watching
Kennywood fireworks from Neenie's back porch; the glider
on the porch and how the cushions would get black with
coal dust
the igloos Dad
built for us when he shoveled snow on the
sidewalk
sliding down the
banister
the scratchy
fabric on the living room couch and
chairs
Neenie washing my
hair in the bathroom sink - ow!
hiding under the
big old dining room table with stolen goodies - did we
really eat chunks of butter like that?
our play
telephones that Pappap hooked together - they really
worked
memorizing the
soundtrack to Pollyanna by playing it over and over and
over on the hi-fi
pretty glass
chunks in the firplace, decorative replacements for coal
chunks
how cold the
fireplace hearth was when I sprawled on the living room
floor to draw pictures
Pappap in his
chair, always reading
watching Chilly
Billy Cardille on Saturday afternoons in the sun
parlor
collecting
pennies in coffee cans and sorting them by year and mint
stamp
homemade noodles
drying on the kitchen table, always had to sneak a
few
dropping toys
down the laundry chute, wondering if I could fit my
little brother Georgie down there
the mangle that
Neenie used to iron our sheets
the alleycat I
bought for a dime and had to give back
the crow Dad
brought home from hunting that lived only for a
day
bird funerals in
the back yard
sled riding in
those bulky snowsuits
cowboys and
indians, tying the little kids to the Burtons'
clothespole
watching TV with
Patty Playpal
Ed Sullivan,
Lawrence Welk, Red Skelton, Jackie Gleason, Carol
Burnett, The Rifleman, Gunsmoke and
Lassie
the control that
turned the antenna on the roof
changing the
channel by walking to the TV set and turning a
dial
riding my
tricycle on the sidewalk
peeling bark from
the sycamore trees
Pappap walking
down to the garage to get the car when we were going for
a drive
roller skating in
the cellar
the "holes" in
the cellar where Pappap and Dad kept all their
interesting stuff - electrical tools and supplies, a volt
meter, shotgun shell loader, stacks of
magazines
clotheslines in
the cellar
the cardboard
store Zella and I got for Christmas
cowgirl outfit,
including six-shooter cap guns and
holster
my Daisy air
rifle
a drumset from
neighbors Aunt Sarah and Uncle Art - what were they
thinking?
sitting on top of
the ice cream freezer at Aunt Margaret's store in the
summer time reading through all of the Marvel and DC
comic Aunt Margaret sold with no covers, three for a ten
cents, until I decided which ones to spend my dime on.
Wonder Woman and the Fantastic Four were my
favorites.
penny candy -
rootbeer barrels and strips of dots and candy necklaces
and wax lips and, how cool, candy
cigarettes
picking up
groceries and "putting it on Neenie's account" (and
trying to sneak in a candy bar)
delivering
grocery orders to people in return for candy from the
penny candy counter
the Hilltop
Dairy, where the expensive comics were sold, the ones
with glossy covers
playing hide 'n'
seek in Aunt Margaret's spooky cellar
the garden and
the rhubarb patch at Aunt Margaret's
the milkshake
machine from Gallaghers that Pappap used to make
chocolate milkshakes with lots of Hershey's
syrup
a bank made from
an evaporated milk can with no way to get the pennies
back out
somersaulting the
length of the house and getting very
dizzy
Dad teaching me
to stand on my head
sitting on Dad's
back while he did pushups
the kiddy pool
under the back porch
cracking my head
diving into Lizzie Teichart's pool
locking Zella in
the casket room at the funeral home
Mom teaching me
to ride a bicycle when we were on vacation at Lake Erie,
holding me up and trotting alongside me for what seemed
like hours - thanks Mom!
riding my bicycle
in Teichart's parking lot and down the sidewalk with the
training wheels screeching
my first stitches
when I hit the corner of Aunt Sarah and Uncle Art's
coffee table; the emergency room was full of bright
lights and big people
my first kiss, in
the cellar at Aunt Sarah's, from her nephew
Jimmy
Neenie's
spaghetti and bacon in the electric frying
pan
Neenie hanging
out the windows to do her cleaning
St. Joseph's
Church, lighting candles with Neenie
kindergarten in
the old school building across from the elementary
school
Donnie Wilson,
left back how many times, with a big crush on the
kindergarten teacher
starting the day
with the 23rd psalm and the "Our Father", which the
protestant kids stubbornly called the "Lord's Prayer" and
tacked on extra words before the "Amen"
my parakeet Susie
flying around the house, landing on my red cowgirl hat,
died of "sunstroke"
going to the boat
shop - climbing in and out of boats, learning to tie
knots, going to the Dairy Queen
the rolly coaster
hill
watching out the
back of the car to make sure the boat was still
attached
our boat, the
"Merry Gin"
boat club picnic
and "corn butter"
swimming under
the docks and the boats, trying to swim wearing life
preservers (and trying to "fall out" of the life
preservers
the muck under
the docks and near the shore, we had to jump in from the
dock
waterskiing all
the way from the club to Kennywood
the blue sled
that Mom rode behind the boat
riding over the
wakes of the barges
a towboat called
the "Nancy Jane"
being the only
kids at the club most of the time and still having a
terrific time
blowing the horn
to go through the locks
learning how to
coil the ropes properly to go through the
locks
being scared,
later trying to scare Zella, about accidently going over
the dam
seeing a barge
that really did go over the dam
the rotten egg
smell going around the bend in the river near the coke
plant
bouncing around
in the front of the old v-hulled boats
listening to
eight-track tapes on the boat, especially Carole King and
James Taylor
digging out of
the muck and the mud one year when the river flooded the
club
the clever Pine
Run Boat Club logo with the pine tree and card-suit
club
riding up the
river to where you could look down and see every stone on
the river bottom
camping in the
boat and lighting the breakfast fire with no
matches
swimming where no
fish but carp dared to live
filling up the
gas tank at a riverside gas station all by
myself
wishing I could
get a job on the barges for a summer
riding up Turtle
Creek with Georgie driving the boat
jumping into the
river when we had to pee, except for Georgie, the lucky
dog
the Lionheart
crowd at the river
swimming and
skiing blind without my glasses
learning to ski
on trick skis since they were the right size for a
seven-year-old
trying to swim
all the way across the river, turning back because of all
the traffic
the summer Zella
cut her foot in the river
cranking the boat
on to the trailer at the end of a long day on the
water
going through the
one-lane tunnel where you had to toot your horn to warn
oncoming traffic
stopping at a
diner on the way home, in our bathing suits and wet hair
- mmm, fried shrimp
the Halloween
parade in Duquesne
hiding at the top
of the stairs waiting for Santa or just eavesdropping on
company
the kids' table
at Christmas and Thanksgiving with us and the Topley
cousins
Christmas time
and the platforms under the tree in the sun parlor with
the train and houses and fake grass and little
people
my first electric
shock when I tried to help set up the platform by
sticking a screwdriver in a light socket
New Year's Eve at
Aunt Margaret's, singing "Auld Lang Syne" amid the
statues and holycards
