Between Houses

We moved out of our house on Canandaigua Street across from the school and moved in with our friends the Wilson's (who previously lived next door but had moved to another street but within a short walk's distance). At least I remember Rita, Dennis, and I living there for a month. Jean and Arnold were out on their own, Roger had joined the Navy and had left home. I wonder where Mike had gone - off to college? Staying with someone else?

A few things I clearly recall from that time: one is Mrs. Wilson playing the piano. She played Wipeout which I really enjoyed (and she knew I enjoyed it). Another is having 5 minutes and an inch of water to take a bath, as there were many people in the house needing hot water and bathroom time. I remember one day the Wilsons were dressed up and all headed out to get a family picture taken. I felt left out, though I wasn't part of their family, obviously. Perhaps it was because my family had never got a complete family picture of all of us, including parents (and never would). The closest thing was a painting my dad had done of a winter scene with him, mom, and all the kids except me because I hadn't been born yet.

Another incident involved Roger who (for reasons unknown to me) was home for a bit from the Navy. It was Halloween and he along his friends Bill and Jim took me around town trick-or-treating in Bill's station wagon. We had very little money in those days so I was dressed as a hobo - raggedly clothes and cigarette ashes smeared on my face like I hadn't been shaving or was dirty or both. There were patches on my makeshift coat that mom used straight pins to attach (which is important for later in the story). Well, someone driving by pegged Bill's car with an egg, so they decided to find out who and 'teach them a lesson' or some such thing. Bill accelerated and rounded a corner. The back seat door I was sitting next to swung open and I proceeded (in slow motion, at least in my memory) to fall out of the car. Seat belt use wasn't as prevalent as it is today, even for kids. I remember hearing Bill say (as I was falling out of the car) "OMIGOSH - JB!" JB (for Jon Bryan) was my moniker for many years as a kid. They managed to pull me back into the car and continue their pursuit of the offending party which they eventually found. They parked out in front of the house and approached it on foot. There were no lights on so I could not see anything, though I heard them talking with someone or someones. Eventually a fist-fight broke out. I really did not want to listen to anything of this, so I called out to Roger a few times to hurry up whatever he was doing and let's go home. He cheerfully responded "OK!" "Just a minute!" "Be right there!". Eventually the cops came which led to more time for me sitting by myself in the car wondering when on earth we would be leaving this very unpleasant scene. As it turned out, Bill's really nice jacket was torn and Roger had a bloody black eye from the fight. Roger must have felt sorry for me because he climbed into the back seat to sit with me and sat directly on my hobo coat with the dozen or so straight pins. I don't know which had been more painful to him - the fist in his eye or the pins in his ass. Needless to say I had an exciting story to tell when we got back to the house.