizes the danger that he might have been in.

Finally, the cop eases their fear, saying, “Don’t worry we’ll get him.” The man places a notebook back into his pocket and leaves. Rosalyn looks up at the coocoo clock on the wall and speaks. “Time for me to pick up your father at the station. Keep the front door locked.”

XXXIX

The dream of another woman—Hurricane Edna

The winter is over, and it is now late Spring. The weather is becoming much warmer, and the fear of sudden rain storms is constantly on everyone’s mind. Also, it is the hurricane season, too.

The Nilsson family is eating their supper as they watch their television on the dining room table. It has now become a family tradition as each member escapes their burdens of the day. In so doing, Burt, Rosalyn and Lester listen as the announcer comments on the news of the day. A large map of the Eastern United States and the Atlantic Ocean is behind the man.

“A huge Front is moving up our Eastern Seacoast from the Caribbean, and the storm will be hitting New York City and Long Island sometime tomorrow morning,” the man says. Rosalyn looks at her husband and speaks, “Will the house be alright?”

“Yeh, I think so. But, the new fruit trees I planted in the back lawn may not survive.”

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens,” Rosalyn says.

A thick silence consumes the Nilssons as they stare at the TV. At last, Burt rises

from the table and walks towards the foyer. Curious, Rosalyn speaks, “Where’re you going?”

“Put the car in the garage and make one last check of every thing,” Burt says, and the man goes outside.

Lester goes into the living room, turns on the TV, and sits on the rug. Then, the boy turns the channel selector as he tries to find his favorite western, ‘The Gene Autry Show.’ However, the boy becomes frustrated when all he can find is more commentary on the impending storm. Our boy turns off the TV and goes to his bedroom. He takes out a ‘Superman’ comic book and begins to read it. But, his eyes become heavy and his head suddenly drops, then he awakens. Our boy takes off his clothes, puts on his pajamas, and goes to bed. Moments later, he is in a deep sleep, and his subconscious slips back a few years to Hurricane ‘Edna’ in 1954.

* * *

Lester dreams of his younger self staring at the bleak darkness around him. “What day is it?” he wonders. “Tuesday, maybe?” Then, there is a roar, too— like a wild animal’s. Our boy imagines his hand rising above his head and turning the light on. The light flickers, then it continues a steady glow. Lester drifts out of bed and goes to the window. Heavy rain is hitting the glass as torrents of water flood Levittown. Our boy grabs the aluminum window lever and makes sure it is locked into place. Then, the lights flicker again, and the sixth grader leaves his bedroom.

Our boy dreams of his parents sitting at the dining room table. He sits down at the table, too. In front of him is a large box of corn flakes, a quart of milk, and a place setting is before each member of the family. Lester sees his father in his

dream and speaks to him. “You goin’ to work?”

“No, we’re getting a hurricane!”

“School cancelled, too?” Lester asks.

“That’s what the radio said,” the mother answers.

Suddenly, there is a sudden burst of wind and water is heard pelting the kitchen windows. Rosalyn looks outside and sees a wood crate being blown down the rain drenched road. Then, a car is seen going down Green Lane, too. Lester re the vehicle slowly going past the Nilsson’s house. It’s headlights are on, and the windshield wiper blades are on high as the blades go past the driver at a furious pace. Another burst of wind, more rain, and the car disappears. Then, there is a furious raping noise in the back of the house and then, just the sound of the howling wind. Our boy dreams of his father bolting up from the kitchen table and hurrying to the back door.

The screen door is gone. However, Burt can see it pinned against the hedge in their back yard. “What will it do now?” he thinks. “Fly into our neighbor’s window?” Burt rushes to the foyer to get his raincoat and shoes. However, when Rosalyn sees him, she becomes upset. “Burt, where you going ?”

“The wind just blew the screen door off, and I’m afraid it will be blown through someone’s window.”

“You can’t manage it in this wind!” she screams.

“I’ll manage,” he says, gets dressed, and goes to the rear door. But, Burt stops at the door and watches the wind.

“It’s coming from South East!” he muses. “Probably catch the back door when I open it! Better forget it!”

The boy envisions his father going back to the foyer and putting away his raincoat and shoes. Then, there is another blast of wind. Burt goes to the back windows and looks at the hedge. “The door’s gone!” his father says, then Lester can see his mother behind him.

“What are you looking at?”

“The screen door is gone.” the father says.

The woman is quiet, though she seems thankful that her husband need not bother with the screen door anymore. Then, there is another furious blast of wind. Lester twitches in his bed, then he perceives Rosalyn going to the kitchen.

“Burt, you got to see this!” she cries out.

“What?”

“Mr. Sullivan’s bread truck!”

Burt looks out the window and sees his neighbor’s van as it slowly moves down Green Lane. It is a small box-shaped delivery truck. The large flat surface in back of the vehicle is creating a large resistance to the wind, much like the sails on a square rigger. As it slowly goes past them, Rosalyn’s mouth opens and words are heard. “Is there someone in it?”

“I can’t see anybody.”

“Then, why is the truck out there?” she asks.

“They were probably careless and didn’t put it in gear and set the parking brake.”

The van continues on until it comes to the T-intersection at the end of their road, goes across the other street, and jumps the curb. The van stops. Burt walks away from the window and goes into the living room. Rosalyn follows him until he stops by one of the large thermo-pane windows.

“Burt, what are you looking at?”

“The new apple trees are still standing.”

“You think you should tie them?”

“Better,” he says and goes into the foyer for his rain coat and goulashes.

Lester has visions of his mother in the living room watching the small apple trees as they bend with the wind. In a few minutes, her husband is outside with a hammer, tent pegs, and clothes line.

The wind is still blowing hard, driving the rain into Burt’s face. He is hammering the stakes into the ground and fighting the wind, too. Suddenly, the wind stops and, Burt loses his balance and falls. But, quickly, he gets up again and ties the tree to the stake. The wind begins to build up again.

It an hour the man is done. Three small apple trees are firmly secured, and they are upright now. However, our boy dreams that the man is looking up at something.

The power lines are whipping wildly in the wind and rain. Concerned for his safety and the danger of electrocution, Burt hurries to the back door of the garage and enters the house through the foyer. In a few minutes, he is back in the kitchen. His wet pants are dripping water on the linoleum tiles. He goes into their bedroom and changes into dry clothes. However, as he puts on a dry shirt, he hears his wife calling him from upstairs.

“Burt!”

“Rosalyn, what, now,” he snaps back.

“The TV antennae broke loose and its on the garage roof!”

“How do you know?”

“Burt, I can see it from the attic window!” she yells. “Come up here and see for yourself!”

Burt climbs the stairs and goes into the attic and sees Rosalyn by an attic window. He hurries to her and stops. Rosalyn moves away so her husband can have a better look. “See!”

“So, what do you want me to do?”

“Go out the window and throw the antennae off the roof.”

“In this wind?” Burt shoots back.

“Maybe not,” she relents.

The wind and rain continue in the boy’s dream as the couple goes downstairs and watches the storm from the kitchen table. Then, the lights flicker, but the

illumination still continues.

Lester envisions himself in his room content that his father will know what to do if the storm causes any more damage. So, our boy begins to relax on his bed as he considers something to do. Nearby, his subconscious sees a brand new kite and a roll of string that he had purchased. He drifts to the kite and puts it on his bed.

Lester carefully unwraps the bright red paper kite and lays out the wood pieces on top of his bed. However, the wood pieces confuse him, and then the youngster reads the directions printed on the bright red paper. At last, our boy is ready to assemble the kite. In a few minutes, he is done. However, he looks for a long strip of cloth for the tail.

First, he dreams of using his handkerchiefs. “Mom would get mad.” Then, he considers his ties. Again, he dreams of his mother wagging a threatening finger at him as her voice booms in a deafening roar, “No!”

“Mom?”

“What?” her voice asks.

“You have any rags?”

“What for, Lester?”

“A tail on a Kite.”

“Yes, I have something for you,” she says and drifts out of the kitchen.

Soon, Lester envisions himself back in his room tearing up the rag into thin strips. Then, he begins to tie the strips together until he has a tail for his kite that is more than four feet long. Our boy ties the tail onto the end of the kite. When finished, he holds up the kite and stares at his work. “But, something is wrong!” he ruminates.

Lester reaches down and picks up the directions off the floor and reads them carefully. Then, an idea occurs to him, “The kite’s too flat!”

Our boy looks at the kite once more and sees his mistake. One of the corners to the kite has not been properly attached to the smaller stick. Our boy bends the shorter stick in the dream and places the kite string into a slot on it’s end. He looks at the kite again and sees that it has a properly arched shape to it. “That’s much better!” At last our boy attaches the end of the string to his kite. He looks at his work again. “It looks great,” He dreams. The boy takes the kite and the roll of string and walks out of his room into the hall.

Our boy drifts past his parents bed room, past the bathroom, and into the kitchen. However, he hears his father’s loud voice. “Lester, where are you going?”

“Outside.”

“Why?”

“To fly my kite,” the boy answers.

“In a hurricane?”

“But, I’ll do it from just inside the front door,” Our boy pleads in his dream.

“The hell you will!” Burt roars. “Put that kite back in your room!”

Then, Lester wakes up.

XL

Lester Nilsson is sitting at his desk in Mr. Hastess’ room. The teacher is before the chalkboard writing this week’s spelling words on the hard black surface. Our boy has his black and white hard covered notebook before him as he carefully copies the words. When done, the class will have a short morning recess where they can get out of their seats and move about the classroom. At last, the teacher writes down the tenth and last spelling word. “Good, we’re done!” our boy thinks. As the other students work, Lester becomes quiet, and he begins to muse about his years attending elementary school.

“They were great!” he thinks. “The friends that I have made, the teachers that I have had, and the principal was great, too. Even Tom Shanks and his friends added to the wonder of this school—even if they were bullies. But, what about next year—Junior-Senior High in Memorial?”

Lester becomes depressed as the specter of an uncertain future assails him; “we must walk to different classes every 40 minutes, we’ll be going to a much bigger school, with more students, more bullies, strange people from different parts of town, bigger classes, and more of them. Will I like it there?”

Our boy looks around him and sees other youngsters his age. “And, I have known them for years, some for as long as I can . Will they be coming with me?”

Lester slips into a pensive silence as some students converse with their neighbors while others aimlessly walk about the room, bored and yearning to be someplace else. Nilsson walks to the front of the room and follows the chalkboard to the

large windows overlooking a huge field, then, he sees Levitt houses as far as he can see. The boy’s mind drifts from his classroom to outside.

As the boy stares at the structures, he imagines a separate small community living in each house. Each family is offering their selves, their life styles, and their futures to the energy that is Levittown.

“It is a great place to grow up!” our boy thinks.

THE END