BACK IN THE DAY…

Now that my parents have both died I can share a few memories with you.

Back in the late 60’s I was so short I had a hard time climbing over parking curbs, but I was absolutely convinced I was the second coming of Superman.

Here are some of the stupid, but fun to recall, things that I did.

In late April of 1968 I had paper route money burning a hole in my grade school pocket. I ditched school and took a train into Chicago. I remember buying a ticket and waiting on the outbound platform for a train that would go inbound- towards Chicago. A kindly old lady saw my confusion and directed me to the right platform. On the correct platform a less kind man yelled at me that I would be killed by the train if I stood that close to the tracks. Two near disastrous mistakes and I hadn’t left my hometown yet! But I was not deterred. This was going to be a great day!

I had been to Wrigley several times with my dad. We took the same route every time and I expected the train would drop me off someplace on the route. I was sure to recognize where I was and walk the rest of the way, no problem. My train did not intersect with any streets I recognized. The train I took from the Western suburbs brought me into the Loop. It was fun looking up at all of the tall buildings, but I was on a mission.

I had chosen to embark on my odyssey only days after Chicago had experienced some of the worst rioting in it’s history. These were race riots so, of course, I asked an elderly Black gentleman how to get to Wrigley Field. He was very kind and not only told me how to get to Wrigley, but stood by and made sure I got on the right bus. I sat on the bus for a short time, that seemed like a long time, so I got off. I was in an area completely foreign to me. I saw a bunch of Black and Hispanic kids in their late teens (They must have been ditching for the Cubs game too) hanging out on a corner.

“Hey! Can you tell me how to get to Wrigley Field?”, I asked.

“Where you from kid?” One of them answered.

“I think I got off the bus too soon” I answered. “I took the train in.”

“I’ll bet you did” said another.

“You’re not bad. If you can walk about 15 blocks in a half hour you’ll be inside by the first pitch.”

I followed their directions and I was inside early enough to buy a scorecard, get to my seat and hear Pat Piper call out, “Get your pencils and scorecards ready! Here is the starting line-up for your Chicago Cubs!”

I don’t remember the game. I do remember that I got home before my parents returned from work and nobody was the wiser.

It’s amazing what we can live through isn’t it? I was in a big city that was in a bad mood and I met a lot of nice people. I was not asked once what I was doing out alone on a school day. I made it back to my home in one piece, and a little wiser.

I remember another Ferris Buehler day I took to go Christmas shopping on the Magnificent Mile. It was later in the year and I was a seasoned traveler now. A mistake I made was going down with about $26.00. In the 60’s that was about enough for a hamburger and a round trip ticket. As a trip it was fun. As a shopping trip it was an gigantic failure!

Just to demonstrate that I was stupid at most ages, I’ll tell you a story about an early driving experience. I wasn’t even driving. My friend Gary was the first of my group to get his license. He was able to borrow his brother Rick’s 1963 VW Beatle. We went cruising the main drag in our small town at about 3 in the afternoon. Our plan was to drive to the local hamburger place, hang out and then bring the car back to Rick. We had 3 guys in a Beatle.- That is about capacity.

We were approaching a cute girl about a year younger than we were. Danny, who got “shotgun” (Front passenger seat) after a long fight that ended when Rick said, “You have the car for two hours, you gonna spend the whole time fighting over where you sit? What woooses!” So Danny jumped in the front seat and said, “See Phil, everything worked out.” Yeah, for him!

Now Danny decides to embarrass us on top of stealing my seat. He starts yelling to this girl none of us knew. “Hey, you want a ride baby.” (If he did that today he’d probably be charged with a hate crime.) Gary and I yelled together, “You idiot! you can’t just yell out the window at a girl like she’s a dog. What’s wrong with you!” As we were dispensing this life lesson to Danny the girl said sure. Now Danny was willing to give me the front seat!

Anyone have any boomer stories to share. I’m sure you can come up with something.

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